We see democracy as a goal of freedom movements but the question is, "does democracy itself leads to freedom?"... that is a very important question as we see.... democracy is also used to oppress the minorities. In countries, where there are multiple cultural groups living and have a core majority cultural identity, naturally core cultural majority dominates other cultural minorities unless there are mechanisms which allow the self-rule of cultural minorities so they do not feel threatened or discriminated against both by state and the fellow citizen (and that would really unfortunate if it is happen by law, by zeal of religious or patriotism duty). I think, it is not going to happen unless we do not redefine the very basics of the democracy and that is the definition of people....
People were always the source of the power and legitimacy and it is why every ruler and form of the government link themselves to people. Some link it by name of God, others by their historical noble bloodline, ethnicity, cultural superiority, patriotism,.... and unfortunately by name people themselves. Democracy is often defined as the government of the people on the people by the people. But who is the people? No one has defined the people and it is taken by default as majority.... So it is why we find in some democracies..... that in one case it is the majority who rule over minority and in other minority aristocrates rule over majority. People, though the source of the power but is not a crowd of the identical men and women. People is a diversified crowd. By just a simple walk across a city you can observe the diversity of people.
People are divided by religion, culture, language, education, life standards, professions, etc and all these make them biased in their judgments. As people are the source of the power, so their divisions are the source of the discriminations and oppression. It is why defining democracy as, "the government of the people by the people on the people is not enough.
We need to redefine people so not let one group of people oppress another group. By a quick glance across globe we find many examples of tyrrany of the majority over minority under democracy and also the centralization of the power and economy under the name of democracy in the hands of powerful elites. Recently, some voices are raised for decentralization of the power and economy. It is a good approach for empowering the small communities and minorities and to shield them against the tyranny of the majority. But it is only possible if minorities rights are recognized and allow minorities to rule on themselves within country's jurisdiction and exercise freely. To be free in educating their children, running their businesses, settling their disputes and securing their community.
I ask all those who really stands for human rights to use their pens and voices for the minorities who are oppressed by majority. Still I urge for more discussion and rethinking about the democracy so we could come up with a form of a government that really suits the todays globalized world and secure the human rights of all.
I wrote it in 2009 as a review of Artur Landerzon Barrera Garcia's knol (But what's democracy?)..with a small changes I republish it because of importance of the question and topic...
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Higher imagination paradox
“Imagination is more important than knowledge” said Einstein. It is the source of inspiration for some teachers which understand how the minds respond to the learning projects and designs but most can’t realize it as they persists that, knowledge is more important for them than imaginations of their students. It is these two opposite approaches that create the paradox. Certainly the knowledge that are the result of the works of established scholars through centuries are more worthy than the unreliable imaginations of the students that most are rediscovering what already have been discovered but still there are students undiscovered who will become established scholars who will change both the nature of knowledge and the course of the knowledge seeking.
A child becomes interested in compass when equipped with conventional knowledge become uneasy with the established knowledge of the established scholars. He interwoven the time and space in mesh work and opened the door for other imaginations. People inspired by these imaginations started imagining about the time travel in a then imaginative looking space. Time travel paradoxes rose. Black holes, black matters rose in face of the old universe and universe start expanding. All these imaginations were shaping the nature and course of knowledge.
Inspired from the imaginations of Einstein another child imagined another amazing possibility. He imagined of possibility of explaining all processes of nature in one inch long equation. He attached himself to radical imagination that nature is composed of strings so the string theory entered into physics which have surprised both physicists and scholars attached with other disciplines.
We put a lot of examples that first looked radical and not matching with established sets of knowledge but later on changed the course of thinking and perception of reality. The important point is the way we looking to knowledge and the way it constructed. The constructivism philosophy that we have based on our learning methods are designed and aimed to involve students in ways the knowledge is constructed and hence to produce new generations of students that construct new sets of knowledge and hence sustain the course of progress of knowledge and societies in which we live in.
My personal experience both as student and teacher fits with higher imagination paradox. When teachers value too much the conventional and established knowledge the students lose confidence in their imaginations. They felt difficulty both in understanding as well establishing their own personal point of view on the issues. On contrary, when teachers value the imaginations of the students and encourage them to challenge the established knowledge as well construct their own solutions to present problems of the world then the student gain confidence and start thinking seriously the problems. Once the problems become the personal problems of students by inclusions of their imaginations they will take personally as part of their long life processes.
Student’s imaginations may be higher not only than his teachers but also than the established knowledge of the time. The imagination of this particular student has to cope with established knowledge and their representatives to make his place in the world of knowledge but it is problematic for teachers. How to value the imaginations of students against established knowledge as well as how measure the value of the imaginations.
The scientific mechanism is the best measure and tests for the corrections of imaginations but they can’t work in identifying the valuable imaginations. Every radical and totally new imagination requires creating tools for its workability and proving. It is the core problem that the teachers have to understand once they encounter the higher imaginative students. The teachers have to help students in developing their own tools for their radical imaginations. A theoretical physicist will need new sets of mathematics as his tools to prove and shape his imaginations into a theory in which nature could be explained better than existing theories.
A student in humanities will require a strong knowledge of the structure of society both in present world as well as their developments through history. They have to know the key problems and coming problems so they could develop their own tools for imaginative engineering of societies and by comparing their engineered and designed solutions to the structures of the existing problems.
Conclusion:
There are two very important points that teachers have to note while they help students to construct their own knowledge.
1- Value the student’s imaginations that they become confident in challenging established knowledge.
2- Once a student with signs of higher imaginations is discovered, it is the responsibility of his teachers to help him build the tools for making his imaginations, reality.
A child becomes interested in compass when equipped with conventional knowledge become uneasy with the established knowledge of the established scholars. He interwoven the time and space in mesh work and opened the door for other imaginations. People inspired by these imaginations started imagining about the time travel in a then imaginative looking space. Time travel paradoxes rose. Black holes, black matters rose in face of the old universe and universe start expanding. All these imaginations were shaping the nature and course of knowledge.
Inspired from the imaginations of Einstein another child imagined another amazing possibility. He imagined of possibility of explaining all processes of nature in one inch long equation. He attached himself to radical imagination that nature is composed of strings so the string theory entered into physics which have surprised both physicists and scholars attached with other disciplines.
We put a lot of examples that first looked radical and not matching with established sets of knowledge but later on changed the course of thinking and perception of reality. The important point is the way we looking to knowledge and the way it constructed. The constructivism philosophy that we have based on our learning methods are designed and aimed to involve students in ways the knowledge is constructed and hence to produce new generations of students that construct new sets of knowledge and hence sustain the course of progress of knowledge and societies in which we live in.
My personal experience both as student and teacher fits with higher imagination paradox. When teachers value too much the conventional and established knowledge the students lose confidence in their imaginations. They felt difficulty both in understanding as well establishing their own personal point of view on the issues. On contrary, when teachers value the imaginations of the students and encourage them to challenge the established knowledge as well construct their own solutions to present problems of the world then the student gain confidence and start thinking seriously the problems. Once the problems become the personal problems of students by inclusions of their imaginations they will take personally as part of their long life processes.
Student’s imaginations may be higher not only than his teachers but also than the established knowledge of the time. The imagination of this particular student has to cope with established knowledge and their representatives to make his place in the world of knowledge but it is problematic for teachers. How to value the imaginations of students against established knowledge as well as how measure the value of the imaginations.
The scientific mechanism is the best measure and tests for the corrections of imaginations but they can’t work in identifying the valuable imaginations. Every radical and totally new imagination requires creating tools for its workability and proving. It is the core problem that the teachers have to understand once they encounter the higher imaginative students. The teachers have to help students in developing their own tools for their radical imaginations. A theoretical physicist will need new sets of mathematics as his tools to prove and shape his imaginations into a theory in which nature could be explained better than existing theories.
A student in humanities will require a strong knowledge of the structure of society both in present world as well as their developments through history. They have to know the key problems and coming problems so they could develop their own tools for imaginative engineering of societies and by comparing their engineered and designed solutions to the structures of the existing problems.
Conclusion:
There are two very important points that teachers have to note while they help students to construct their own knowledge.
1- Value the student’s imaginations that they become confident in challenging established knowledge.
2- Once a student with signs of higher imaginations is discovered, it is the responsibility of his teachers to help him build the tools for making his imaginations, reality.
Century of humanities
In the start of the 20th century there were several social and economical systems which were replacing the empires and feudal systems. The enthusiasms of nation states and revolutions were on the verge of testing. The communism, socialism, capitalism and democracy were the dominant political and economical systems were quickly adopting by nation states. It was the first times that nations were rivaling each other by their political and economic systems. All the political and economical systems that were going to be practiced were not the inventions of the 20th century itself but were based on centuries old philosophies or inspired from older civilizations. Both communism and democracy have been practiced in ancient Greek and Inca civilizations. The philosophies have developed before the 20th century. Both rival economic systems were using the scientific and technological inventions and discoveries to prove the success of their approaches in managing societies. The science and technology are the producing forces and the political and economical systems are the managing forces. The science and technology expand a society and the political and economic systems evolve a society. If the political and economic systems were misused or they failed to manage the progress and expansions that result from scientific and technological advancements then the benefits of these expansions will concentrate in hands of few and most of the society will only struggle to survive.
In the last quarter of the 20th century, the Chinese communism has seen a partial shift towards capitalism. The controlled transitions of the communist China were breaking both capitalist and communist principles. Similarly, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian Federation adopted capitalism. End of 20th century were evident of the victory of capitalism and democracy. The USA with capitalist and democratic characteristics rose as a single power of the world. It was thought that democracy and capitalism is the ultimate political and economical systems that world has reached to. The situation is comparable to Newtonian or classical physics. The classical physicist thought that they are equipped with natural philosophy that can explain every natural processes and forces but the quantum mechanics come out surprise to physicist and introduced an endless natural phenomenon that were unexplained. The natural phenomenon that explained created a parallel world to classical physics. Now theoretical physicists working for both exposures and creations of the amazes that quantum mechanics will create.
Capitalism and democracy had a triumph start at the start of both new century and millennium. But just eight years after the start of new century and new millennium the world had different realization. The financial markets were collapsing one after another. The corporations and markets were coping were their survival. The people start to rethink about alternate currencies or the hard assets to save their earning and deposits to be not robbed by market players. The governments all over the world interfered with markets and started pouring public money to save private companies and financial markets. It was first time the world have seen the collapse of capitalism. To save capitalism the socialists acts become essential. I know that a working system can continue working by making continuous injections but they fail to fulfill the basic purpose and that is evolution of society and providing the benefits of the scientific and technological advancements to the all parts of society. Similarly the people would simply name it a temporary recession to cover the failure of a system and similarly indicate the functioning of systems and by objective examples prove to people that it is the sole and ultimate system that we have no choice but to live with and live in.
On other hand the world saw rise of new forces. The China, Russia, India and Muslim world are the rising forces of the new century. The old power is struggling to maintain its power by show of power, so we have seen the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine and threats to Iran. The Balkanization of Asia is also another factor that struggles are included. The triumph of democracy faded when the democracy brought Hamas in power in the Palestine and the Iranian revolutions continued democratically to resist the domination efforts. The globalization both in terms of the more informed, empowered people and the growing role of people in global economics are threats to world domination and controlled governance both through socialists and capitalists democracies.
Just like post modernism where the distinctions between values and realities have no meaning. It is the individuals who make random values and meaning for themselves, the world politics changed its course from ideal divisions to interest based divisions. Now it has no meaning what you are and what are doing but it is more important than how much you can benefit me whether my benefits costing heavy losses to world or not. It seems that ideologies are dying and the people have no way except letting themselves to the flow of time.
Some people say that in previous century we were so busy in scientific and technological as well as in political and economical rivalries that we couldn’t afford to realize our achievements and their uses but were competing with each other. Now this century is the century of realization. I endorse this approach because we have ended with a lot of problems as well as resources but without any method to manage them. It is the management of societies that the core problem of the 21st century as well as new millennium. The world needs not to repair the old systems but to create whole sets of new systems both in politics and economics that match the true nature of globalization. The present globalization is a mess that the people of the world are trapped in and have to live in. This will lead to new philosophies as well as new set of political and economical sciences. It is why I am saying that the present century is the century of humanities because from education, family system to political and economical systems all will be redefined.
In the last quarter of the 20th century, the Chinese communism has seen a partial shift towards capitalism. The controlled transitions of the communist China were breaking both capitalist and communist principles. Similarly, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian Federation adopted capitalism. End of 20th century were evident of the victory of capitalism and democracy. The USA with capitalist and democratic characteristics rose as a single power of the world. It was thought that democracy and capitalism is the ultimate political and economical systems that world has reached to. The situation is comparable to Newtonian or classical physics. The classical physicist thought that they are equipped with natural philosophy that can explain every natural processes and forces but the quantum mechanics come out surprise to physicist and introduced an endless natural phenomenon that were unexplained. The natural phenomenon that explained created a parallel world to classical physics. Now theoretical physicists working for both exposures and creations of the amazes that quantum mechanics will create.
Capitalism and democracy had a triumph start at the start of both new century and millennium. But just eight years after the start of new century and new millennium the world had different realization. The financial markets were collapsing one after another. The corporations and markets were coping were their survival. The people start to rethink about alternate currencies or the hard assets to save their earning and deposits to be not robbed by market players. The governments all over the world interfered with markets and started pouring public money to save private companies and financial markets. It was first time the world have seen the collapse of capitalism. To save capitalism the socialists acts become essential. I know that a working system can continue working by making continuous injections but they fail to fulfill the basic purpose and that is evolution of society and providing the benefits of the scientific and technological advancements to the all parts of society. Similarly the people would simply name it a temporary recession to cover the failure of a system and similarly indicate the functioning of systems and by objective examples prove to people that it is the sole and ultimate system that we have no choice but to live with and live in.
On other hand the world saw rise of new forces. The China, Russia, India and Muslim world are the rising forces of the new century. The old power is struggling to maintain its power by show of power, so we have seen the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine and threats to Iran. The Balkanization of Asia is also another factor that struggles are included. The triumph of democracy faded when the democracy brought Hamas in power in the Palestine and the Iranian revolutions continued democratically to resist the domination efforts. The globalization both in terms of the more informed, empowered people and the growing role of people in global economics are threats to world domination and controlled governance both through socialists and capitalists democracies.
Just like post modernism where the distinctions between values and realities have no meaning. It is the individuals who make random values and meaning for themselves, the world politics changed its course from ideal divisions to interest based divisions. Now it has no meaning what you are and what are doing but it is more important than how much you can benefit me whether my benefits costing heavy losses to world or not. It seems that ideologies are dying and the people have no way except letting themselves to the flow of time.
Some people say that in previous century we were so busy in scientific and technological as well as in political and economical rivalries that we couldn’t afford to realize our achievements and their uses but were competing with each other. Now this century is the century of realization. I endorse this approach because we have ended with a lot of problems as well as resources but without any method to manage them. It is the management of societies that the core problem of the 21st century as well as new millennium. The world needs not to repair the old systems but to create whole sets of new systems both in politics and economics that match the true nature of globalization. The present globalization is a mess that the people of the world are trapped in and have to live in. This will lead to new philosophies as well as new set of political and economical sciences. It is why I am saying that the present century is the century of humanities because from education, family system to political and economical systems all will be redefined.
Change
Change the world at no cost
The strongest force of attraction is believed to be in blackholes but to men's spirit, the blackhole is the perception of "Change". Despite of its attraction, change is looks very big. Or perhaps we are thinking of them as big. May be we have become habitual of thinking change as changing the world or changing a system. We do not have to blame ourselves for it because in an age of global connectivity, it is normal to think globally. Actually it is more desirable and sometimes necessary to think globally. However in race for thinking global we forget or avoid things that affect our daily lives. It looks like an old sermon to start with that, we all observe changes in nature by changing of days and nights, changes of seasons but truly we dont think of them as change. We look at them as a routin process that were existed and will exist. The real change, we think is changes that human brings and that is visible and inescapable in effect.
Though it is the collective changes that affect globally but our individual acts count. We all are part of the global community. As of 2009, the world population was estimated to be 6 billion (6,000,000,000) people and it is expected that in 2012 this population grow to be 7 billion. An addition of 1 billion people just in 3 to 4 years is unbelievable. It is a not a simple addition of 1 billion people to population but increase in exploitation of natural resources, land use and more pressure on social services that is not already enough and also intensifying the conflicts among rival groups who are struggling for use of resources.
I know that an individual cannot stop increasing population. Even the governments have difficulty in controlling population because a lot of issues related to population control is controversial. Family planning, abortion and types of marriages (e.g, polygamy) is highly sensitive issues among across cultures and religions. However, there are ways that we can make things better and letting opportunities reach to more people. It doesn't take anything from us but instead enrich our lives and also shows our generosity to coming generations.
How we can contribute. It is just small adjustments to our behaviors or behavioral changes that can change the world. Let's go back to world population. We have to see it in two ways, One way to look at it is, 1 out of 6,000,000,000 is too small that is almost equal Nil. The second way is, if 6000, 6000,000 or 6000,000,000 decides to do very small things, they can have great impacts.
Let's make some simple calculations.
1. It is estimated that as of 2007 there was 6,000,000 cars. If half of the people that have cars decide to not use their cars just for one day and assuming that on average each car is using one liters of gasoline. The world will save 3000,000 liters of fossil fuel.
2. If all people eat just one gram lesser than their routin, there will be no harm to their health (it will improve the health of large part of world population), it will save 6000,000 Kg of food. 6000,000 Kg is a large saving both for human and for environment.
If you think in this line and include other small things like usaga of water, plastic bags, mailing instead of e mailing, advertising on internet or advertising by mails, taking notes on your computers instead of notebooks, turning off extra lights, using ceramics instead of disposable products for foods and drinks and so on. These all examples are all behavioral and doesnot cost you anything but save you and world.
How is it possible?
Previously such kinds of ideas were looking silly but since social networks grew into giants, it looks promisingly possible. People has started saying that social networks like, facebook will be the largest country in the world in terms of population and the wikipedia is the largest university in terms of accessibility, usage and information resources.
According to Wikipedia, the facebook has currently 400 million active users worldwide. Though it is the much less than only population of a single country like China (more than 1.3 billion people) and it is only 6.6% of world population but the rate of growth of users of facebook is high than population growth of china or the world. Though it will never catch the world population as children and a large part of adults can't use it and also a large number of people choose not to use it either because of privacy or other issues.
Persuasion and convincing people to have a healthy, green and more tolerance, though for a short of amount of time will collectively have great impacts.
To me, in a time when internet is providing chance to reach to people across the world and acts and thoughts of people in any part of world, affecting the people across the globe, the responsibility of the intellectuals, teachers, people advocates, and students who have means and understanding of issues have increased manyfold.
Social networks could become positive
Recently, you may hear voices against socail networking addiction. You hear people are saying they spend a large parts of their time on social networks for nothing and it is costing their studies, careers, relationships and health. If you have a facebook account and you are spending a lot of your time in it, so why not use it to make the world a better place by persuading your friends for green, healthy behaviors and try to increse tolerance and acceptance for other races, nationalities, religions and hence help reducing conflicts. Satrt rallying for change.
Why Change?
During presidential election, 2008, president, Barack Obama, used the word "Change" and the phrase, "Yes we can" as a his election menifesto. It is not only embraced by majority of US citizen but also people across the globe. It shows how the people across the world is looking for change. Though now it is almost two years passed from this presidential compaign but recently the UK politicians are adopting the same menifesto.
Change in America
Change in Britain
Though politicians making big promises to people but we all know very well their limitations. The real change come from behavioral change in individuals. The collective impacts of the behavioral changes of individuals is much larger than any intiative of a government, organization or others. Looking to readiness of people for change it is time for intellectuals to come ahead and lead and the responsibility of all to persuade each other for small acts that cost nothing but bring great changes.
Where to begin
Some may wonder, where to begin? I think the Universal human rights declaration that all nations in the world endorse is a good point to begin. Though majority of people have heard about the human rights but it is surprising when one finds that even majority of educated people have not read it fully. I have copied and pasted universal human rights declaration in this page. It is my contribution in spreading this message. You can do the same.
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
"Source: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
Article 1.
· All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
· Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
· Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
· No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
· No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
· Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
· All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
· Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
· No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
· Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
· (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
· (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
· No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
· (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
· (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
· (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
· (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
· (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
· (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
· (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
· (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
· (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
· (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
· (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
· Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
· Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
· (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
· (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
· (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
· (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
· (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
· Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
· (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
· (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
· (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
· (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
· Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
· (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
· (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
· (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
· (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
· (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
· (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
· (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
· Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
· (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
· (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
· (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
· Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
The strongest force of attraction is believed to be in blackholes but to men's spirit, the blackhole is the perception of "Change". Despite of its attraction, change is looks very big. Or perhaps we are thinking of them as big. May be we have become habitual of thinking change as changing the world or changing a system. We do not have to blame ourselves for it because in an age of global connectivity, it is normal to think globally. Actually it is more desirable and sometimes necessary to think globally. However in race for thinking global we forget or avoid things that affect our daily lives. It looks like an old sermon to start with that, we all observe changes in nature by changing of days and nights, changes of seasons but truly we dont think of them as change. We look at them as a routin process that were existed and will exist. The real change, we think is changes that human brings and that is visible and inescapable in effect.
Though it is the collective changes that affect globally but our individual acts count. We all are part of the global community. As of 2009, the world population was estimated to be 6 billion (6,000,000,000) people and it is expected that in 2012 this population grow to be 7 billion. An addition of 1 billion people just in 3 to 4 years is unbelievable. It is a not a simple addition of 1 billion people to population but increase in exploitation of natural resources, land use and more pressure on social services that is not already enough and also intensifying the conflicts among rival groups who are struggling for use of resources.
I know that an individual cannot stop increasing population. Even the governments have difficulty in controlling population because a lot of issues related to population control is controversial. Family planning, abortion and types of marriages (e.g, polygamy) is highly sensitive issues among across cultures and religions. However, there are ways that we can make things better and letting opportunities reach to more people. It doesn't take anything from us but instead enrich our lives and also shows our generosity to coming generations.
How we can contribute. It is just small adjustments to our behaviors or behavioral changes that can change the world. Let's go back to world population. We have to see it in two ways, One way to look at it is, 1 out of 6,000,000,000 is too small that is almost equal Nil. The second way is, if 6000, 6000,000 or 6000,000,000 decides to do very small things, they can have great impacts.
Let's make some simple calculations.
1. It is estimated that as of 2007 there was 6,000,000 cars. If half of the people that have cars decide to not use their cars just for one day and assuming that on average each car is using one liters of gasoline. The world will save 3000,000 liters of fossil fuel.
2. If all people eat just one gram lesser than their routin, there will be no harm to their health (it will improve the health of large part of world population), it will save 6000,000 Kg of food. 6000,000 Kg is a large saving both for human and for environment.
If you think in this line and include other small things like usaga of water, plastic bags, mailing instead of e mailing, advertising on internet or advertising by mails, taking notes on your computers instead of notebooks, turning off extra lights, using ceramics instead of disposable products for foods and drinks and so on. These all examples are all behavioral and doesnot cost you anything but save you and world.
How is it possible?
Previously such kinds of ideas were looking silly but since social networks grew into giants, it looks promisingly possible. People has started saying that social networks like, facebook will be the largest country in the world in terms of population and the wikipedia is the largest university in terms of accessibility, usage and information resources.
According to Wikipedia, the facebook has currently 400 million active users worldwide. Though it is the much less than only population of a single country like China (more than 1.3 billion people) and it is only 6.6% of world population but the rate of growth of users of facebook is high than population growth of china or the world. Though it will never catch the world population as children and a large part of adults can't use it and also a large number of people choose not to use it either because of privacy or other issues.
Persuasion and convincing people to have a healthy, green and more tolerance, though for a short of amount of time will collectively have great impacts.
To me, in a time when internet is providing chance to reach to people across the world and acts and thoughts of people in any part of world, affecting the people across the globe, the responsibility of the intellectuals, teachers, people advocates, and students who have means and understanding of issues have increased manyfold.
Social networks could become positive
Recently, you may hear voices against socail networking addiction. You hear people are saying they spend a large parts of their time on social networks for nothing and it is costing their studies, careers, relationships and health. If you have a facebook account and you are spending a lot of your time in it, so why not use it to make the world a better place by persuading your friends for green, healthy behaviors and try to increse tolerance and acceptance for other races, nationalities, religions and hence help reducing conflicts. Satrt rallying for change.
Why Change?
During presidential election, 2008, president, Barack Obama, used the word "Change" and the phrase, "Yes we can" as a his election menifesto. It is not only embraced by majority of US citizen but also people across the globe. It shows how the people across the world is looking for change. Though now it is almost two years passed from this presidential compaign but recently the UK politicians are adopting the same menifesto.
Change in America
Change in Britain
Though politicians making big promises to people but we all know very well their limitations. The real change come from behavioral change in individuals. The collective impacts of the behavioral changes of individuals is much larger than any intiative of a government, organization or others. Looking to readiness of people for change it is time for intellectuals to come ahead and lead and the responsibility of all to persuade each other for small acts that cost nothing but bring great changes.
Where to begin
Some may wonder, where to begin? I think the Universal human rights declaration that all nations in the world endorse is a good point to begin. Though majority of people have heard about the human rights but it is surprising when one finds that even majority of educated people have not read it fully. I have copied and pasted universal human rights declaration in this page. It is my contribution in spreading this message. You can do the same.
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
"Source: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
Article 1.
· All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
· Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
· Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
· No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
· No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
· Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
· All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
· Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
· No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
· Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
· (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
· (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
· No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
· (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
· (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
· (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
· (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
· (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
· (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
· (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
· (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
· (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
· (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
· (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
· Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
· Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
· (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
· (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
· (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
· (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
· (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
· Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
· (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
· (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
· (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
· (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
· Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
· (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
· (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
· (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
· (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
· (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
· (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
· (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
· Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
· (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
· (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
· (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
· Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Evolution and Evolution
Evolution and Religion: The conflict of origin
400 years after the first famous clash of Science and Religion (1610, Galileo affair), we are again in an era of constant encounters between creationists and evolutionists. After resolving the issue the conflict of geocentric Vs Heliocentric we are in another conflict and it is about of origin of life. The origin of life is a difficult subject subject for Science. Both biochemistry and paleontology is unble to provide a clear evidence of spontaneous generation, chemical evolution or Abiogenesis. Though there are a lot of efforts to prove it but they are unable to provide a reliable mechanism. But despite of this void in Science, fossil records and all fields of biology are providing clear evidences of evolution. Evolution is a mature science now though a lot of voids but because of failure in providing an obvious mechnism of abiogenesis the conflict of Origin of life has not resolved as conflict of Geocentric and Heliocentric had resolved. The conflict of origin of life is going to be 150 years (Since Darwin's publiction of "On the origin of species" in 1859).
When I am in debate with my friend about the movies like Jurassic Park series and Dr. Jones series, he tells me unless you are not going believe in a fiction you can't enjoy it. It fits for both sides of conflicts. Unless they don't understand, how Science or Religion works, they can understand each others conflicts. But this conflict will only diminish when Science come with a clear-cut mechnism for Spontaneous generation.
Religion, defence/warning display and identity
It is a common observation that venomous animals advertise their toxins by bright pigmentations. It is known as aposematism. These type of advertisements are not limited to venomous animals but some non-venomous animals also display these bright coloration as a warning sign in order to keep away the predators. In term of non-venomous animals it is understandable that they want to keep away the predators but why venomous animals display such warning signs? The answer is easy. The toxins they produce is costly in terms of energy so they try to conserve energy. They also advertise their toxicity to keep away other venomous animals in order to avoid competitions. These escape behaviors are successful so organisms evolve them as their identity.
It is also true to humans. People who have less tolerance for other cultures and religions, look to religious clothings and display just like warning displays of the venomous animals. Are religious or cultural displays really warning signs?
External Links for further readings
1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis
2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair
3- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species
4- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_colouration
400 years after the first famous clash of Science and Religion (1610, Galileo affair), we are again in an era of constant encounters between creationists and evolutionists. After resolving the issue the conflict of geocentric Vs Heliocentric we are in another conflict and it is about of origin of life. The origin of life is a difficult subject subject for Science. Both biochemistry and paleontology is unble to provide a clear evidence of spontaneous generation, chemical evolution or Abiogenesis. Though there are a lot of efforts to prove it but they are unable to provide a reliable mechanism. But despite of this void in Science, fossil records and all fields of biology are providing clear evidences of evolution. Evolution is a mature science now though a lot of voids but because of failure in providing an obvious mechnism of abiogenesis the conflict of Origin of life has not resolved as conflict of Geocentric and Heliocentric had resolved. The conflict of origin of life is going to be 150 years (Since Darwin's publiction of "On the origin of species" in 1859).
When I am in debate with my friend about the movies like Jurassic Park series and Dr. Jones series, he tells me unless you are not going believe in a fiction you can't enjoy it. It fits for both sides of conflicts. Unless they don't understand, how Science or Religion works, they can understand each others conflicts. But this conflict will only diminish when Science come with a clear-cut mechnism for Spontaneous generation.
Religion, defence/warning display and identity
It is a common observation that venomous animals advertise their toxins by bright pigmentations. It is known as aposematism. These type of advertisements are not limited to venomous animals but some non-venomous animals also display these bright coloration as a warning sign in order to keep away the predators. In term of non-venomous animals it is understandable that they want to keep away the predators but why venomous animals display such warning signs? The answer is easy. The toxins they produce is costly in terms of energy so they try to conserve energy. They also advertise their toxicity to keep away other venomous animals in order to avoid competitions. These escape behaviors are successful so organisms evolve them as their identity.
It is also true to humans. People who have less tolerance for other cultures and religions, look to religious clothings and display just like warning displays of the venomous animals. Are religious or cultural displays really warning signs?
External Links for further readings
1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis
2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair
3- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species
4- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_colouration
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