Basic Human Rights of the Repressed

Submitted by Jim Rivard (United States), Jan 1, 2003 at 22:24

I'd just like to ask Eric Foner and Glenda Gilmore a question.

They stated, "it is one thing to deem a regime repressive, quite another to believe that the United States has the right to assume the unilateral role of global policeman."

I'd just like to know just who has the "right" to free the people from their repressive dictators around the world. The very people under the dictator's thumbs? It's common knowledge that the repressed are swiftly and severely punished if they so much as look at their respective governements in the "wrong" way. Obviously no one else in the world seem to be employing tactics to rid these repressed nations of their repressive regimes (the repressive regimes still exist), instead, they seem to be supporting these repressive regimes by way of looking out for their own interests. Every day that the world waffles on the issue, more and more people are being starved and stripped of their basic human rights. Is there no end to their suffering? The repressed are stuck in a catch-22 of sorts. They can't cry out for our help because they would be severely punished for doing so and we can't offer our help because they didn't ask for it.

Maybe we don't have the right to assume the role of the "global policeman", but just because the rest of the free world isn't lifting a finger to help the repressed doesn't make it right to be apathetic. I think we have a responsibility to ensure that people all over the world are afforded their basic human rights and we have the responsibility to deal with the regimes who deny their people these basic human rights because the repressed are helpless.

Many thanks to Daniel Pipes for allowing me to be heard.

Jim Rivard

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