The international community’s response to the recent massacre of more than 100 people allegedly perpetrated by pro-government militias in Syria has successfully kept the human rights spotlight on the actions of a “rogue” nation rather than on those of the world’s leading human rights violator: the United States. Even more disconcerting is the fact that the United States is using the volatile situation in Syria to once again position itself as a staunch promoter of democracy and defender of human rights. Lost in the dominant international discourse is the human rights reality in the world’s most powerful nation where more than 40,000 people die annually from structural violence related to unequal access to healthcare and where almost one in four children live in poverty. What is also ignored is the plight of more than 10 million people who die annually from the structural violence inherent in global capitalism, of which the United States is the leading proponent.
Author Archives: Garry Leech
Democracy in Motion: The Student Protests in Quebec
For the past eleven weeks, thousands of university students have been protesting in the streets of Montreal demanding that the Quebec provincial government not only rescind its plans to raise tuition rates but that it provide free post-secondary education. The mayor of Montreal, Gerard Tremblay, has responded to the mostly peaceful protests by declaring that it is unacceptable “that the reputation of Montreal be stained on the international scene.” By also referring to the vandalism of businesses in downtown Montreal, the mayor made evident that he was more concerned with the reputation of Montreal in the eyes of the international business community than the potential perception of the city as an example of democracy in motion. Continue reading
Even in a Recession, the Rich Get Richer
A new report on inequality in the United States reveals that the richest one percent of the nation’s income earners saw their income increase by 11.6 percent during 2009 and 2010, which accounted for 93 percent of the national growth in income for that time period. While those two years are considered to represent the early stages of an economic recovery following the recession of 2008, the fact that the bottom 99 percent of income earners only saw their incomes increase by 0.2 percent makes evident that the recession is still ongoing for many Americans. These numbers also highlight the structural inequality that is inherent in capitalism.
Garry Leech 