This was the maiden sally of the United States at the U.N. Human Rights Council, a resolution under the rubric of "promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development." Phew!
The measure was introduced by the U.S. and by Egypt, which, of course, has a long and sterling record as an insurer and defender of civilized liberties. After all, earlier this year, Freedom House gave the Cairo regime a ranking on its freedom of the press index, placing it with three other bastions of human rights at 128th out of 195 countries--a notch above the Central African Republic and a few notches below Congo (Brazzaville). Are we to expect that soon America will co-sponsor a motion with Saudi Arabia on the liberties of women?
The resolution passed in a voice vote, which means by acclamation. I am sure that the delegates from Cuba and China and other paragons of press freedom also shouted "aye" to the question. In any case, there was no "nay" or "abstain" recorded. So that settles it, I suppose, "freedom for all." Doubtless that the crime of insulting the president of Egypt, which can get you five years in jail, will vanish from the books ... and maybe from the courts, too. On the other hand, do not count on this.
The truth is that much of the resolution's text is utterly banal. And it will be banally violated by most of the governments that voted for it. But here and there are the Mickey Finns in the soothing drink...
Article 4, for example:
"Also expresses its concern that incidents of racial and religious intolerance, discrimination and related violence, as well as of negative stereotyping of religions and racial groups continue to rise around the world, and condemns, in this context, any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, and urges States to take effective measures, consistent with their international human rights obligations, to address and combat such incidents."
Please believe me: This is not a response to the stereotyping of Jews. That's a sacrosanct practice among the Muslims. It is a response to people who wonder why the world of Islam stood still.
Or Article 6:
"Stresses that condemning and addressing, in accordance with international human rights obligations, including those regarding equal protection of the law, any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence is an important safeguard to ensure the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all, particularly minorities."
If you think that this does not look all the way back to Voltaire's enlightenment up until the Copenhagen cartoons, you are mistaken.
The document also states that "freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities, in accordance with article 19 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." Article 19 (3) of the ICCPR, for the record, allows that freedom of expression "may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary: (a) For respect of the rights and reputations of others; (b) For the protection of national security or of public order, or public health and morals."
This is all dangerous mischief. Perhaps, if the country had not been riveted on health care or on Afghanistan, even this arcane verbiage would have been subject to some public scrutiny, the public scrutiny it deserves.
As it is, I have been able to find only two articles on this macabre happening. There was an Associated Press dispatch: "UN rights body approves US-Egypt free speech text." ("Free speech text," a pig's ass, but it was an honest account.)
And there was a commentary on the Weekly Standard's web site by Anne Bayevsky, director of EYEontheUN.org: "You Can't Say That: At the UN, the Obama administration backs limits on free speech."
Doug Griffiths, the U.S. diplomat who introduced the resolution, brimmed with pride:
"The United Sates is very pleased to present this joint project with Egypt. This initiative is a manifestation of the Obama administration's commitment to multilateral engagement throughout the United Nations and of our genuine desire to seek and build cooperation based upon mutual interest and mutual respect in pursuit of our shared common principles of tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."
What is he talking about? "Common principles of tolerance and the dignity of all human beings," indeed.
I know nothing at all about Doug, who served previously in the Galapagos. He is not the Douglas Griffiths who has 53 friends on MySpace.
But I do know something about Esther Brimmer. Nothing especially elevating or especially derogatory. She is the assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, and it is in this capacity that she issued a statement (which as far I can see on the Web got no press attention at all) about the American co-sponsorship of the resolution at the Human Rights Council.
It has been, she exuded, "a terrific learning experience." Now, I wouldn't think that the assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs should be learning on the job. Of course, her first work seems to have been at McKinsey, where you earn oodles of money for learning on the job. But enough is enough. This is important work.
She asserted that the resolution "confirms the central role of free speech, open debate and the battle of ideas in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance." It does not. Someone, please find me a reference that at all relates (not even favorably) to the "battle of ideas," let alone the battle of ideals.
Ms. Brimmer added that the Obama administration "thought it was important to bridge the gaps that have appeared in the past in the Human Rights Council, and to bring together Western states, [Organization of the Islamic Conference] member states and to transcend previous gaps here."
She is apparently a friend of both Susan Rice and Madeleine Albright. Adequate credentials.
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COMMENTS (16)
Too many liberals don't understand how Islam is an aggressive totalitarian threat to their values of tolerance and freedom. It can't be appeased. All of its manifestations must be deconstructed and subjected to rigorous analysis. Islamic countries and organizations are trying to rope off Islam from legitimate criticism with international legislation such as that described by Peretz above.
Too many liberals don't understand how Islam is an aggressive totalitarian threat to their values of tolerance and freedom. It can't be appeased. All of its manifestations must be deconstructed and subjected to rigorous analysis. Islamic countries and organizations are trying to rope off Islam from legitimate criticism with international legislation such as that described by Peretz above.
"Common principles of tolerance and the dignity of all human beings,"
Here, at last, is an achievement that can effectively counter the most recent libel against Obama that he has done nothing. This is definitely something.
I have been looking forward to this resolution. I fully expect that now there will be close monitoring in the UNUH Commission of the overflow of antisemitic content in member countries, resulting in condemnations to any government that allows its media to act in this way.
They can start with Sweden, or Germany:
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"Common principles of tolerance and the dignity of all human beings,"
Here, at last, is an achievement that can effectively counter the most recent libel against Obama that he has done nothing. This is definitely something.
I have been looking forward to this resolution. I fully expect that now there will be close monitoring in the UNUH Commission of the overflow of antisemitic content in member countries, resulting in condemnations to any government that allows its media to act in this way.
They can start with Sweden, or Germany:
http://mickhartley.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/braving-censorship-in-german...
And then, move on to terminate this in the Arab lands:
http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/default.htm
I think this is a very natural development. After all, the U.S. and Egypt are quite alike. Egypt is, of course, the birthplace of monotheistic religion, as explored by Sigmund Freud in Moses and Monotheism, in which he discusses the likelihood that Moses was in reality a disaffected Pharaonic prince whose radical religious ideas led to his being ousted from the royal court and then to his embracing the oppressed minority of the Hebrews, whose leader and liberator he became. His ethnic antecedents were a little problematic, of course, and therefore his origins were adjusted within the Judaic tradition to the more mythically resonant story of the Nile foundling. Out of all that ca ... view full comment
I think this is a very natural development. After all, the U.S. and Egypt are quite alike. Egypt is, of course, the birthplace of monotheistic religion, as explored by Sigmund Freud in Moses and Monotheism, in which he discusses the likelihood that Moses was in reality a disaffected Pharaonic prince whose radical religious ideas led to his being ousted from the royal court and then to his embracing the oppressed minority of the Hebrews, whose leader and liberator he became. His ethnic antecedents were a little problematic, of course, and therefore his origins were adjusted within the Judaic tradition to the more mythically resonant story of the Nile foundling. Out of all that came, eventually, Christianity and -- hurrying after them like the kid who's always late for the school bus -- Islam.
For our part, we have put the great Egyptian symbol, the pyramids, on our dollar bill.
So it's all quite appropriate, really.
Marty says about Article 4 :"This is not a response to the stereotyping of Jews. That's a sacrosanct practice among the Muslims. It is a response to people who wonder why the world of Islam stood still."
Enough with the broad brush. Not all Jews are like Madoff, and not all Arabs were like Nazis If you have not read them read "Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands " and "Besa." Its hard to take you seriously with these repeated attempts to smear whole nations. There weren't many who helped, but of those in a position to do so, some did.
Otherwise, it is ridiculous to be lending credibility to the SOB's of the world by resolutions such as thes ... view full comment
Marty says about Article 4 :"This is not a response to the stereotyping of Jews. That's a sacrosanct practice among the Muslims. It is a response to people who wonder why the world of Islam stood still."
Enough with the broad brush. Not all Jews are like Madoff, and not all Arabs were like Nazis If you have not read them read "Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands " and "Besa." Its hard to take you seriously with these repeated attempts to smear whole nations. There weren't many who helped, but of those in a position to do so, some did.
Otherwise, it is ridiculous to be lending credibility to the SOB's of the world by resolutions such as these. I say it again: move the UN to Harre or Peshawar and maybe the morons who pass these things and drink champagne afterwards will refrain from going there, and find less harmful things to do, like writing for magazines. Any why isn't the Newspaper of Record or America's Newspaper reporting these things? Too many wedding announcements?
By the way, the new web design is worse than the old one.
"Not all Jews are like Madoff, and not all Arabs were like Nazis"
I wonder about this analogy and what it reveals about its proposer: Is Madof to Jews what Nazis are to Arabs? Is Madof the counterpart of a Nazi?
Ironyroad:
Do I take your Saidian-inspired nonsense to suggest deep embarrassment about Obama's latest moral achievement? Or are you trying to poke fun at the Jews for taking their demonization by Arabs so seriously? Perhaps Jews ought to learn how to keep quiet about such things and let others, who know better, work out solutions to Arab rejectionism?
"Not all Jews are like Madoff, and not all Arabs were like Nazis"
I wonder about this analogy and what it reveals about its proposer: Is Madof to Jews what Nazis are to Arabs? Is Madof the counterpart of a Nazi?
Ironyroad:
Do I take your Saidian-inspired nonsense to suggest deep embarrassment about Obama's latest moral achievement? Or are you trying to poke fun at the Jews for taking their demonization by Arabs so seriously? Perhaps Jews ought to learn how to keep quiet about such things and let others, who know better, work out solutions to Arab rejectionism?
Noga, Freud published Moses and Monotheism in 1938, when Edward Said was a nerdy kid in English-style school uniform in Alexandria or wherever he grew up. He would have been hard put to have influenced any of it.
I don't know if I/we should be embarrassed by the resolution or not. I hope/assume some strategic thinking is at work, and that we're getting something for this, but I do think the Danes should hold out for protection of Soren Kierkegaard from groundless slurs and whatever the philosophy equivalent of blasphemy is.
Noga, Freud published Moses and Monotheism in 1938, when Edward Said was a nerdy kid in English-style school uniform in Alexandria or wherever he grew up. He would have been hard put to have influenced any of it.
I don't know if I/we should be embarrassed by the resolution or not. I hope/assume some strategic thinking is at work, and that we're getting something for this, but I do think the Danes should hold out for protection of Soren Kierkegaard from groundless slurs and whatever the philosophy equivalent of blasphemy is.
So now the chicken-hawks who want the U.S. to govern its foreign policy around Israel's interests, not the U.S.', now want to bomb Egypt in addition to Iran and the calamit they clammored for in Iraq?
Nice.
So now the chicken-hawks who want the U.S. to govern its foreign policy around Israel's interests, not the U.S.', now want to bomb Egypt in addition to Iran and the calamit they clammored for in Iraq?
Nice.
"He would have been hard put to have influenced any of it."
You know better than this flippant response suggests:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Freud-and-the-Non-European/Edward-W-Sai...
"I hope/assume some strategic thinking is at work, and that we're getting something for this"
Like what? Is it possible to put out a fire by dousing it with gasoline? Is this what the future of our known civilization looks like, collaboration with repressive theologies already in firm control of a third of our ... view full comment
"He would have been hard put to have influenced any of it."
You know better than this flippant response suggests:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Freud-and-the-Non-European/Edward-W-Sai...
"I hope/assume some strategic thinking is at work, and that we're getting something for this"
Like what? Is it possible to put out a fire by dousing it with gasoline? Is this what the future of our known civilization looks like, collaboration with repressive theologies already in firm control of a third of our world? Are you really that sanguine about it? I wish I could figure out the reason for the extent of your confidence in Obama'a judgment. I see all your finely-tuned critical faculties rushing out with a scream as soon as Obama-sanctioned puzzling decisions and behaviours are pointed out.
Fouad Ajami called it Obama's grand bargain "strategy". He and his many helpers do not realize that Middle Easterners are born bargainers, much more likely to take than to cede, even though quite adept at making it appear so, to the naive tourist. The latter does not really mind being duped and paying through the nose as long as he gets that exotic looking garment he covets so. Which is usually just a cheap imitation of something genuinely expensive.
Which is usually just a cheap imitation of something genuinely expensive.. and worth having.
Which is usually just a cheap imitation of something genuinely expensive.. and worth having.
Sorry for the serial posting. I just recalled another example:
""We've got the classic case of a Western government yet again conceding to Chinese pressure that is imaginary long after that Chinese pressure has ceased to exist," said Robert Barnett, a Tibetan expert at Columbia University. "The Chinese must be falling over themselves with astonishment at what Western diplomats will give them without being asked. I don't know what the poker analogy would be. 'Please, see all my cards and take my money, too?' "
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Sorry for the serial posting. I just recalled another example:
""We've got the classic case of a Western government yet again conceding to Chinese pressure that is imaginary long after that Chinese pressure has ceased to exist," said Robert Barnett, a Tibetan expert at Columbia University. "The Chinese must be falling over themselves with astonishment at what Western diplomats will give them without being asked. I don't know what the poker analogy would be. 'Please, see all my cards and take my money, too?' "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/04/AR200910...
I did not know about that book by Said and Rose. I thought my little summary of M&M was broadly correct, and was puzzled by your response. Despite my occasional claims to universal knowledge on the scale of a Goethe, Noga, I spend a lot of time on rather local American literature/history scholarship and leave the high-flyer theory stuff to other folks.
I believe the job placement numbers for comp lit PhDs are not so good, so there's some justice in the world. But I digress. And I didn't really mean that, just in case you thought I did.
It's not as complicated as you think. I'm pretty much happy with the formulation of a new American foreign policy, which is our approach to the world, ... view full comment
I did not know about that book by Said and Rose. I thought my little summary of M&M was broadly correct, and was puzzled by your response. Despite my occasional claims to universal knowledge on the scale of a Goethe, Noga, I spend a lot of time on rather local American literature/history scholarship and leave the high-flyer theory stuff to other folks.
I believe the job placement numbers for comp lit PhDs are not so good, so there's some justice in the world. But I digress. And I didn't really mean that, just in case you thought I did.
It's not as complicated as you think. I'm pretty much happy with the formulation of a new American foreign policy, which is our approach to the world, but I'm middle-aged and cynical and don't believe that the nature of international relations will change just because Obama is there. Neither do I expect to agree with everything he does. But it is good for us, I think. The tone of engagement is important, and starving rather than feeding the "America is at war with us" trope seems like a sensible way to go.
I think it will pay dividends in the long run, and as far as the Arab world goes, if we'd do something serious and substantial about alternative energy, they'd have even less bargaining power than they have now.
Marty hits the nail that is American foreign policy right on the head in pointing out how ludicrous it is for the U.S. to team up with Egypt in hosting resolutions about human rights.
And why hasn't America condemned Saudi Arabia and its atrocities against women with the same vigor it does against those Islamic regimes it hammers relentlessly.
Let's see, what does Saudi Arabia have that, say, Afghanistan doesn't? There must be something that compels the State Department to wag its finger at the Islamists in Riyadh, while waging war against those in Kabul.
Help me out here.
Oh and Marty, what do you recommend the State Department should do against Beijing to turn around their own horrific abuse ... view full comment
Marty hits the nail that is American foreign policy right on the head in pointing out how ludicrous it is for the U.S. to team up with Egypt in hosting resolutions about human rights.
And why hasn't America condemned Saudi Arabia and its atrocities against women with the same vigor it does against those Islamic regimes it hammers relentlessly.
Let's see, what does Saudi Arabia have that, say, Afghanistan doesn't? There must be something that compels the State Department to wag its finger at the Islamists in Riyadh, while waging war against those in Kabul.
Help me out here.
Oh and Marty, what do you recommend the State Department should do against Beijing to turn around their own horrific abuse of human rights? And how about Israel? Israel was among the earliest to recognize China in the MiddleEast; and have since established close cooperation. In fact, didn't the U.S. have to caution Isreal once against selling strategic military hardware [like AWACS] to these dictators?
And surely it has long been established that racial and religious stereotyping is a one way street in the Middle East. The Arabs relectlessly caricature the Jews of course but it hardly ever unfolds the other way around. Not with The Spine ever vigilant against that sort of bigotry.
Keep up this fair and balanced edictorial stance, Mr. Peretz.
george walton
noga1: I wonder about this analogy and what it reveals about its proposer: Is Madof to Jews what Nazis are to Arabs? Is Madof the counterpart of a Nazi?
Noga1, all it says is that I think such generalizations as applied to whole groups of people based on religious affiliation or ethnicity alone are ridiculous.
noga1: I wonder about this analogy and what it reveals about its proposer: Is Madof to Jews what Nazis are to Arabs? Is Madof the counterpart of a Nazi?
Noga1, all it says is that I think such generalizations as applied to whole groups of people based on religious affiliation or ethnicity alone are ridiculous.
The Nazis, as far as I know, were not ethnically affiliated to Arabs.
And Madoff/Jews binary came all too easy and quickly to suggest such uncomplicated intentions as you now profess.
The Nazis, as far as I know, were not ethnically affiliated to Arabs.
And Madoff/Jews binary came all too easy and quickly to suggest such uncomplicated intentions as you now profess.
"...if we'd do something serious and substantial about alternative energy, they'd have even less bargaining power than they have now."
I don't hear much about that in Obama's discourse. Do you know how much money he has allocated to the research in alternative energy?
"...if we'd do something serious and substantial about alternative energy, they'd have even less bargaining power than they have now."
I don't hear much about that in Obama's discourse. Do you know how much money he has allocated to the research in alternative energy?
"Do you know how much money he has allocated to the research in alternative energy?"
About $150 billion over ten years, I hear.
He was the first to have a White House "czar" on green jobs and renewable energy. The "czar", Van Jones, was ran off by the rightwing for his less than judicious signing of the controversial truther petition. Also, it was claimed he had communist association as a young man. Bad judgment all around, though I felt he should have stuck out the brouhaha.
"Do you know how much money he has allocated to the research in alternative energy?"
About $150 billion over ten years, I hear.
He was the first to have a White House "czar" on green jobs and renewable energy. The "czar", Van Jones, was ran off by the rightwing for his less than judicious signing of the controversial truther petition. Also, it was claimed he had communist association as a young man. Bad judgment all around, though I felt he should have stuck out the brouhaha.