Natural Rights.
You know we all have them not because some king said so; nor because we have a Declaration which declared them “inalienable” rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; nor because the Constitution guarantees them under the Bill of Rights: freedom of speech, religion and press.
We have natural rights because we are humans living in this world.
Following the horrors of World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt became the driving force behind the United Nations Human Rights Declaration (1.), which clearly identified natural rights as the birthright of people throughout the world, regardless of nationality, religion, race or ethnicity.
Today, it is painfully clear that our political and corporate contender "leaders" have been drinking from the river Lethe. You remember Lethe from your Greek mythology class. That's the river of forgetfulness and
oblivion. The point is that our contenders for leadership have forgotten that we all have natural rights, and perhaps we are more interested in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than never ending jingoism, puffery and nauseating billionaire butt-kissing.
Failing all this natural rights talk, perhaps, an old statement from a well known publication will get the message across from the 99.9% to the .1%:
“… For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Luke 12:48
So, as one of the “many” it's up to us to make a new declaration. Let's declare that anyone, who serves as a representative of the public, deals with public funding or an individual’s investments, or sells any product or service to the public - most especially global corporate CEOs and “C” level managers - must be bound to respect and honor the natural rights of people, including customers and employees not only in their home nation, but worldwide… globally, if you like.
Finally, the ethics statements and mission statements of all of these "leaders" as well as every Global Corporation must declare and honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2.) and the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact (3.).
The point is if you are charged with the honor of serving the people of the world as a public leader or global corporation leader, then you are personally bound to respect the natural rights of people throughout the world. Much is expected of you. And, as a contender for that job it's up to you to prove that you are worthy.
What do you think?
1. Brief background about The Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
2. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
3. The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact:
No comments:
Post a Comment