This is an interesting principle. Upon hearing it, one might say to oneself “well yes, sure”.
My question is, in fact is this so? And if so, is it always the case?
The principle is one of equality. Take the example “everyone has the right to vote”. Then going into detail in this or that country, you might discover that if you are in jail, or found guilty of an act having a penalty of so many years imprisonment, this right will be lost. You might reason that this is as it should be - I don't, but leave that aside as the point I want to make is that a noble egalitarian principle, that of an equal right to vote, can have its limitations, purposely added when the law was being formulated and passed.
Thinking about that a bit more, you will realise there are other limitations even on the same subject. For example, generally not everyone who is present in a country can vote, such as temporary residents, tourists, citizens under the age of eighteen etc. These all will have people who agree or disagree with whether this one or that is as it should be - not in the scope of this article to pursue.
I cannot not add that if we lived a 100 years ago in Australia, all women could not vote, and after this country was one of the first worldwide to remedy this, another number of years had to pass before women could actually be themselves candidates for parliament.
The vote is just one of the rights that man aspires to. There are other rights, such as the right for education, for work, freedom of expression, even personal freedom (like the freedom to walk in the street, ride public transport or simply enter into a shop) that many of us never even consider, but for some, either in the past or present, are a daily scourge that causes untold suffering for them, their children and their children's children.
Currently there are a number of protests happening called Black Lives Matter, which started in the United States and spread to some other countries including Australia. What sparked these fiery protests in the US this year was yet another case where a (white) policeman ended up needlessly killing a man (African-American) called George Floyd in Minneapolis, by kneeling on the back of the head of Floyd for almost eight minutes, enough to stop the flow of blood going to his head leading to death.
This series of protests had started in 2013 with the other case of the killing of Trayvon Martin, another African-American, in Florida. A member of Neighborhood Watch saw him walking from a shop towards his fiancee's house, thought he looked suspicious, an altercation ensued and ended up shooting him.
The protests are about the forces of law and order, which seem to have the tendency to use force excessively when considering someone who is clearly African-American. This is happening in the background of the country's history, where Africans for so many years were brought from their continent to America as slaves, and when slavery was abolished after the American civil war (1861-1865), blacks remained for many decades discriminated against.
They were also separated systemtically from the rest of the population, and were at the receiving end of much violence, including being burnt alive and hung by unruly mobs, especially in the country's southern states. The racist attitude is still felt today.
These protests found their echo in Australia, where the aboriginal population also has its history of land confiscation by the British colonisers, the stealing of generations of children to be raised by state and church institutions (something that persisted up to around 40 years ago) and the barbaric killing of many of them so the colonisers could establish their farms. Today, aboriginals have huge problems, with their social order disrupted, lack of work opportunities, life expectancy lower than that of the general population, high rates of incarceration, a lower level of education etc etc.
These protests also triggered contrarian ones, which generally go by the slogan All Lives Matter. This counter-protest pulls the leg of the original one, and seems to want to imply that black people pretend their lives are more important than those of other people.
This message is a vile misinterpretation of Black Lives Matter, who are protesting as they feel their lives are worth absolutely nothing, not that they feel superior! In this sense I have even seen a quotation that Jesus came to save everybody - this is of course true, but what a malicious slant is being given to the words of Jesus himself!
You need to have really misty glasses to ignore the history of discrimination that African-Americans in the US and aboriginals in Australia have suffered and continue to, and their precarious social situation that does not seem to be making any advances.
The least we can do is to listen to those who are suffering and empathise, if not give them our support. Not sneer.
----------------------------
Dan huwa prinċipju interessanti. Meta wieħed jisimgħu, aktarx li jgħid bejnu u bejn ruħu “ħeqq iva, mela, dażgur”.
Il-mistoqsija tiegħi hi, fil-fatt huwa minnu? U jekk iva, huwa hekk dejjem?
Il-prinċipju huwa wieħed ta' ugwaljanza. Per eżempju 'kulħadd għandu d-dritt tal-vot'. Imbagħad meta tidħol fid-dettall f'dan jew dak il-pajjiż, tiskopri per eżempju li jekk wieħed ikun il-ħabs, jew ikun instab ħati ta' xi att b'piena minima ta' tant snin priġunerija, dan id-dritt jintilef. Forsi tirraġuna li hekk għandu jkun - jien le, imma ħalliha, għax il-punt li rrid noħroġ huwa li prinċipju nobbli ta' ugwaljanza, dritt ugwali għall-vot, jista' jkollu l-limitazzjonijiet tiegħu, miżjuda apposta meta tkun issawret u għaddiet il-liġi.
Jekk toqgħod taħseb iktar, tinduna li hemm limitazzjonijiet oħra anke fl-istess suġġett. Per eżempju, ġeneralment mhux kull min ikun qiegħed f'pajjiż ikun jista' jivvota, bħal residenti temporanji, turisti, ċittadini li m'għalqux it-tmintax-il sena eċċ. Dawn kollha se jkun hemm min jaqbel jew ma jaqbilx jekk hekk għandux ikun - mhux l-iskop ta' dan l-artiklu li nidħol f'dan.
Ma nistax ma nżidx li kieku konna ngħixu madwar xi mitt sena ilu fl-Awstralja, in-nisa kollha ma setgħux jivvutaw, u wara li dal-pajjiż kien wieħed minn tal-ewwel fid-dinja li rrimedja għal dan, kellhom jgħaddu ftit iktar snin biex in-nisa setgħu joħorġu huma stess għall-parlament.
Il-vot huwa biss wieħed mid-drittijiet li bniedem jaspira għalih. Hemm drittijiet oħra, bħad-dritt tal-edukazzjoni, tax-xogħol, tal-libertà tal-espressjoni, anki tal-libertà personali (bħall-libertà li timxi fit-triq, tirkeb fuq karrozza tal-linja jew sempliċement tidħol f'ħanut) li ħafna minna lanqas biss naħsbu fihom, imma li għal xi wħud, jew fil-passat jew fil-preżent, huma pjaga ta' kuljum li toħloq tbatija ta' barra minn hawn, għalihom, uliedhom u ulied uliedhom.
Bħalissa għaddejjin sensiela ta' protesti imsejħin Black Lives Matter (Il-Ħajja tas-Suwed Tgħodd), li bdiet fl-Istati Uniti u nfirxet f'pajjiżi oħra inkluża l-Awstralja. Ix-xrara li ħeġġeġ dan in-nar ta' protesti fl-Istati Uniti din is-sena kien każ ieħor, wieħed biss minn tant, fejn pulizija (abjad) spiċċa qatel bla l-ebda bżonn ta' xejn raġel (Afrikan-Amerikan) jismu George Floyd f'Minneapolis, billi qagħad b'irkoppa fuq wara għonq Floyd għal kważi tmien minuti, tant li waqqaflu d-demm li tiela għal rasu u dan miet.
Din is-sensiela ta' protesti kienet bdiet fl-2013 f'każ ieħor tal-qtil ta' Trayvon Martin, Afrikan-Amerikan ieħor, fi Florida. Membru tan-Neighborhood Watch rah miexi minn ħanut lejn id-dar tat-tfajla tiegħu, għaddieli li kien suspettuż, kellhom xi jgħidu u spiċċa sparalu.
Il-protesti jirrigwardaw il-forzi tal-ordni, li jidher li għandhom it-tendenza li jużaw il-forza b'mod eċċessiv meta jikkunsidraw persuna li hija ċar li hija Afrikana-Amerikana. Dan huwa fi sfond tal-istorja tal-pajjiż, fejn l-Afrikani għal tant snin kienu miġjuba mill-kontinent tagħhom għal dak Amerikan bħala skjavi, u meta l-iskjavitù ġie pprojbit wara l-gwerra ċivili Amerikana (1861-1865), is-suwed baqgħu għal ħafna għexieren ta' snin ddiskriminati.
Ġew ukoll mifruda mill-bqija tal-popolazzjoni b'mod sistematiku, u ġarrbu vjolenza kontrihom, inklużi li jinħarqu ħajjin u jitgħallqu minn marmalja, speċjalment fl-istati tan-nofsinhar tal-pajjiż. L-attitudni razzista għadha tinħass illum.
Dawn il-protesti sabu eku tagħhom fl-Awstralja, fejn il-popolazzjoni aboriġena wkoll għandha l-istorja tagħha ta' teħid tal-artijiet mill-kolonizzaturi Brittanniċi, is-serq ta' ġenerazzjoniet ta' tfal biex jiġu mrobbija minn istituzzjonijiet tal-istat u tal-knisja (ħaġa li baqgħet sejra sa xi 40 sena ilu) u l-qtil barbaru ta' ħafna minnhom biex il-kolonizzaturi jkunu jistgħu jistabbilixxu l-irziezet tagħhom. Illum, l-aboriġeni għandhom problemi kbar, bl-ordni soċjali tagħhom imħarbta, nuqqas ta' xogħol, stennija tal-ħajja iktar baxxa minn dik tal-popolazzjoni ġenerali, rati għoljin ta' inkarċerazzjoni, livell ta' edukazzjoni baxxa eċċ eċċ.
Il-protesti qajmu wkoll dawk kuntrarji, li jsejħu lilhom infushom All Lives Matter (Il-ħajjiet kollha jgħoddu). Din il-kontro-protesta tiġbed saqajn dik oriġinali, u qisha trid tgħid li s-suwed jippretendu li ħajjithom huma iktar importanti minn dik ta' ħaddieħor.
Dan il-messaġġ jimmisinterpreta vilment dak ta' Black Lives Matter, li qed jipprotestaw għax qishom ħajjithom ma tgħodd għal assolutament xejn, u mhux għax iħossuhom superjuri! Saħansitra f'dan is-sens rajt messaġġ li Ġesù ġie biex isalva lil kulħadd - dan huwa minnu, imma x'logħob malizzjuż bil-kliem ta' Ġesù nnifsu!
Irid ikollok nuċċali mċajpar sew biex tinjora l-istorja ta' diskriminazzjoni li sofrew u għadhom isofru n-nies Afrikani-Amerikani fl-Istati Uniti u l-aboriġeni tal-Awstralja, il-vjolenza li saret u għadha ssir fil-konfronti tagħhom, is-sitwazzjoni mwiegħra soċjali tagħhom li qisha ma tistax tiġi għall-quddiem.
L-inqas li nistgħu nagħmlu hu li nisimgħu lil min hu mġarrab, nagħdruh u nħennu għalih, jekk mhux li ntuh appoġġ. Mhux nitnejku bih.
