International Day For the Right to the Truth Concerning Human Rights Violations and For the Dignity of the Victims - 2024

                                     Last Sunday, precisely on 24th March, the world celebrated the day to remember the victims of human rights violations and their fight for truth, justice and dignity. So, this post is a tribute to all victims that suffered injustice and died without have it, to all human rights defenders who help to bring justice and truth for anyone looking for them, and to all victims that are fighting now for truth, justice and dignity. We all should participate in this fight because as I said before, it is very important to fight against injustice. Without justice the violations can spread because the perpetrators feel they can do more and more and then we are all surviving in this nightmare called dystopia that would become a new system increasingly difficult to combat. Therefore, help fighting human rights violations and injustice, when many abuses have systematically been done for so long time, the justice is even more important.  Do not think you are unreachable. We all must hep the justice and record any violation of human rights happening now. The systematic violations, the impunity, the daily bullying in the mainstream media, the public threats online and offline exist to do the victims give up to fight for justice and reparations. Besides, the violations, the systematic abuses, the daily humiliation and the impunity can have a dehumanizing effect in the population, trying us accept what can not be accepted, do not let this happen to you, the solidarity and the emphaty are the essence of the human being.              This post is a summary of two articles.The first was published at https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/zimbabwe/a-statement-to-commemorate-international-day-for-the-right-to-truth/ar-BB1kus8q. The second was published at https://starrfm.com.gh/2024/03/did-you-know-march-24-is-the-international-day-for-the-right-to-truth/

                   This day serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of truth, justice, and accountability in healing the wounds of the past and building a better future for all. Human rights violations inflict immeasurable suffering on individuals and communities, leaving scars that persist for generations. The victims of these violations endure pain, loss, and a profound sense of injustice. Acknowledging their experiences and upholding their dignity is not only a moral imperative but also crucial for fostering reconciliation and preventing recurrence. The right to the truth is a fundamental pillar of trasitional justice. It encompasses the right of victims and their families to know the full and accurate account of the human rights violations committed against them. It involves uncovering the facts and understanding the context. The truth not only reveals the extent of the atrocities. It also exposes the systems, structures and individuals responsible for perpetrating these crimes. On this day, we pay tribute to the brave individuals and organisations that tirelessly pursue truth and justice. We honour the victims who have fought against all odds to have their stories heard and their rights vindicated. We recognise the essential role of human rights defenders, legal professionals, and civil society in advocating for the right to the truth and providing the necessary support to victims. As we commemorate this day we reaffirm our commitment to the pursuit of truth and justice and strive to ensure that the right to the truth becomes a reality for all victims. We urge the government to work together with all justice advocates to dismantle the walls of silence, indifference, and impunity that perpetuate human rights abuses. We also remember that the dignity of victims lies not only in their suffering but also in their resilience, courage, and unwavering demand for justice. We call upon the government, civil society, and individuals to actively support the right to the truth and to stand in solidarity with victims of human rights violations. Together, we can create a world where truth prevails, justice is served, and the dignity of every human being is respected. On this day, let us remember, let us act and ensure that the voice of the victims are heard, their rights are upheld, and their dignity restored.                                                                                                                                                       As declared by the United Nations (UN), March 24, is dedicated to the celebration of the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims; to promote the memory of victims of serious and systematic human rights violations, and emphasize the importance of the right to truth and justice. The day is also dedicated to pay tribute to those who have committed their lives to promoting and protecting human rights for all, as well as those who have lost their lives in these efforts. The date was chosen in remembrance of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was assassinated on the same day in 1980. The right to the truth means having access to the complete and accurate facts about the events that occurred, including the specific circumstance and individuals involved. This includes understanding the context in which the violations occurred, as well as motives behind them. This day also serves as an opportunity to raise awareness about human rights and promote its significance.

Social Movements and the Internet

                    This post is a summary of the book with the title above published in 2017 at   https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/156395/1/883181339.pdf

                     For some years, the field of research on social movements has undergone fundamental changes. This is due above all to the internet and social media platforms that have become an integral part of the emergence, organization and mobilization of protest. This article examines the role which these new infrastructure play in the development and stabilization of political protest and social movements. For this, it pursues two main objectives: One, a more precise identification of the foundations of collective behavior and action, which show the internet to be not only an enabling but also a regulatory and action-structuring with a degree of intervention. Two, the analysis of the new and close interplay of social and technical conditions under which collective protest and social movements take shape in the digital age. Social movements has undergone changes as purely social phenomena to taking into consideration the new technological foundations of collective action. The argument, that in this day and age protest unfolds much more individualized and personalized than before and no longer requires conventional organizational structures. Instead, social media platforms, as organizing agents, are seen to take on the functions of coordinating and mobilizing protest. In that context, digital tech play a central role. There is a consensus that social media have indeed broadened the scope of action and influence of protest. This paper seeks to identify the role played by the internet in the development and stabilization of political protest and social movements. Social movements include the organized workers' movements that formed around distinct social milieus and that focused on economic conflicts. However, since 1970s, they also include new social movements that are structured like networks and that are oriented towards post-material values, such as the civil rights, anti-war, ecological or women's movements. The consolidation of this field of research, then, engendered a widely shared notion of what constitutes a social movement. According to that understanding, a social movement is essentially a collective protest against perceived political, economic or cultural grievances. Social movements confront and challenge the ruling authorities, either demanding that a transformation take place or seeking to prevent changes deemed unacceptable. Nonetheless, a social movement is not usually referred to as such until its collective activities have consolidated into processes of cross-situation stabilization. In that context, it should be noted that the increasing of movements is always accompanied by the development of leadership figures on the one hand and an environment of sympathizers capable of mobilization on the other. Leadership in the form of opinion-making and organizing activists is seen to have a decisive role in the development and consolidation of movements. Protest and movements are always embedded in specific political, societal and social structures that influence their concrete possibilities, forms of organization and activities. The internet expanded interaction and participation possibilities, as well as an increased transparency and control of the movement activities. Together, these impacts serve to relativize the power. Moreover, the internet allows for gain in autonomy. As a fundamentally open, decentralized infrastructure, it essentially offers room for building independent platforms on which news, pictures and videos can be published and disseminated. The extended possibilities for action that arisen with the use of the social media, are paradoxically, accompanied by a significant loss of autonomy of action. This is because the dissemination and coordination of protest through social media must likewise adhere to the tech rules. As a result, the use of social media by movements suffers a near complete loss of control over their own data tracks, communication processes and content. The internet and social media have sustainably expanded the possibilities of expression of protest as well as the repertoire of action and organizational skills of social movements. In addition, social media activities today play an important role especially at the beginning of protest waves, which are often triggered by attention-drawing and mobilizing online activities that can spread virally and in part independently. The focus on the consolidating force of technically-mediated connectivity underestimates the still existing necessity of substantial identity-building, without which emerging social movements can neither be stabilized nor gain political influence over time as an extra-parliamentary voice. Social media are, of course, not simply media channels for the dissemination of manifestos, calls to action, demands and programs. Rather, they are also platforms where the exchange of individual perceptions and experiences is predominant and where political identity-building are much more visible. Moreover, charismatic leaders in the classic sense, who mobilize masses and who hold movements together and shape their identity, have by no means disappeared from the movements scene but, on the contrary, experiencing a remarkable renaissance for several years now. Among these are: Pablo Iglesias, the leader of Podemos in Spain; Beppo Grillo, the face of the Five-Stars Movement in Italy; and Bernie Sanders, who, in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, knew how to revive and consolidate the potential of the Occupy movement. 

140th Birthday of Yevgeny Zamyatin

                                     About one month ago, precisely on 1st of February, the Russian writer with the anglicized name of Eugene Zamyatin would complete 140 years old.  This post is a tribute to him. He was one of the first authors to write against totalitarianism and its bad consequences for the people, including mass surveillance to control every aspect of the life of the people. This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Zamyatin. The second is a review of the book written in 1946 by the famous writer George Orwell author of another dystopian novel with the title of "1984" at     https://www.orwell.ru/library/reviews/zamyatin/english/e_zamy

                               Eugene Zamyatin (1884-1937) was a Russian author of science fiction, philosophy, literary criticism and political satire. The son of an Orthodox priest, Zamyatin lost his faith in religion at an early age and became a Bolshevik. As a member of the Party Revolutionary, Zamyatin was repeatedly arrested, beaten, imprisoned, and exiled. However, Zamyatin was deeply disturbed by the policies pursued by the Communist Party following the Revolution as he had been by Tsarist policy. Due to his use of literature to both satirize and criticize the Soviet Union's enforced conformity and increasing totalitarianism, Zamyatin is now considered one of the first Soviet dissidents. He is most famous for his highly influential and widely imitated book published in 1921, dystopian novel "We", which is set in a futuristic surveillance state. In the same year, "We" became the first work banned by the Soviet Union and Zamyatin arranged for the book to be smuggled to the west for publication. The outrage this sparked within the Party led directly to the state-organized defamation and blacklisting of Zamyatin and his request for permission from Stalin to leave his homeland. He died in 1937 in Paris and after his death continued to inspire multiple generations of Soviet dissidents. Zamyatin was born in Lebedyan, 300km south of Moscow, he studied naval engineering in Saint Petersburg, from 1902 until 1908. In March 1916, he was sent to the U.K. to supervise the construction of icebreakers at the shipyards in Wallsend. In 1917 he returned to Petersburg and plunged into the seething literary activity that was one of the most astonishing by-products of the revolution in ruined and hungry Russia. He wrote stories, plays and criticism, he lectured on literature. And very soon he came under fire from the newly proletarian writers who sought to impose on all art the sole criterion of 'usefulness to the revolution.' But, as the Russian Civil War of 1917-1923 continued, Zamyatin's writings became increasingly critical toward the Bolshevik party. Even though he was an old Bolshevik and accepted the revolution, he believed that independent speech and thought are necessary to any healthy society and opposed the party's increasing suppression of freedom of speech and the censorship of literature, media and arts. Zamyatin's vision was too far-reaching, too noncorformist and too openly expressed to be tolerated by the purveyors of official and compulsory dogma. He was attacked as a bourgeois intellectual. All the instruments of power were brought into use in the campaign for conformity. Faced with grim alternatives, most of Zamyatin's colleagues yielded to pressure, recanted publicly, in many cases rewrote their works to communist construction demanded by the dictatorship. Others writers, like Babel and Olesha, chose silence. Many committed suicide. Zamyatin's destruction took a different form, he became the object of a frenzied campaign of vilification. He was, in effect, presented with the choice of repudiating his work and his views, or total expulsion from literature. Instead of surrendering, Zamyatin, whom Mirra Ginsburg has dubbed "a man of incorruptible and uncompromising courage," He and his wive left Soviet Union in 1931 and settled in Paris. Zamyatin's novel "We", which he wrote between 1920 and 1921, is set many centuries in the future. D-503, a mathematician, lives in the One State, a society constructed almost entirely of glass apartment-buildings, which assist mass surveillance. People march in step with each other and are uniformed. There is no way of referring to people except by numbers. The individuals's behaviour is outlined by the State. Like all other citizens of One State, D-503 lives in a glass apartment and is carefully watched by the government. D-503's lover, O-90 has been assigned by the State to visit him on certain nights. She is forbid to have children and is deeply grieved by her state in life. O-90's other lover and D-503's best friend is R-13, a State poet who reads his verse at public executions. While on an assigned with O-90, D-503 meets a woman named I-330. I-330 smokes cigarettes, drinks vodka and flirts with D-503 instead of applying for a ticket sex-visit, all these acts are illegal according to the laws of One State. Slowly, I-330 reveals that she is a member of an organization of rebels against the One State. The novel does not end happily for I-330 and D-503, it also ends with a general uprising by the rebels and with the One State's survival in doubt. Unsurprisingly, the Soviet Government refused to allow the publication of "We".                                                                                                                                                                               The first thing anyone would notice about "We" is the fact, I believe that Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" must be partly derived from it. Both books deal with the rebellion of the human spirit against a rationalised and mechanised world. Though Huxley's book shows less political awareness and is more influenced by biological and psychological theories. In the twenty-sixth century, in Zamyatin's vision of it, the inhabitants have completely lost their individuality as to be known only by numbers. They live in glass houses and apartments, which enables the political police to supervise them more easily. They all wear identical uniforms. They live on synthetic food, and their usual recreation is to march in fours while the anthem of the One State is played through loudspeakers. They are allowed for one hour, known as the sex hour, to lower the curtain round their glass apartments. In spite of endocrination and the vigilance of the government, many of the human instinct are still there. The teller of the story, D-503 falls in love (this is a crime) with I-330 who is member of a resistance movement. There are many executions in Zamyatin's dystopia. The executions and the scene describing it is given of the slave civilisations of the ancient world. It is this intuitive grasp of the irrational totalitarianism, human sacrifice, cruelty and the worship of a leader who is credited with divine attributes.