In spite of defining Fundamental Human Rights, as basic legal
entitlements inherent to all human beings simply because we are human, the fact
of the matter is, the inequitable distribution of resources, goods and services
(as can be seen in the inequitable distribution of wealth) throughout humanity,
prevents billions of people from living according to their human rights simply
because they do not have enough money to do so.
Accordingly, the fundamental problem
with human rights, called the unequal application of human rights, is that they
are not equally accessible to all of humanity. Why? Because access to resources
such as food, water and medicine costs money. Consequently, people with more
money have more opportunity to live according to their human rights; while
those with less money have less opportunity to live according to their human
rights even though the unequal application of human rights is in itself a
violation of human rights. Welcome to the contradiction of a world-system based
on the hierarchy of money, wherein the equality movement seems to have
forgotten that equal rights means nothing without equal access (for all lives)
to the resources necessary to equally live.
How is humanity able to ensure that everyone has the
opportunity to live equally according to our human rights regardless of how
much money we have? One global citizen’s initiative being put forth by the
Equal Life Foundation has begun to address this problem with a new a new bill
of rights based the principle of equality and practical application, wherein
from an equal right to life, flows an equal right to the resources, goods and
services needed to live according to the equal right to life.
An Equal Right to Life
The first Fundamental Human Right that the Equal Life
Foundation recognizes, promotes and underwrites is that every human being has
an equal right to life. As the life of each individual is equal in each one of
us at the point of birth, that which separates man from man must therefore be a
consequence of what happens after birth. For example, through the influences of
one’s education and living environment, we start perceiving ourselves as
separate individuals in competition with one another and are taught not to
respect the first point that makes our existence possible, which is life. As
life is the one thing that is the same within us all, that makes our existence
possible, no one can rightfully claim that his or her life is worth any more
than the life of another or that anyone has more of a right to live a better life
than anyone else for any reason whatsoever.
An Equal Right to the
Resources
The second fundamental human-right of the Bill of Rights
acknowledges (as a matter of common sense) that all human beings are made up of
substances provided freely by earth, which we all need in order to exist on
earth. Therefore, as a fundamental human right (flowing from an equal right to
life), all of earth’s resources belong to naturally everyone and should
therefore be shared equally by everyone. From this point of agreement, the
question now becomes, how are we best able to manage the resources to care for
earth, while also providing everyone with the opportunity to live a dignified
and happy life?
An Equal Right to Food
The third fundamental human right, an equal right to food,
recognizes that humans need food to exist. Even though many have been
indoctrinated to believe that food and water are commodities that must be
bought and paid for by money earned in the servitude of others, the fact of the
matter is that, such resources (except for the human labor involved) are
resources of earth, provided freely by earth. Who was it that decided that the
minority should rule over the majority, that the few would control the
resources while the many spent their lives in servitude just to stay alive?
Although humanity has a lot of problems, a lack of food abundance is in fact
not one of them. Nevertheless, in some parts of the world, food is now being
used as a weapon against populations, destabilizing human behavior by cutting
off the supply of food and/or water, forcing people into servitude, thereby
creating slave-master relationships where there should be and could be
relationships based on equality. It is a crime against humanity and a crime
against life. We can close our ears and close our eyes for a time, but
eventually the crimes we ignore over there will make their way over here. In
other words, If we do not act to solve these problems, who will? Herein, access
to the natural resources of food (as a matter of life or death) is a non-negotiable
human right.
An Equal Right to the
Water
Just as we all require food to exist, so too must we all have
water, which is also provided obviously for free by earth. Unfortunately, this
observation has not prevented multinational corporations in collaboration with
corrupt governments, from buying up the rights to traditional water sources and
then turning around and selling the water back to the people. What happens when
people do not have enough money to pay these corporations for water? How far
will mothers and fathers go to have water for themselves and their children? Is
there any difference between pointing a gun at people and telling them to work,
and threatening to turn off their water if they do not work? Claiming ownership
of the rainwater, rivers and lakes that people require to live is the same as
claiming to have the right to decide who lives and who dies. Let us end the
hierarchy of power and control. Let us all agree that, an equal right to water
is a human right, one which also flows from the equal right to life. To charge
for and/or deny people access to the water that we require to live is a
violation of human rights and a crime against humanity.
An Equal Housing Right
Although people are able to survive for a time, outside,
exposed to the weather, the human body itself is clearly not designed to live
without shelter. Therefore, just as the equal right to life requires equal
access to food and water in order for us to stay alive, so too does the right
to life necessitate an equal housing right as shelter, a place of security, a
home to call your own. Of course, there are practical considerations involved
in providing a home for everyone. However, these considerations are small
compared to those associated with having to deal with homeless people. As
global citizens, each one of us is an equal part of humanity; all we require to
do is begin taking equal responsibility. The choice is ours.
An Equal Education
Right
An equal education right recognizes that the nature of
humanity, as the aggregate/sum-total of all human relationships (how we stand
in relation to one another and everything else) is a product of our education.
Therefore, in order to change the nature of ourselves so to change the nature
of humanity to coexist in relationships that are best for all, requires
that everyone have the opportunity to receive the best education possible,
which amounts to an equal education right for all. Technologically
speaking, progress to an equal education right, as access to teaching and learning
via the World Wide Web (www) is happening. However, in order to receive an
equal educational opportunity as the opportunity to equally access information
to teach and learn, humanity must eliminate secrecy and anonymity from the
public domain, including government and of course the worldwide web, so to
establish information equality as well as Information Accountability.
An Equal Right to Have
a Job
Finally, an equal right to have a job addresses the right to
participate in the economy to access money beyond what needed to live according
to our human rights. Based on the principle of give as you would like to
receive, the best that humanity is able to be is the sum-total of the best that
each person is able to be. An equal right to have a job is about each one of us
having the opportunity to live to our utmost potential. What is each one’s
potential? That is what we will discover when we stop competing against each
other and start cooperating with one another from the starting point of
creating what is best for all. For example, in terms of employment, while some
people enjoy designing efficient buildings and have a natural talent for doing
that, others prefer getting their hands dirty while working on a farm. The key
to reaching our potential is not about learning to do something we do not enjoy
doing, but about discovering each one’s inherent skills and cultivating them to
everyone’s benefit, thereby giving of yourself the best that you are able to
give, while also receiving from everyone else the best that they are able to
give = the potential of humanity.
In an interconnected environment, such as the biosphere of
earth, humanity’s utmost potential is dependent on and determined by our
relationships to one another and everything else. Therefore, when we change the
nature of ourselves to stand as best we are able in relation to everyone else,
we change the nature of humanity to that which is best for all, which also
happens to be what is best for each one of us.
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