The United Nations is the hope for the world!

Posted on by Opher

I have recently read comments claiming that the UN is either a Jewish conspiracy, a Muslim conspiracy or a globalist Bankers conspiracy.

Of course it is none of the above.

It is representatives from all the countries of the world (apart from some minor players – Palestine, Vatican City, Taiwan, Western Sahara, Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Northern Cyprus) brought together to look at the global issues of war, poverty and human rights.

It has, as its basis, the agreed document of the Declaration of Human Rights. Which in my opinion is the best document humans have ever produced.

It enables the world to discuss issues, deal with transgressions and take action when necessary.

Who can possibly say how effective this has been? How many incidents has it headed off? What better rights people have?

I think it has achieved a lot.

It shines a spotlight on wrongdoing. It highlights transgressions. It brought pressure to bear.

Unfortunately it is not as effective as it could be. All too often the greater powers use their vetoes to prevent action. All too often they have not been quick enough to act. All too often their action has been too limited. All too often their troops have been behaving badly.

I do not want a body that wades in with a heavy hand. I do not want more violence.

I want a body that deploys diplomacy and the spotlight of publicity to show up countries that abuse. I want issues discussed and brought into the open. I want trade and sanctions brought to bear and I want peacekeeper forces deployed in an observer way.

We need a body like the UN and we need to make sure that it is managed properly and addresses the issues.

I put my faith in an effective UN. The saviour of the world.

We Desperately Need the UN.

Posted on by Opher

The UN is probably the only hope for the future. It’s Declaration of Human Rights is probably the best document ever written.

Without a global body setting standards for human rights, freedoms and standards we have little hope.

Tyrannies, genocides, tax evasion, pollution, environmental degradation, mass migration, war, poverty, slavery and torture are all global issues that cannot be controlled by nations alone.

It is crucial that we have a body to address these and prevent future abuses.

The natural environment is being trashed for profit at an alarming rate. There are wars raging, multinationals running without limits, money being stashed away in tax havens, people starving and living in excrement. The UN is the only body to address these.

No the UN is not functioning very well. No it is not democratic enough. But governments send their representatives and many of those governments have been democratically elected.

Yes there are tyrannical despots represented in the UN. But far better to have all the people together, set standards, talk, castigate and put pressure on people rather than distance, diatribe and conflict.

As Winston Churchill said: “To jaw–jaw is always better than to war–war.”

It is time we overhauled the UN, made it more democratic, put in safeguards to prevent corruption or tyrannical control and supported the only body working for the good of the whole planet.

The World is out of Control – Where’s Superman?

Posted on by Opher

The world has changed enormously over these last 500 years and not always for the better. Since Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americas and put into motion the events that led to the genocide of the Incas and North American Native Indians, the setting up of the United States, Canada and South America, the introduction of slavery and the rape of the land with its ensuing  destruction of wildlife, the human population has gone berserk. All over the planet we teem in great numbers, chopping down forests, hunting and building roads, towns and cities. There is racism, war and huge climate change. We are now in the Anthropocene – a time when humans are impacting on the climate of the planet. The future has never looked as uncertain. Will we pull back from the brink?

I believe that only through a global body to regulate our pollution, climate effects and population, wars, poverty and environmental destruction, can we hope to have a future. Already for many species it is too late. Our planet’s wildlife has been devastated.

I listen to all manner of people telling me that the UN is useless and a waste of money, that any global control is equated with a world government and tyranny, that we want less government and more freedom. Yet they offer no solutions, no alternatives. They simply deny the destruction is happening.

Meanwhile the wars rage, the population soars, poverty for a lot of the world continues, the exploitation of poor people goes unchecked, the forests are cut, the animals slaughtered and the relentless capitalist machine continues forward unchecked. A small elite is creaming it in and evading all taxes and responsibility. The multinationals play nation against nation with impunity and scam us all.

The planet is being raped through mining, fracking, agriculture, pesticides, and urbanisation. So many people are in denial yet the evidence is right there. I see it in my own backyard that used to be a riot of butterflies and bees. The ponds that used to be full of frogspawn. I see it flying over devastated land that used to be jungle teeming with life. I see it when sailing the seas which are bereft of life. I see it in the dirty sprawling cities and overcrowded streets full of desperate people in Asia, India, South America and Africa. Yet people still tell me it isn’t happening.

It feels to me that we are careering towards that edge with people fighting for control of the wheel and nobody reaching for the brake.

Will the United Nations finally come into its own? Because there sure as apples is apples ain’t no superman.

I put my faith in the United Nations and it’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a beacon to humanity. Because I’ve not heard anyone coming out with any other solution and market forces are not going to fix it. The UN Charter for Human Rights is my bible. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

I swear by it:

http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

Like it or not the United Nations is the only hope!

Posted on by Opher

The United Nations was set up after the Second World War as a body that would preside over the whole world, settle disputes and prevent further disastrous conflict and war. It rose out of the ashes of the League of Nations with a burst of idealism. It set out in its tremendous charter a template for human rights.

 

Since then it has been nowhere near as effective as it should have been. Why? Because the big powers veto action and control it and it is starved of funding. Its mechanisms are ponderous.

 

To be effective it has to have the power to override what the major powers want. It has to have faster responses and be less cumbersome. It needs to represent all the countries of the world equally. It needs to have the role of a world policeman.

 

There is always a danger that a global power could become tyrannical. We have to build in safeguards to prevent this.

 

Why do we need it?

 

Most of our major problems are now global and beyond the remit of any one nation. Without a global body they are unable to be properly monitored and controlled:

 

War

Overpopulation

Pollution

Conservation

Global warming

Multinationals

Tax evasion

Crime

Terrorism

Deforestation

Overfishing

Extinctions

Habitat destruction

Human rights

Children’s rights

Worker rights

Mass migration

Gross inequality

Corruption

Poverty

Disease

Racism

Drugs

Prostitution

Slavery

Sexism

Misogyny

Food and water quality

 

These things know no boundaries. The loopholes are exploited by powerful people. Capitalism is destroying the planet. Corruption means that even laws are flouted. Logging, strip mining, worker exploitation, trafficking of people, dumping of waste………

 

Without global action, laws and enforcement, we are heading down a slippery slope to destruction. We can no longer allow the rich and powerful to rape the planet through their selfish greed. They need controlling. We need to stop the huge population increase and regulate our actions. We need to close the tax havens and put an end to the unfairness. We need to stop wars and root out the criminals, terrorists and polluters.

 

We need a global body with teeth.

 

We already have a global body. It is the United Nations.

 

It is time to put in the safeguards, make it democratic and accountable, fund it properly and give it the power to get the job done.

Democracy – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Posted on by Opher

Democracy – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Posted on February 13, 2015 by

UN declaration

This is my bible. It was not given to us by any deity. It has come out of the compassionate, intelligent, moral minds of people. It proves that we do not require ancient religious texts in order to have morality. Goodness and caring comes from the essence of people’s being.

This document should be read to all potential jihadists, to all religious fanatics and to all abusers of other human beings, animals and our environment.

This document is worth fighting for with every shred of strength. It is the greatest thing civilisation has so far come up with. This shows clearly why ISIS, Al-Shabaab, the Taliban, Evangelists, racists and fascists everywhere are wrong.

I pledge myself to furthering its aims.

This is it. Read it at your leisure and dwell on its meaning. If we could make this work we would surely live in paradise:

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

 

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Article 1.

  • All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

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Article 2.

  • Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

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Article 3.

  • Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

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Article 4.

  • No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

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Article 5.

  • No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

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Article 6.

  • Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

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Article 7.

  • All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

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Article 8.

  • Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

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Article 9.

  • No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

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Article 10.

  • Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

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Article 11.

  • (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
  • (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

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Article 12.

  • No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

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Article 13.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
  • (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

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Article 14.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
  • (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

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Article 15.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
  • (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

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Article 16.

  • (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
  • (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
  • (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

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Article 17.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
  • (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

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Article 18.

  • Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

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Article 19.

  • Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

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Article 20.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
  • (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

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Article 21.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
  • (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
  • (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

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Article 22.

  • Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

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Article 23.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
  • (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
  • (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
  • (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

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Article 24.

  • Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

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Article 25.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
  • (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

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Article 26.

  • (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
  • (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
  • (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

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Article 27.

  • (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
  • (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

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Article 28.

  • Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

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Article 29.

  • (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
  • (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
  • (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

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Article 30.

  • Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

New novel – Sorting the Future – Chapter 16 – The United Nations

Posted on by Opher

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Chapter 16 – The United Nations

Somehow I had enjoyed myself. Who would have believed that I would have stood up before a huge assembly of all the heads of all the nations on the planet, on prime-time TV to boot, talked off the cuff for ages, and actually enjoyed doing it?

I don’t know how they had done it but the aliens had beamed me in. First I had addressed the small assembly of the inner Security Council. It was effectively the G16 – the sixteen most powerful nations on earth who met to discuss the future security of the planet. Not that they ever did anything other than castigate each other and push their own narrow interests to the fore. It was about time they did something.

All my apprehensions were ungrounded. I was neither arrested nor shot, and I shone – even if I say it myself. I strode the stage like a master and delivered my speech with passion in faultless English and perfect diction. I do not believe anyone had ever displayed such panache. And I was daring and forthright. I did not mince my words. I told it like it was. I talked of dismantling the financial institutions, doing away with the current political systems, and dealing with corruption, leaving fifty percent of the planet for us and fifty as conserved wilderness and reducing the population. I didn’t leave much out.

Throughout it all the security guards seemed completely powerless. The aliens had them held in some kind of stasis. They did not as much as move a muscle.

Likewise the members of the Security Council – they listened. They did not shout or walk out. They gave me their undivided attention and hung on my every word. Or so it seemed.

I spoke so well. I was eloquent, concise and full of conviction as I laid out my plan, explained who I was and told them what needed doing.

They never took their eyes off me.

I knew that this wasn’t merely my new-found skills that were dazzling them. This was the aliens at work. They had organised my entrance and audience. They were ensuring my audience paid attention.

The general assembly was a repeat on a far bigger scale. This time I knew the TV channels were recording it. That didn’t put me off in the slightest. If anything I played up to it. I was in my element. My new highly powered brain was as clear as could be; the words dropped into place. I spoke with authority and passion. I gave all the right emphasis. It was a masterly performance and I knew it. The aliens had surpassed themselves. I surpassed myself.

I gave them a concise picture of what needed doing. I started with the need to end all war and conflict, the doing away of outmoded institutions such as nations and religions; the desperate need to stop the environmental destruction, the deforestation, slaughter of wild-life and pollution. I talked about running the world globally, reducing the population, putting aside fifty percent of the planet for humans and conserving fifty percent as pristine wilderness. I talked about setting up a single monetary system and creating greater equality, education, welfare and ending all forms of discrimination. I talked about demilitarisation, freedom, streamlining government, human rights and every idealistic notion that had ever been kicked around the Sunday Blue Post club. Everything Pete, Jill, Clive, Mandy, John, Chris and all the rest of us had ruefully talked about. We had all the answers and now I had the platform to do something about it. I wasn’t about to compromise on any of it. I let them have it straight between the eyes.

In fact I pulled together all the things that we had been talking about in that pub over the years and collected it all together into one coherent vision. It was a vision that shone.

I knew it made sense. I had an IQ that was greater than the combined IQ of all the members of that assembly. All the things we’d discussed slotted into place. We hadn’t been talking bollocks after all.

I ended by giving them a clear vision of what the future world would look like. It was a paradise compared to the nightmare they were busily constructing.

They did not interrupt or argue. I had their undivided attention. I knew that wasn’t just my brilliance and that I had the aliens to thank for that but I liked to think that I was so good they would have listened anyway.

But then I was a realist. Unfortunately I knew that I did not have the hearts and minds of that assembly. I could see it in their blank expressions. They were not bowled over by the lucidity of my argument or view of a gleaming future and never would be. They listened because they were being forced to. They were selfish and greedy with their own vested interests, views, and ingrained attitudes. It was going to take more than one magnificent speech to bring them on board. I knew they would fight me tooth and nail. You can drag a stallion to the trough but he’ll die of thirst before he’ll submit to your will if he’s got a mind to. These men and women were seasoned politicians. They had risen to power through the usual methods of bribery, lies and back stabbing and they weren’t about to give up their power just because some unknown idiot popped up with something that made sense. They saw nothing in it for themselves and that was the only criterion of importance in their universe.

I might proclaim myself President of the planet but actually being recognised as such was a different matter altogether. I knew the aliens and I had our work cut out. This was just a shot across the bows.

Right now I had bigger things to think about. I had kept my side of the bargain. It was time to sort out things with Liz and the kids.

Science Fiction books:

Ebola in the Garden of Eden – paperback £6.95 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ebola-Garden-Eden-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1514878216/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461831172&sr=1-11&keywords=opher+goodwin

Green – paperback £9.98 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1514122294/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461831333&sr=1-17&keywords=opher+goodwin

Rock Music books

In Search of Captain Beefheart – paperback £6.91 Kindle £1.99 (or free on unlimited)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Captain-Beefheart-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1502820455/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=146183144

3&sr=1-1&keywords=opher+Goodwin

Other selected books and novels:

Anecdotes-Weird-Science-Writing-Ramblings – a book of anecdotes mainly from the sixties and other writing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anecdotes-Weird-Science-Writing-Ramblings/dp/1519675631/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461832001&sr=1-9&keywords=opher+goodwin

More Anecdotes – following the immense popularity of the first volume I produced a second

https://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Anecdotes-Essays-Beliefs-flotsam/dp/1530770262/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461832001&sr=1-5&keywords=opher+goodwin

Goofin’ with the cosmic freaks – a kind of On the Road for the sixties

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goofin-Cosmic-Freaks-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1500860247/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461832001&sr=1-13&keywords=opher+goodwin

The book of Ginny – a novel

In Britain :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1461306850&sr=1-2-ent

In America:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=opher+goodwin

In all other countries around the world check out your regional Amazon site and Opher Goodwin books.

Human Rights – The UN Charter of Human Rights – Article 2

Posted on by Opher

memri-crucifixion-lg

Article 2.

  • Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Homo sapiens – the thinking man. We are all one species. Our similarities far exceed our differences. We all have the same rights.

The arbitrary separation into gender, race, culture and nationality is superficial.

We are all free people with rights and freedoms.

We need to work to ensure those rights, freedoms and respect are universally applied!

That is something worth fighting for (in a non-violent manner)!

Let us prove we are worthy of the name – THINKING – and can rise above the indoctrination that restricts our thoughts and actions.