Tag Archives: Human rights

On being more tolerant towards theists

Opinion, , , ,

Around a decade or so ago, I’ve decided not to engage in debates about religion – the interpretation of the Bible, which religion is THE religion or trying to win over believers that there is no such thing as a divine being, etc as I’ve come to accept that it is anyone’s right whether they would believe in it or not, whether they would join one religion or another.

However, when one’s religion or their own interpretation of what ever text they consider holy, is used to abuse and mistreat, to oppress, marginalize, and limit the agency of members of certain communities including the LGBTQIA+ communities, then I would spare some time to address it, expose it and call it out for what it is. I may not have all the answers, but someone has to make a stand and speak up.

Under the most right-wing government in its history, Israel has carried out large-scale invasions of Palestinian refugee camps and towns in the West Bank, killing and wounding scores of people. Armed Israeli fighters have burst into Palestinian streets and homes on an almost nightly basis, often picking children out of their beds in the middle of the night to be taken into administrative detention—acts of terror that have gone largely unreported in the Western press.

The state has accelerated its expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank and expanded the construction of illegal settlements. Settlers have waged weekly assaults on Palestinian villages, attacking and in some cases killing Palestinians, setting fire to their homes, and destroying their property, often under the protection of Israeli soldiers. The domestic secret police has facilitated and fomented violence against Palestinian citizens. Senior members of Israel’s government and messianic Jewish extremists have been increasingly aggressive in their provocations in and around the Noble Sanctuary Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem. In the weeks leading to Hamas’s offensive, the state tightened the blockade on Gaza by still further restricting movement in and out.

Tareq Bacouni, a former senior analyst for the International Crisis Group. (Source)

Unpopular view: Israel is an apartheid state. The cycle of violence will never end until one side is oppressing the other.

Netizens reject Harry Roque’s nomination to ILC

Daily dose, , , , , , , ,

Together with other bloggers and social media influencers – Concerned Online Citizens collectively, we sent a letter to the members of the UN General Assembly urging them to reject the nomination of Harry Roque to the International Law Commission.

Below is the full text of the letter:

We’ve also put up an online petition so that other concerned citizens can join and express their opposition to this mockery of international law, human rights and an embarrassment to the Philippines.

We hope that you will join and sign up as well. It may be a simple gesture but it sends a powerful message across, that we Filipinos will stand not stand for this abhorrent idea of having a disgraced lawyer and enabler of Duterte.

Instead of being elevated to such an honorable position, Roque and Duterte should be made accountable.

LIFE Hacks with Atty Chel Diokno

Asides, , , , , , , ,

It’s been a tiring, busy yet very fulfilling week as together with good friends and colleagues, we’ve launched the first installment of our ‘LIFE Hacks‘ series of webinars last June 27, 2020.

Our keynote speaker is none other than the venerable human rights defender, nationalist and founding Dean of De La Salle University’s College of Law, Atty Chel Dionko in which he talked about the Anti-Terrorism Bill and the recent cyber-libel conviction against veteran journalist Maria Ressa.

The webinar series is the inaugural project for our little volunteer group Lasallian Initiative for Empowerment or LIFE. Our mission is to help our fellow Filipinos, especially the youth, to better understand current issues and take part in the national conversation.

Despite the speed bumps and misses, we were surprised that the event exceeded most of our expectations given that we only had almost a week to put it all together. It was also my first foray into moderating or hosting a webinar and the experience has been a humbling and inspiring learning experience for me.

Apart from managing the logistics of the webinar and hosting it, I also handled the technical production – learning how to use and setup OBS Studio to jazz up our zoom webinar the night before and live streaming the event on our Facebook page. All those years of tinkering with computers, sound mixers and DIY-community theater really helped a lot.

We’re now working on our next event which would be a lot smoother and better thanks to all the valuable lessons we learned from the pilot episode. I’ll be talking more about this soon in the coming days.

If you’re one of those who joined our first ‘LIFE Hacks’ thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We look forward to seeing you in the next installment soon!