Troubled Waters in the World of Human Rights Watch

Some like fishing in troubled waters.

It appears that Ms. Sarah Leah Whitson is the deputy director of Women’s Rights division at Human Rights Watch (as indicated in the English version of the HRW site) and the NGO responsible for the Middle East (as specified in the HRW web site in Spanish). Several journalists have reported a supposed lack of ethics by Sarah Leah Whitson during her fund-rising trip to Saudi Arabia last May. Action that these media use to cheerfully extrapolate to the HRW’s overall activity…

It is curious that, once again, these unconstructive criticisms have just come in recent dates from quite conservative forums as The Wall Street Journal or the Barcelona based La Vanguardia. It is less surprising on other media less conservative but much more implicated such as The Jerusalem Post.

What about the circumstances to keep equity.
On the one hand it is really shocking that an online support clearly linked to the Wahhabi monarchy as Arab News reflects a fund-raising dinner where HRW Global Action in the Middle East is celebrated. I quote it literally:

Human Rights Watch is gaining more recognition and support in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. During their recent visit to the Kingdom, senior members of the organization were given a welcoming dinner in Riyadh hosted by prominent businessman and intellectual Emad bin Jameel Al-Hejailan [...] Other prominent members of Saudi society, human rights activists and dignitaries were invited to the dinner held to honor the guests.

Could anybody imagine the hilarious scene of an enjoyable party kindly assorted of “prominent members of Saudi society” and human rights activists where the latter receive the HR patent of nobility from the satraps?

It seems that when the NGO Monitor learned about this story at the end of May, they immediately contacted Ms. Whitson or other HRW officials looking for any comments or corrections on the fundraising event:

Neither responded. In any event, Ms. Whitson’s protests to the contrary hold little weight: The Arab News report makes clear that Whitson was seeking donations from the Saudi elite on the basis of HRW’s anti-Israel bonafides rather than on its work challenging the Saudi regime. However, if Ms. Whitson has documentary evidence that this is not the case (unlike HRW’s other reporting on the Middle East), then she should presente it.

It is disappointing that some journalists get on well with the biased Bernstein’s [1] opinions or the much caricatured views of NGO Monitor just quoting words as if they were facts. For the reason that it is certainly easier to a conservative newspaper such as the WSJ,  the ONG Monitor or La Vanguardia, to exploit the misfortune of the HRW’s naive action (otherwise much more independent than some other of higher reputation) instead of coming across more reliable sources. Someone has forgotten contrasting views here. HRW’s action is reprehensible indeed, but it is useless to generalize and cover of opprobrium an NGO whose work is praised by many. Bernstein’s opinion is rather ideological than factual: so it deserves to be compared at least to other points of view, also disagreeing with that organization but more self-controlled, moderate and responsible than the WSJ journalist’s.

The umpteenth David Bernstein’s caricature of Human Rights Watch points this time to a HRW official that had the temerity to criticize Israel in Saudi Arabia during a fundraising dinner:

A delegation from Human Rights Watch was recently in Saudi Arabia. To investigate the mistreatment of women under Saudi Law? To campaign for the rights of homosexuals, subject to the death penalty in Saudi Arabia? To protest the lack of religious freedom in the Saudi Kingdom? To issue a report on Saudi political prisoners?

No, no, no, and no. The delegation arrived to raise money from wealthy Saudis by highlighting HRW’s demonization of Israel. An HRW spokesperson, Sarah Leah Whitson, highlighted HRW’s battles with “pro-Israel pressure groups in the US, the European Union and the United Nations.” (Was Ms. Whitson required to wear a burkha, or are exceptions made for visiting anti-Israel “human rights” activists”? Driving a car, no doubt, was out of the question.)

Apparently, Ms. Whitson found no time to criticize Saudi Arabia’s abysmal human rights record. But never fear, HRW “recently called on the Kingdom to do more to protect the human rights of domestic workers.”

In the past, Bernstein has formerly portrayed HRW as “almost cartoonishly biased against Israel.”  The only thing cartoonish, however, is Bernstein’s barefaced distortion of Whitson’s work.  Have a look of her recent comments on Saudi Arabia, which take no more than 30 seconds to find on HRW’s website:

• Criticized Saudi Arabia’s failure to protect rights, including “giving women better access to work, education, health and justice, and easing restrictions on their travel.”

• Urged governments to criticize the lack of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia.

• Criticized Saudi Arabia’s use of the death penalty for non-serious crimes.

• Demanded that Saudi Arabia release political prisoners.

• Criticized Saudi Arabia for imposing draconian discipline against a lawyer who attempted to represent a rape victim.

• Asked Saudi courts to stop trials for “insulting” Islam.

One cannot assume what Bernstein says in his article is factual. Journalist Pilar Rahola in La Vanguardia, just do it. Echoing the aforementioned article, she sarcastically attacks Sarah Leah Whitson for not criticizing Saudi Arabia for X, Y, and Z during an event, an attack obviously intended to make her seem soft on the Saudis, without mentioning that Whitson has repeatedly criticized Saudi Arabia for X, Y, and Z in the recent past. Arguments spot in situ and ad hominen with a critical eye, not from the easy distance of a fashionable journalist’s office. Here is one of her most interesting releases:

• http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/08/saudi-arabia-women-s-rights-promises-broken for the English version.

• http://www.hrw.org/es/news/2009/06/12/onu-promete-arabia-saudita-terminar-con-el-control-de-los-hombres-sobre-las-mujeres for the Spanish version.

Some should note for future reference and occasions instead of playing into the hands of propaganda. And Mrs Whitson should clarify the objectives, circumstances and results of the Riyadh meeting in order to enlight her integrity but most of all,  HRW’s trustworthiness (HRW enlightening here.)

Incidentally, the photo above is from the very same HRW awareness campaign  -both in Israel and Lebanon-  for rights of domestic workers entitled Put Yourself in Her Shoe .  Isn’t bright ?

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[1] Not to be confused with Robert L. Bernstein, founder and former chair of Human Rights Watch !

A vueltas con la deflación, el desempleo y el déficit fiscal norteamericanos

Se puede decir que la recesión da comienzo en Estados Unidos durante el último trimestre del 2008. Desde entonces, la tasa de desempleo de la economía norteamericana ha mostrado un deterioro manifiesto, hasta el punto de duplicar sus valores previos de inicios del período 2000-2003. Si consideramos el periodo que va del 1er trimestre del 2000  –1T00–  al tercer trimestre de 2008  –3T08–  el cociente de la tasa de desempleo fue de 5,08%;. En junio, el último dato de desempleo publicado, previo al cierre del mes, asciende a 9,8% [1][2]. De acuerdo a recientes proyecciones se espera que la tasa de desempleo se sitúe en el 9.4% para finales del 2010 [2].

Por otra parte, la inflación ha mostrado una tendencia contraria llegando a ser negativa desde marzo de este año (deflación). La deflación es el descenso permanente del nivel de precios lo cual implica un aumento de las tasas de interés real obligando a las familias y empresas a consumir y contratar menos, acentuando el desempleo en la economía.

Fue precisamente la necesidad de luchar contra esto lo que llevó a la administración Obama a implementar una política fiscal expansiva, la cual ha llevado a cuestionar la sostenibilidad del déficit fiscal norteamericano, que se estima supere el 10,0% del PIB. Sin embargo, la magnitud del paquete de estímulo es el otro gran interrogante, ya que  –incluso se ha llegado a cuestionar, entre los que están a favor del paquete–  el importe global del mismo parece hoy claramente insuficiente para reducir el desempleo y se nos antoja inevitable que un nuevo plan de incentivos económicos verá la luz en 2010.

[1] Se estaría situando incluso por encima de la tasa natural de desempleo (NAYRU) de EE.UU la cual, se estima entre 5,5% -6%.  http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~nroubini/NAIRU.HTM
[2] Fuente: The Wall Street Journal

Africa’s Economy at the Crisis Crossroads

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published on June 25 the “Economic Development in Africa 2009” [1]. It is focused on the promotion of economic integration in the region, which should become a key factor for boosting and diversifying economic growth, expand markets and attract more foreign investment, especially in the context of current global financial crisis.

Regarding the effects of the financial crisis in the African region, it was noted that the main channels are through the fall in exports, reduction of investment flows and lower revenue collected by governments. In this regard, according to the projections of the African Economic Outlook (AEO) in May, it is pointed that the region could grow 2.8% in 2009, much less than the growth rates of 5.1% in 2008 and 6% in 2007.

The impact of the global financial crisis would already be reflected in exports and reduction in prices of raw materials. A study of the organization ActionAid, says that the financial crisis will cause African economies lose up to 49 billion dollars during 2009 due to the drop in international aid since the fall of exports, among others. The report said that countries that liberalized their markets and that were large enough to attract significant investments will be most affected by the financial crisis, starting with South Africa that could see a drop around 20%. However, they also state that Africa is now better prepared to face the crisis than it was 10 years ago.

[1] Economic Development in Africa 2009. Strengthening Regional Economic Integration for Africa’s Development. UN. June 2009.

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[1] Economic Development in Africa 2009. Strengthening Regional Economic Integration for Africa’s Development. UN. June 2009.

The Political Importance of the Power of Images to Reveal Government Abuse

One of the places where the Iranian uprising against falsified election was given a narrow coverage was China. An attempt was made indeed in PRC to block online images of demonstrations meanwhile official media tried to ignore the clamor.

The reason was clear enough: any mass protest and its brutal suppression raises uncomfortable memories of Tian’anmen Square on the 20th anniversary of China’s nasty crackdown of student movement.
Now China faces itself violent troubles in its Xinjiang western region as Muslim Uighurs confront Han Chinese in what seems to be the worst nation’s ethnic conflict in years. As in Iran, the authorities are trying to repress the protest movement through a combination of technology and force: cutting off cell phone service, blocking the Net, shooting people and sending the riot police.
The Chinese unrest poses an interesting dilemma. What is Iran? An Islamic republic, whose leader aspires to lead the Muslim world, to make of Muslims rising up in an authoritarian state? Islamic commitment requires solidarity with the Uighurs, while repressive solidarity requires pledge with Chinese security forces. The answer in the current Iranian climate has been predictable enough: almost no mention in the official media of the Chinese riots –and no mention that one party is Muslim.

These are both authoritarian states that have generally stopped short of totalitarian control, adapting to the 21st century by limiting freedom and deploying repression where it is critical to the maintenance of the system, but allowing some measure of liberty –to travel, trade, speak out– where it is considered harmless. Call them the new “Red Line” states. Live your lives and make money, they say, but never cross the red lines, which include organizing against the system and denouncing the leadership in place.
These methods have seemed effective but became unsuccessful in recent weeks. The Iranian regime, surprised by a last minute wave of support to the opposition leader, Mir Hussein Mussavi, opted in mid June for a brutal crackdown in defense of an electoral lie. The shift from control to savage repression was abrupt and devastating, pushing many young Iranians from reluctant consent to .total opposition.

Despite this, many young Iranians have borne witness –with mobile video images and photos, through twitter and other shapes of social networking–  and have thus amassed a permanent global act of indictment against the usurpers of mid June 2009. the Neda effect –the image of eyes blanking, life abating and blood blotching across the face of young student Neda– will undermine the regime over time.
China makes no electoral simulation in its one-party system, but it too, has been temporarily undone by the power of word and image spreading across the Internet. The current unrest in the Xinjiang western desert region has its origins in an incident thousands of kilometers away in southern Guangdong province, where a Uighur dormitory was attacked in June by Han Chinese and at least two people were killed.
Photographs appeared online. The government tried and failed to delete them. Calls for protest spread through web sites and instant messaging. Again, the government attempted to block online discussion of the incident. But Uighur rage had gone viral.

By the official count 183 people have now been killed in the protests. As in Iran, images of police officers, confronting weeping women burgeon, carrying emotional charge all through the country and across the world.
Both Iran and PRC have tried to blame people outside the country for the turmoil. They have identified foreign agents they assert are orchestrating troubles. They should look closer to home.

Repression, injustice and brutality have encountered a force hard to control: the empowerment of people through technology. Communication feeds a hunger for freedom that may in the end be stronger than any red line.

Deflación tóxica

Desde la osadía, y ante la bajada de los precios unido a los alarmantes vaticinios de los “expertos” en economía   –lo de expertos va entrecomillado porque tengo mis dudas sobre la capacidad de algunos para vaticinar nada y menos para aportar soluciones, en esto de la crisis muchos son los expertos que a priori se han equivocado y nos han equivocado–  de que la deflación puede acarrearnos más trastornos económicos y sociales, me atrevo a hacer pública mi reflexión sobre las consecuencias de la deflación.

Alguien ha dicho, que “los efectos de la deflación sobre la actividad económica son muy negativos y difíciles de corregir. Un descenso de los precios deteriora los resultados empresariales, lo que implica recortes de plantilla y de inversión en bienes de equipo, lo que a su vez lleva a una disminución de la demanda que de nuevo recorta el excedente empresarial. En ausencia de políticas correctoras, la salida de este círculo vicioso sólo se produce cuando los precios han disminuido lo suficiente para que los consumidores y empresas puedan restablecer progresivamente su nivel de demanda”.

Desde esa perspectiva, si los precios bajan las empresas ganan menos y están expuestas a cerrar. Hasta aquí, esto parece de una claridad meridiana. Pero se me antoja que, hasta la aparición de los primeros síntomas de la crisis, los precios no marcaban la realidad de los costes de elaboración, comercialización, distribución y venta al público de la mayoría de los bienes de consumo. En otras palabras, los precios estaban inflados.
También se puede decir de otro modo: algunos, muchos, se aprovecharon, codiciosamente, de los buenos tiempos para matar a la gallina de los huevos de oro y ahora ponen el grito en el cielo. Los consumidores también, con nuestra sumisa actitud ante precios abusivos, hemos contribuido a ello.
Lo que parece cierto es que las empresas no cerrarán por bajar los precios. Las empresas cerrarán por falta de financiación externa. Los precios de mercado anteriores a la crisis, en mi opinión sobrestimados, le han supuesto a las empresas un buen colchón para amortiguar la caída del precio de todo lo que se consume. El “inocente” redondeo del euro es el que sin duda alguna contribuyó y sigue contribuyendo, a engrosar ese colchón. Insisto en que el problema no es ese, el problema es la financiación. A pesar de la crisis, si hay financiación sin duda alguna se venderán más coches y más viviendas. No tantos como antes de la crisis, pero sí se notará una mejoría importante en estos sectores. Aunque, hay que reconocerlo, la crisis nos ha enseñado que hay que apurar más el coche y ser más austeros a la hora de gastar.

¿Alguien puede explicar la subida tan bestial que sufrió el precio del barril de petróleo y asegurar que con la enorme bajada de las mismos los productores de petróleo están perdiendo dinero? No, creo que nadie lo pueda explicar. El precio de los combustibles es algo que tuvo mucho que ver con la inflación y con la aceleración de la crisis; al tiempo que los costes estaban, sin duda alguna, más que sobreevaluados.

La deflación puede ser dura y hasta  si se quiere tóxica, pero en mi opinión no es tan alarmante como se dice. Al contrario la deflación –como la crisis en general– tiene las espaldas anchas y se ha convertido en la mejor de las excusas para que muchos responsables de empresa tiren por el camino de en medio tomando decisiones excesivas bajo la presión del accionista global. Esos mismos que van por las alturas, y cuya gestión ya vemos adonde nos ha llevado.

In China Uighurs Fight for Freedom. Other People Too.

Uighur riots sparked by fears that separatist dream is dying.
Riots of July 5, between Uighurs and Han in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang in northwestern China, are the most serious in decades. In this region of 20 million people, where the main community is Muslim and Turkish-speaking, the causes of violence are deep …

One of the later news that has convulsed the world last week  -though not as much as the death of Michael Jackson-  has been the strong police repression in Chinese Xinjiang (known as Chinese Turkestan), where several Uighur riots took place. Actually treatment given to them by Chinese authorities in their own homeland as well as in the rest of China, where they often migrate for job purposes is clearly discriminating.

This situation must be put in context. 55 minorities coexist in China and they represent approximately 110 million (2005), on a total of 1.315 million citizens of the People’s Republic. Han are the ethnic majority, equivalent to 91 percent.

Among these 55 ethnic minorities, Uighurs are the largest both demographic and territorial. There are about ten million native Uighurs, 5.5 Tibetans, and 6 million Mongolians. With the particularity that these three ethnic groups represent about 50 percent of the territory of China, and with a low population density, the vast reserves of oil, gas, coal, and large quantities of other raw materials.

Among the 55 ethnic minorities, the Hui and Manchu use to write Chinese characters, while the remaining 53 have their own writings. Since 1950, the Government of Beijing has organized a panel of experts to ‘help’ the creation and improvement of written expression.

In political life, the use of spoken languages is theoretically guaranteed, and when important official meetings take place too. Simultaneous interpretation of the seven major languages are supposedly provided; state laws and transcendent official documents should also be published in these seven languages.

(15 July update)

Meanwhile…

Uighurs who dare to protest the discrimination and abuse are arrested. The protests are brutally suppressed. In Yining in 1997, Chinese police forces responded violently to street riots causing many deaths. After 9/11 attacks persecution intensified. Some Uighur leaders were accused of having links with Al Qaeda and were imprisoned. Repression against any Uighur group suspected of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism is relentless, systematic and ongoing.

All this is happening for decades. What did say politicians or religious leaders from the Islamic world? Not much.

Recently, the Turkish government has shown its concern over the situation in Xinjiang, but without increasing the decibels too much. Better not. This is the reaction of an official Chinese newspaper: “The support of Turkey to the Uighur separatists and terrorists can only cause indignation in China. If [Turkey] does not want to ruin the relationship between our two peoples they should stop supporting these separatist mobs. They must stop being an axis of evil “.

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Three themes outlined below have played important roles in the modernization of the unity of the People’s Republic :

1) A geographical factor. The Pacific Ocean is the East border of the People’s Republic, the desert is at north, while the limits to the west and south are high mountain ranges. In such circumstances, the regional economies tend to converge among themselves.

2) A long history of unification. China is a unified country for almost three millennia, when the Qin dynasty. And in the last 800 years, in contrast to the European trend where the ancient great empires divided into nations, China showed a trend towards consolidation, stronger than ever, over the last Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Be noted that the Yuan and Qing dynasties were established by the Mongols and Manchus, respectively, two outsider peoples that strongly promoted, however, the unification of China.

3) The Han core stability. Their ancestors were called Han Hua, peripherals and other peoples were known as Yi. Hua meant men civilized country’s central and Yi wild men of the periphery. An idea that lasted from generation to generation, making strong distinctions between Hua and Yi, where Hua were not an ethnic affiliation, but cultural. So, Hua population grew to become the largest and core binder compared to Yi. And since the Han dynasty (202 a. C./220 AD), peripheral peoples have called Han those who were living in the central country, abandoning the former used Hua. For over two millennia, the Han have continued to absorb the peripheral outlying populations to reach a rate of 91 per cent of the total population of China today.

In the three most important territorial nationalities mentioned above, there are more or less broad trends towards greater autonomy or even independence. In the case of the Mongols, these features are less intense for their long history of relationship with the Chinese themselves, to the point where there was a powerful Mongol dynasty.

Tibetans, as we know well, have a strong personality, currently represented overseas through the Dalai Lama. And although the progress of Tibet is clear, and the Han are still a minority, demonstrations during the past year there have shown that Tibetans look to keep their ancestral culture on their own standing without impositions from outside.

The Uighurs are less known in the rest of the world than the Mongols or Tibetans. They are far more different than other Chinese citizens for their religious Muslim. Furthermore, the treatment they have received raises many doubts about the supposed equality of every citizen under the Chinese law. Therefore, the outbreak of violence in Xinjiang should help the authorities in Beijing to refrain from punish Uighurs but rather to study the problems in view of satisfaying a mutual cooperation. Additionally, China is an hyper power now and cannot afford to go shooting their own people, creating a feeling of malaise that could turn against the Government of Beijing itself, despite their good intentions and actions in many international areas. It goes without saying that if many peripheral populations of the People’s Republic want more freedom, they are not alone. There are many millions of Han who fight for democracy too…

Towards a Conservative Europe… Allegro ma non troppo

Elections in the European Union have granted a great victory to the conservative parties, and even to others not so moderate on the extreme right. What happened is relatively complex, and needs to be analyzed country by country. French or German moderate rights are not comparable with the more conservative Spanish and Italian. Not even the British, which, incidentally, will go on their own, instead of fitting into the EPP (European People’s Party). It seems to be definitely: Tories would enter into another group. Why? Maybe because they still have been dragging out the same problem for years; that is, the British conservative have not yet assumed the fact that the British Empire does no longer exist; also because they do not get used to the fact that the rights that matter in Europe are French and German.

In addition, the results made the left-wing wonder if they are not being exceeded by right moderates on their own world’s vision. People seem more and more opting for the centre-right line -not the hard right that ruled the United States during two terms, except maybe  in Italy and Spain, as usual.
The sad part should be that the moderate right could fall into a lure of ultraliberal counter measures, shamelessly exploiting the workers to re-impose the awful 65 hours working week that they wisely decided to discard -in view of the fact that people who voted for them would not give support to that issue.
Spanish conservatives did count on the loyal support of their people, while the left has abstained from voting. The left-wing voters’ relationship to the polls is more complex: if they see something they do not like, they do not vote; while the right-wingers, even if their leaders’ ideology is as a satrap’s one, they do not care –e.g. Valencia regional leader Camps involved in corruption cases.
Silvio Berlusconi in Italy is a special case, something that would require a sociological and psychological analysis, and even to ‘craft’ a handbook on psychiatric mental health about those Italian who vote to such a peculiar personnage. Similar to Sarkozy’s France. German right is further levelheaded at least.

However, with Berlusconi and Sarkozy successes, the right removed the mask; they have no longer complex on what they are or what they do. Left-wing should ‘update’ itself before it’s too late… as the right, cleverly aped some issues and even occasionally expressed support to culture –and topics formerly reserved to their competitors as sex, adultery, religion are no longer a taboo.

Must European countries converge to one single model? The question seems to be at the core of the legitimacy of the European integration project.

A different and interesting view from Stefan Collignon over here.