Well intentioned but not so well informed people often assert the universality of human rights in ways that unwittingly serve the agendas of power. How could they not? Our awareness of (a) where human rights violations are said to take place and (b) what does – and what does not – constitute a human rights violation is almost entirely determined by corporate media?
(Which for reasons set out many times on this site, most recently here, means our selective awareness on both counts is shaped by and for the West’s ruling elites.)
In trying to communicate this truth I often fear I’m complicating something at root very simple. So let me offer this instead: a two minutes thirty clip featuring Mustafa Hyder Sayed, executive director of the Pakistan-China Institute.
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