:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Thursday, November 11, 2004 ::

Go read Arundhati Roy's Acceptance speech for the Sydney Peace Prize ZNet | Vision & Strategy | Peace?...: here is an excert:

"It is becoming more than clear that violating human rights is an inherent and necessary part of the process of implementing a coercive and unjust political and economic structure on the world. Without the violation of human rights on an enormous scale, the neo-liberal project would remain in the dreamy realm of policy. But increasingly Human Rights violations are being portrayed as the unfortunate, almost accidental fallout of an otherwise acceptable political and economic system. As though they're a small problem that can be mopped up with a little extra attention from some NGOs. This is why in areas of heightened conflict - in Kashmir and in Iraq for example - Human Rights Professionals are regarded with a degree of suspicion. Many resistance movements in poor countries which are fighting huge injustice and questioning the underlying principles of what constitutes 'liberation' and 'development', view Human Rights NGOs as modern day missionaries who've come to take the ugly edge off Imperialism. To defuse political anger and to maintain the status quo."

:: Jim Nichols 11/11/2004 12:22:00 PM [+] ::
...