by Klaus Rohrich
april 29, 2004
Once again the UN is proving itself to be a trade union for dictators. So much has transpired in the past week, it’s difficult to keep up with all the daily outrages.
a week ago, the UN issued a report entitled "Democracy in Latin america: Toward a Citizens’ Democracy" The report concludes what Fyodor Dostoevsky postulated in his poem, "The Grand Inquisitor", which was told by one of the main characters in his opus The Brothers Karamazov. The poem’s essential point is that the population as a whole prefers bread to freedom. The Grand inquisitor tells Jesus Christ, who has reappeared on earth that "…nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. But seest Thou these stones in this parched and barren wilderness? Turn them into bread and mankind will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and obedient, though forever trembling, lest Thou withdraw Thy hand and deny them Thy bread".
This pretty well sums up the UN report, which concludes that Latin americans prefer prosperity and dictatorship to democracy and poverty. Talk about dialectical materialism! I am suspect of this report despite Secretary General Kofi annan’s tepid proclamation that the "solution to Latin america’s ills does not lie in a return to authoritarianism." He might as well be praising mothers and warm apple pie.
But let’s look at the poll itself. The poll was sponsored by the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the European Union (as if the European Union had anything to do with democracy). Interviews were conducted with 231 leader of Latin american Society and some 18,000 people were polled in countries like Bolivia, Peru, Chile, El Salvador, etc. and the poll found that over 50 percent of the respondents felt that political parties served only the elite and that they were disappointed with the economic results that their versions of democracy have produced.
From what I know about polls, you can get any results you want, depending on what the questions are and how they are asked. My gut feel is that the results of this poll were determined before the poll was ever commissioned, as the UN’s record on the subject of democracy is spotty, to be kind.
I’m much more inclined to believe that this poll will serve to justify UN support for some less than palatable regimes that are currently being contemplated in Latin america’s future. What better way to lend UN support to yet another fascist or communist dictatorship than to say "the people of Latin america are in favour of it. We polled them."?
Suspecting the UN of subterfuge is not difficult, given their record on everything relating to the civilized world. Somehow the UN has managed to turn the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) into a deleterious sideshow, by taking dictation for extremists. Serving on the UNCHR are what Freedom House calls some of the "world’s most repressive regimes". These include China, Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi arabia and Libya, to name a few. Last year Libya, whose record on human rights is right up there with Iran or Saddam’s Iraq, chaired the commission.
The UNCHR has a long record of hiding and ignoring human rights abuses by its member nations. China, Russia, as well as many african nations routinely avoid censure before the commission by rallying together. The most recent example of this is the report tabled before the UNCHR on genocide in the Sudan. In the past three months, some 10,000 black africans have been murdered in the southern Sudan by roving Muslim gangs, known as Janjaweed. These have been supported and abetted by Sudanese government troops. Of course the UNCHR did its usual, which was nothing.
The only time that the UNCHR seems to take a stand is when it concerns Israel. Their position on Israel mirrors that of all of the world’s most repressive Muslim regimes, namely that Israel is evil and deserving of censure. They have even gone so far as to express approval of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
Clearly the UNCHR has been hijacked by some of the globe’s most repressive nations and they are now engaging in covering each other’s tracks. To underscore the thuggish nature of this vile body, a Cuban "diplomat" recently attacked an anti-Castro activist at the UNCHR’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The attack was launched on one Frank Calzon who is an official with the U.S.-based Center for a Free Cuba, after Cuba narrowly lost a vote on its own human rights record. Security guards had to pepper spray the perpetrator and prevented other Castroite delegates from joining in the attack.
Saddest for us is that former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Madame Justice Louise arbour will shortly assume the post of Human Rights Commissioner. This makes Canada an accessory to the crimes against humanity committed by these various nations.
Once again, this demonstrates the pressing need for flushing the cesspool known as the UN down the toilet. Civilized nations have no business maintaining membership in an organization as cynical and corrupt as the United Nations.