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Chinese report documents human rights disaster in the United States
The United States is the only country in the world that claims to be superior in every aspect, especially in human rights, and that lie is again exposed, this time by a report from China on the United States, all from US sources. The US is in fact a backward cesspool, the most backward country in the industrialized world.
From: Chinese report documents human rights disaster in the United States
19 March 2010 by Patrick Martin
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/pers-m19.shtml
and the full report is at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/12/c_13208219.htm
On March 13, China’s Information Office of the State Council published a report titled, “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009.”
This document was clearly intended as a rebuttal to the annual US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009, released two days earlier.
The Chinese report quite legitimately notes that the US government “releases Country Reports on Human Rights Practices year after year to accuse other countries, and takes human rights as a political instrument to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, defame other nations’ image and seek its own strategic interests. This fully exposes its double standards on the human rights issue…”
Delivering the US government a well-deserved dose of its own medicine does not, of course, absolve the Chinese regime of its own gross violations of human rights. It rules autocratically over 1.3 billion people, most of them desperately poor peasants and super-exploited workers.
That being said, the Chinese report is an eye-opening document—factual, sober, even understated, drawn entirely from public government and media sources in the United States, with each item carefully documented. It presents a picture of 21st century America as much of the world sees it, one which is in sharp contrast to the official mythology and American media propaganda.
Not surprisingly, the report went unmentioned in the US mass media.
The 14-page report is divided into six major sections: Life, Property and Personal Security; Civil and Political Rights; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Racial Discrimination; Rights of Women and Children; US Violations of Human Rights Against Other Nations. The cumulative picture is one of a society in deep and worsening social crisis.
A few of the facts and figures cited on violence and police repression in the United States:
• Each year, 30,000 people die in gun-related incidents.
• There were 14,180 murders last year.
• In the first ten months of 2009, 45 people were killed by police use of tasers, bringing the total for the decade to 389.
• Last year, 315 police officers in New York City were subject to internal supervision due to “unrestrained use of violence.”
• 7.3 million Americans were under the authority of the correctional system, more than in any other country.
• An estimated 60,000 prisoners were raped while in custody last year.
On democratic rights, the report notes the pervasive government spying on citizens, authorized under the 2001 Patriot Act, extensive surveillance of the Internet by the National Security Agency, and police harassment of anti-globalization demonstrators in Pittsburgh during last year’s G-20 summit. Pointing to the hypocrisy of US government “human rights” rhetoric, the authors observe, “the same conduct in other countries would be called human rights violations, whereas in the United States it was called necessary crime control.”
The report only skims the surface on the socioeconomic crisis in the United States, noting record levels of unemployment, poverty, hunger and homelessness, as well as 46.3 million people without health insurance. It does offer a few facts rarely discussed in the US media:
• 712 bodies were cremated at public expense in the city of Los Angeles last year, because the families were too poor to pay for a burial.
• There were 5,657 workplace deaths recorded in 2007, the last year for which a tally is available, a rate of 17 deaths per day (not a single employer was criminally charged for any of these deaths).
• Some 2,266 veterans died as a consequence of lack of health insurance in 2008, 14 times the military death toll in Afghanistan that year.
The report presents evidence of pervasive racial discrimination against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, the most oppressed sections of the US working class, including a record number of racial discrimination claims over hiring practices, more than 32,000. It also notes the rising number of incidents of discrimination or violence against Muslims, and the detention of 300,000 “illegal” immigrants each year, with more than 30,000 immigrants in US detention facilities every day of the year.
It notes that the state of California imposed life sentences on 18 times more black defendants than white, and that in 2008, when New York City police fired their weapons, 75 percent of the targets were black, 22 percent Hispanic and only 3 percent white.
The report refers to the well-known reality of unequal pay for women, with median female income only 77 percent that of male income in 2008, down from 78 percent in 2007. According to the report, 70 percent of working-age women have no health insurance, or inadequate coverage, high medical bills or high health-related debt.
Children bear a disproportionate burden of economic hardship, with 16.7 million children not having enough food at some time during 2008, and 3.5 million children under five facing hunger or malnutrition, 17 percent of the total. Child hunger is combined with the malignant phenomenon of rampant child labor in agriculture: some 400,000 child farm workers pick America’s crops. The US also leads the world in imprisoning children and juveniles, and is the only country that does not offer parole to juvenile offenders.
US foreign policy comes in for justifiable criticism as well. A country with so many poor and hungry people accounts for 42 percent of the world’s total military spending, a colossal $607 billion, as well as the world’s largest foreign arms sales, $37.8 billion in 2008, up nearly 50 percent from the previous year.
The Chinese report notes the documented torture of prisoners in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, the worldwide US network of military bases, the US blockade of Cuba (opposed by the UN General Assembly by a vote of 187 to 3), and the systematic US spying around the world, utilizing the NSA’s “ECHELON” interception system, as well as the US monopoly control over Internet route servers.
The report also points out the deliberate US flouting of international human rights covenants. Washington has either signed but not ratified or refused to sign four major UN covenants: on economic, social and cultural rights; on the rights of women; on the rights of people with disabilities; and on the rights of indigenous peoples.
The report does not discuss the source of the malignant social conditions in the United States—nor should that be expected, since that would require an explanation of the causal connection between poverty, repression and discrimination and the operations of the capitalist profit system, something that Beijing is hardly likely to undertake.
19 March 2010 by Patrick Martin
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/pers-m19.shtml
and the full report is at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/12/c_13208219.htm
On March 13, China’s Information Office of the State Council published a report titled, “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009.”
This document was clearly intended as a rebuttal to the annual US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009, released two days earlier.
The Chinese report quite legitimately notes that the US government “releases Country Reports on Human Rights Practices year after year to accuse other countries, and takes human rights as a political instrument to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, defame other nations’ image and seek its own strategic interests. This fully exposes its double standards on the human rights issue…”
Delivering the US government a well-deserved dose of its own medicine does not, of course, absolve the Chinese regime of its own gross violations of human rights. It rules autocratically over 1.3 billion people, most of them desperately poor peasants and super-exploited workers.
That being said, the Chinese report is an eye-opening document—factual, sober, even understated, drawn entirely from public government and media sources in the United States, with each item carefully documented. It presents a picture of 21st century America as much of the world sees it, one which is in sharp contrast to the official mythology and American media propaganda.
Not surprisingly, the report went unmentioned in the US mass media.
The 14-page report is divided into six major sections: Life, Property and Personal Security; Civil and Political Rights; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Racial Discrimination; Rights of Women and Children; US Violations of Human Rights Against Other Nations. The cumulative picture is one of a society in deep and worsening social crisis.
A few of the facts and figures cited on violence and police repression in the United States:
• Each year, 30,000 people die in gun-related incidents.
• There were 14,180 murders last year.
• In the first ten months of 2009, 45 people were killed by police use of tasers, bringing the total for the decade to 389.
• Last year, 315 police officers in New York City were subject to internal supervision due to “unrestrained use of violence.”
• 7.3 million Americans were under the authority of the correctional system, more than in any other country.
• An estimated 60,000 prisoners were raped while in custody last year.
On democratic rights, the report notes the pervasive government spying on citizens, authorized under the 2001 Patriot Act, extensive surveillance of the Internet by the National Security Agency, and police harassment of anti-globalization demonstrators in Pittsburgh during last year’s G-20 summit. Pointing to the hypocrisy of US government “human rights” rhetoric, the authors observe, “the same conduct in other countries would be called human rights violations, whereas in the United States it was called necessary crime control.”
The report only skims the surface on the socioeconomic crisis in the United States, noting record levels of unemployment, poverty, hunger and homelessness, as well as 46.3 million people without health insurance. It does offer a few facts rarely discussed in the US media:
• 712 bodies were cremated at public expense in the city of Los Angeles last year, because the families were too poor to pay for a burial.
• There were 5,657 workplace deaths recorded in 2007, the last year for which a tally is available, a rate of 17 deaths per day (not a single employer was criminally charged for any of these deaths).
• Some 2,266 veterans died as a consequence of lack of health insurance in 2008, 14 times the military death toll in Afghanistan that year.
The report presents evidence of pervasive racial discrimination against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, the most oppressed sections of the US working class, including a record number of racial discrimination claims over hiring practices, more than 32,000. It also notes the rising number of incidents of discrimination or violence against Muslims, and the detention of 300,000 “illegal” immigrants each year, with more than 30,000 immigrants in US detention facilities every day of the year.
It notes that the state of California imposed life sentences on 18 times more black defendants than white, and that in 2008, when New York City police fired their weapons, 75 percent of the targets were black, 22 percent Hispanic and only 3 percent white.
The report refers to the well-known reality of unequal pay for women, with median female income only 77 percent that of male income in 2008, down from 78 percent in 2007. According to the report, 70 percent of working-age women have no health insurance, or inadequate coverage, high medical bills or high health-related debt.
Children bear a disproportionate burden of economic hardship, with 16.7 million children not having enough food at some time during 2008, and 3.5 million children under five facing hunger or malnutrition, 17 percent of the total. Child hunger is combined with the malignant phenomenon of rampant child labor in agriculture: some 400,000 child farm workers pick America’s crops. The US also leads the world in imprisoning children and juveniles, and is the only country that does not offer parole to juvenile offenders.
US foreign policy comes in for justifiable criticism as well. A country with so many poor and hungry people accounts for 42 percent of the world’s total military spending, a colossal $607 billion, as well as the world’s largest foreign arms sales, $37.8 billion in 2008, up nearly 50 percent from the previous year.
The Chinese report notes the documented torture of prisoners in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, the worldwide US network of military bases, the US blockade of Cuba (opposed by the UN General Assembly by a vote of 187 to 3), and the systematic US spying around the world, utilizing the NSA’s “ECHELON” interception system, as well as the US monopoly control over Internet route servers.
The report also points out the deliberate US flouting of international human rights covenants. Washington has either signed but not ratified or refused to sign four major UN covenants: on economic, social and cultural rights; on the rights of women; on the rights of people with disabilities; and on the rights of indigenous peoples.
The report does not discuss the source of the malignant social conditions in the United States—nor should that be expected, since that would require an explanation of the causal connection between poverty, repression and discrimination and the operations of the capitalist profit system, something that Beijing is hardly likely to undertake.
For more information:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/chin...
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Brainless wonders like yourself give American a bad name.
HAHAHAHA! let's go bomb dem chinky basterds...GITTERDONE!
this country is a joke
Do you see the flaw in your argument? I realize this is somewhat extreme of an example, but it is to show that some don't have the means to leave whether they like the country or not. Part of what makes Democracy work is the ability to dissent and to change the policies. So, your argument of "tits or gtfo" is pretty limp-dicked.
But as for the report on human rights produced by the State Department each year, it does have a legitimate reason for being. The government takes it into consideration when evaluating asylum claims from a given country.
Even if the US never intervened in the affairs of other nations in the name of human right, the report would still needed because the US needs to have the information in this report on hand when citizens of foreign nations come banging on the doors of their embassies asking for help.
It's not clear to me if the Chinese report fills a similar role.
He who is without sin.... people in glass houses.... blah blah blah
Are you that unfirmillar with the nation drug laws & how they are appillied unevenly to minorities over whites? It has been going on for decades. Look at minimum sentencing for crack cocaine vs powder cocain.
The point is that the report, or at least the summary of the report, paints a picture of the US which is in large part true. There is a great deal of hypocrisy in the way the US deals with the world, and conditions that occur in the US would be deemed unacceptable if the US were judging another country. Mass incarcerations and illegal wars are REAL issues that need to be discussed openly and honestly. People claiming these things are morally wrong probably do have a political agenda, but if what they are saying is TRUE, they cannot simply be dismissed for having a political agenda. You can't just ignore facts because you don't like the speaker or don't like the facts. "O China said it, commie bastards" doesn't really work when what they say is factually based in reality, which this report is.
The US likes to think of itself as the champion of freedom and democracy, so wouldn't we chastise a country for having the highest incarceration rate in the world, or the highest level of military spending? And yet other countries cannot chastise the US for these very things? That's called hypocrisy, and it is morally right to call out hypocrisy when you see it.
The world doesn't hate the US because it's "free," the world hates the US because we invade a country, destroy its infrastructure, and then tell its people we had the best intentions and aren't they so much better off, and then tell the world the country is democratic because the people can elect an official handpicked by the US to promote its interests. It's not liberation, it's imperialism. It doesn't even matter if the US had good intentions, which it probably didn't, what right does one country have to invade a country that poses no threat?
Yet one more thing that China apparently doesn't teach.
However, the real difference is that people can and *do* report on these human rights violations in America. They don't wind up in jail. They don't have their parents detained. They don't wind up censored. And, in fact, this is where most of the facts in this article come from. Funny that.
I do find this story especially timely and ironic given that the press is currently reporting on "forced sterilization" in China.
Everyone who is sitting their arguing and bickering over the legitimacy or political nature of the report from China are ridiculous. Are you just so closed minded that you cannot look at what is really being said? And did any of you bother to go actually read the real report? America is in unparalleled crisis, and unfortunately, we are suffering for the mistakes of our ancestors. It would take great radical change to fix the issues in this country. The US likes to prop itself as the greatest nation in the world, however, we are hardly so. Our civil liberties and privacy are nearly nonexistent, thanks to George W and his clonies. No longer is this nation looking like the dream that our founding fathers had for it. And again, instead of fixing what is wrong here, we are running off to other countries to fix them, consistently.
Instead of people saying they'd rather be somewhere else (which really, if you feel that way, go, you are NO property of the US and we'd be happy to see you go-because likely your not contributing a damn thing or doing anything to make this country better) maybe everyone should look at what they *CAN* do to help out. How many of you spend any amount of time volunteering or donate to agencies that really help others (like big brothers/big sisters, dv shelters and other agencies designed to help out children)? what about being a part of agencies that monitor police brutality and reviews (Copwatch)?
Just to be clear, I am certainly not sitting around bitching doing absolutely nothing-I volunteer, involve my child in activities and groups that will have a life long meaning and connection for him that will likely give him a step up in his future, so he can turn around and do the same for his children and his country. If you feel that you can just bitch and do nothing, well then really, you ought to leave. America is in crisis, and EVERYONE needs to step up and do a little extra. First, raising our children in a fashion that will empower them to be self sufficient and make a change, not lazy, drains on society (why not turn off the video games once in a while). Second, spend a little bit of your time (even just 2-3 hours a MONTH) with an agency geared to helping children-they are in fact the future of this country, and will be running it in no time at all. So when you spend just a little time with underprivileged kids, helping them read, taking them to a ball game, teaching them about something new, you have just improved the chances of that child, the community in which they will reside, and thus the nation.
Good luck to all of you, it seems some of you need it more than others.
*Be the change you wish to see in the world*
"Are you that fucking stupid? Did you even fucking read that the report is from China???
Brainless wonders like yourself give American a bad name."
*****************************************************************************
No, as a matter of fact you're the stupid, you garbage-lurking political trash. Just because it comes from China is not sufficient to discredit the report so get a pair of balls and digg into into it, jack. US has the worst record on human rights violations in the whole developped world. And that is on public record if you bother to check, but you won't , you mindless troll!!!!
Save your political excrement for another time and another place. By the way: do you have any emelementary school education? Just curious...
Mike Hesslein
Personally, I love America. It has it's flaws, but what country doesn't? We could do this type of a report on all the other countries in the world as well and none would be any better. If you disagree, then do the research and let the whole world know which country is best off. But arguing on here with flawed truths to back yourself up just makes you look stupid.
FACT: We have been seeing a shrinking of the American middle-class. The rich are becoming richer, but far more people are slipping into poverty.
OPINION: I think there are many reasons for this. One is world population growth has driven down the cost of labor. Another is globalization has increased competition in all market sectors. Another is that changes in laws - deregulation in particular - has allowed consolidation of capital into fewer entities and stifled competition.
FACT: The U.S. has a large percentage of it's population incarcerated.
OPINION: I think this is largely due to the failed War on Drugs and Prostitution. People do drugs and use hookers anyway. What these laws have done is create a gangster sub-culture
I would take on the gun ownership issue but my opinions on that topic are more nuanced. However, I think that it's reasonable to require training, testing, and licensing that is at least as rigorous as what is required for a driver's license.
As long as people don't have the right to form self-sufficient states that are not participating in America's corrupt financial shenanigans without fearing American meddling, the 'love it or leave it' argument is intellectually bankrupt.
Look at Africa, are you really so stupid as to think they want to keep the borders that the West forced upon them? But as soon as someone tries to redraw the borders, guess who's there to preserve the status quo? When America stops screwing with the outside world, then and only then would the 'love it or leave it' mentality be even half-intelligent.
--------
I had no idea that we claim to be superior in every aspect. I thought we claimed to have an environment that enables anyone with the drive and vision necessary to excel and to profit from their labors.
We are all well aware of our short comings.
In my life I have meet many immigrants, both legal and illegal. The one thing that they all had in common was that they came to the US to find a better life from themselves and their families. They all believed that coming to the US gave them a chance they would have never had in their home countries.
--------
Is the US perfect? Not by a long shot. Is it a cesspool? Parts of it defiantly are hideous beyond the belief of the average American. I grew up poor white trailer trash with 2 marginally functional alcoholic parents. By hard work I have managed to break the cycle and improve my situation.
I suppose what I am really trying to say is you can love and be proud of your country even if you think it needs to make changes. On a final note, we live in a Republic not a Democracy. Until you can understand the difference you are a moron.
I don't think it helps us when our dirty truths are so easy to throw around.
Talking about Tinnamon square that happened a decade ago, when the US has limited protesting areas today?
Talking about an oppressive regime, without addressing the worlds biggest prison population in the US.
Talking about forced sterilization when Kissinger himself threatened China if they don't reduce population, America would do it for them.
What a bunch of wankers, but according to your imperialistic logic, you do not have the right to criticize me, I come from Finland, and my country is less corrupt etc then yours. Do you see what a lame argument that is?
300 million tons of bombs have been dropped by the US on Vietnam alone and more than 100 million civilians have died due to direct/indirect US war operations.
USA used to report balahbalah about other countries; now it is other people' turn to report about them; you can do it, I can do it ! let's be fair
The rest of the world hate you because you're unpredictable, thiiving, vicious bastards, not because you're free - you aren't.
Second, and more general in nature, is that there are several problems with this report, chief among which is that it looks at these supposed violations strictly from a race based and demographic point of view. If there is a higher percentage of one race or another in our prison system, might I be so bold as to ask why? Could it be because they broke the law, regardless of whether or not a given section of the population agrees or disagrees with said law? If the law says that marijuana or prostitution is illegal, and one chooses to engage in said activities, then one is running the risk of winding up in a jail or a courtroom as a result. If you don't like the laws, then fight to get them changed. If society is sufficiently fed up with the laws or penalties regarding vices in general, then they should vote for candidates who seek to overturn those laws. Our society still in many ways reflects some of the puritanical roots of our founders. Do I agree with the drug laws? Not necessarily. Do I believe that our government, or any government, operates purely with the intent of doing what is best for its constituents? Absolutely not.
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington said this, and it was the belief of many of the founders. It is for this reason that they put in writing a Bill of Rights, specifically because they knew that a government, ANY government, could get "too big for its breeches" (pants) and become a hendrance to the freedom and productivity of its populace. Ours is most definitely on that course, but the difference between the US and, oh, say, CHINA, is that We the People have a voice and we can make changes. Whether or not we will remains to be seen, but the very fact that the possibility exists changes the hue of the "human rights" argument entirely.
The Human Rights argument is so often stated using demographics, race, etc, as a way of hiding the true nature of the issue as well as the agenda of those framing the issue. At issue is the fact that some believe they know best for all, and that simply is not the case. That is, I believe, our greatest mistake as a nation, both in foreign and domestic policy, that we try to insert our idea of what is best in other parts of the world, instead of simply making the US the best country it can possibly be, then allowing those who seek a better life to come here and contribute.
We should be creating an environment in which hard work, entrepreneurial incentive and ingenuity are rewarded, not establishing more and more bureaucracy to stifle prosperity based on an ill-conceived notion of supposed fairness. It doesn't matter whether more of one group or another are successful or not, what matters is that the same opportunity exists for everyone, regardless of race, sex, or economic status. These reports only tell results, not why the results are as they are. So the social engineers then look at the results and say "ok, we've gotta change this or that so the results are more fair." We don't need to make the results more fair, we need to make the opportunity available to everyone, and we do that by getting governing bodies and bureaucracies out of the way, out of the mix, and letting people compete, letting them succeed of fail of their own merit, period.
As for the rest of the post, it also quotes a number of figures that have little to do with government sponsored activity. Shit happens. If you have your rights violated, talk to your DA's office and have them bring the heat. The system is set up to correct these errors, but people would rather complain about them and hope that someone else will just magically fix everything than go through the proper channels to fix it themselves. I agree that people shouldn't have to do so much for what is rightfully theirs, but in the history of the world, quick and easy fixes have virtually always made the problem worse than before.
And lastly, how about a little journalistic integrity? As a journalist myself, i can tell you that anyone reading this is going to see your obvious bias first and the facts second. Let the numbers speak for themselves and ease off on the finger pointing. Then you'll look like a reasonable and well informed person providing enlightening information instead of a raving idiot just being inflammatory.
What is common in CHINA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, IRAN, NIGERIA, PAKISTAN, SAUDI ARABIA, YEMEN and the USA?
These are the countries where people under 18 still can be executed. What a great companionship for USA!
Puerto Rico has been a colony of the United States (US) government for the past 116 years. The United Nations (UN) declared colonialism a crime against humanity in 1960. The UN has issued thus far 33 resolutions asking the US government to immediately decolonize Puerto Rico. In other words, those 33 resolutions are the democratic will of the UN. Therefore, the US government has thus far ignored the democratic will of the UN. Furthermore, it has held, against heavy international pressure, Puerto Rico’s political prisoner of 33 years, Oscar López Rivera.
All nations have the inalienable right to self-determination and independence as a basic human right. Because of this, all colonized people have the right, under international law, to use all means necessary to decolonize themselves. That means that the criminal, with regards to Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States, is the US government, and not Oscar López Rivera. Therefore, the US government has violated for the past 116 years the human rights of about 4 million people on the island of Puerto Rico!
The US government has used state terrorism to maintain Puerto Rico as its colony. Again, the best example of this is Oscar’s 33 years of imprisonment. This is more than the 27 years that Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. It is also important to note that 12 of those years were in solitary confinement. That length of time is another human rights violation.
The US government keeps this in the closet to conceal it. That way, the US government could then charge other nations of human rights violations. Obviously, the US government has no problem with human right violations, since it violates them all the time at home. Its only interest in making these human right charges is to control the affairs of other countries in order to obtain financial benefits of interest to the 1% for whom the US government works for.
José M López Sierra
http://www.TodosUnidosDescoloniarPR.blogspot.com