Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Big_Bird]

I thought we might have a thread where one can post about human rights activists that one admires. They could include human rights lawyers, journalists, artists, concerned citizens, or anyone else who's stood up for human rights.

Today I was thinking about Mohammad Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who is being persecuted by Iranian authorities. He's currently trying to defend a woman on death row (waiting to be stoned to death) and the authorities are now holding his family in custody. I've read about his work before, and this recent news brings home, yet again, the constant danger that human rights campaigners in Iran face.

http://persian2english.com/?p=13078

I hope he comes through this. He's got a lot of balls to do what he does, and I have nothing but admiration for him.

[On the other hand]

I like Peter Tatchell. He manages to criticize Muslim groups and governments, while not mixing himself up with xenophobic racists. In fact, he fights the racists just as passionately as he fights the fundamentalists.

[djsmnc]

I nominate George W. Bush.

His efforts to cut taxes in 2001, saying "the surplus is not the government�s money. The surplus is the people�s money" represent his concern for the liberation of Americans from financial burdens.

Later he would try to free humanity by ridding the world of terrorism.

Thank you, Mr. President!

[Junior]

Aung San Suu Kyi..

[thecount]

Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Transforming Libya into a bastion of human rights (signaled by a U.S. policy shift under President Obama to not block it's ascension to the U.N. Human Rights Council) was a tough job, but he did it.

Speaking truth to power, he called the U.N. on it's horrible record of terror (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32200&Cr=general+assembly&Cr1=), emphasizing that in the General Assembly, "�you just make a speech and then you disappear.�

He vowed to show the U.N. how to REALLY disappear people.

This tireless human rights campaigner lobbied hard for the compassionate release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was imprisoned for his unconventional contributions to the field of population control.

Truly, when one thinks of Human Rights, one must think of Muammar al-Qaddafi.

[bacasper]

Iqbal Masih was born in Pakistan in 1982. He lived in Muridke, near Lahore. Iqbal was sold into slavery at a carpet factory at age four, and worked on looms until the age of 10, when he ran away from the factory and was eventually freed by Ehsan Ulla Khan, of the Bonded Labor Liberation Front, (BLLF). He started attending the BLLF's school.

Iqbal refused to go back to the carpet mill where he had worked because he knew his rights as a citizen. Although a child labor law existed in Pakistan, it was not enforced. Soon, speaking out against the mills, he gained international attention. Iqbal eventually started making speeches around the world, talking about child labor and his life experiences.

Iqbal won many awards. He was honored by the International Labor Organization in Sweden, received Reebok's 1994 Human Rights Youth Action Award, and while in the United States accepting the award, was nominated for ABC's "Person of the Week."

Soon after receiving the award, Iqbal returned to Pakistan, where he was murdered, on April 16, 1995. He was 12 years old. No one really knows who did it, but there are assumptions that the "Carpet Mafia", was responsible, because many carpet industries were losing a lot of business due to Iqbal's speeches.

Iqbal is one of my heroes because it takes a lot of courage to stand up to such powerful people, and to speak out against evil.

- Kelly Frost