Friday, 19 June 2015

Human Rights

Human Rights


Thesis: Throughout history there has always been a struggle for power, freedom and equality but as much as it has been fought for over the years there is always room for more improvement and we need to keep working on it even in today's world.


1700's

John Locke


John locke had taken the point of view that government  should serve people and make it a priority to  protect life, liberty, and property.  He felt that when government violated individual rights, people had legitimate reason to rebel. locke hated the idea that kings  were chosen by God and argued that human beings have natural rights which can not be touched by the government.

French revolution


The French Revolution came about in 1789 because of the rise of Enlightenment ideals, and unfair privileges only enjoyed by the upper class. People's resentment of the royal class and the unfair treatment eventually became too much and it became an 11 year war.which ended in 1799, when napoleon decided to take the helm stepping up as first consul. The Revolution ended, and the French Declaration what they had been fighting for had now become the basis of French constitutional law. which states Liberal principles such as the presumption of innocence, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the right to property.


1800’s

Worker's Rights- Industrial Revolution


Many of the jobs back then were quite dangerous and putting workers in harm's way Industries like cotton trade were extremely difficult for workers. having young kids and woman in these crazy hot conditions with dangerous machinery for long hours was getting out of hand something eventually had to be done. But not all factories were like this Robert owen and Titus salt were both known as terrific employers. They were part of a group of people who were known as reformers they wanted to change the way factories were run. But the other factory owners did not want this they wanted to find the cheapest way to get labour. Eventually the reformers along with workers had, had enough they started protesting for better working conditions which led to many positive changes over the years like the acts below.


Factory Act 1819- Limited the hours worked by children to a maximum of 12 per day.


Sadler Report 1833- The sadler Report created by Michael Sadler was a large debate over the workload that young kids were dealing with in factories many times they were being put into unsafe conditions because they were cheap and got the job done faster. Sadler was completely against the abuse of these children and eventually after a few years his report came to pass. This report stated that, “Children under 9 are banned from working in the textiles industry and 10-13 year olds are limited to a 48 hour week.” This was very influential for the times and changed how people looked at the workforce many people did not approve of it and many factory owners did not want to accept this .  But now looking back at it the thought of a 9 year old working in a factory is almost unfathomable with the rules we have implemented in today's world.


Factory Act 1844- Maximum of 12 hours work per day for Women.


Factory Act 1847- Maximum of 10 hours work per day for Women and children.


Factory Act 1850- Increased hours worked by Women and children to 10 and a half hours a day, but not allowed to work before 6am or after 6pm.


Factory Act 1874- No worker allowed to work more than 56.5 hours per week.


1900’s
Martin Luther King Jr


Martin Luther King, Jr. was known across the world as a civil rights leader and he was a big part of American society in the 1950s and 1960s. He believed in nonviolent protest instead of aggression he held multiple Boycotts, protests, and marches which eventually became effective, and much legislation was passed against racial discrimination. Some of the things he was involved in are listed below.


  • He was a large advocate for nonviolent protest in the Memphis sanitation worker strike
  • He provided leadership in the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955
  • His famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 which has touched millions over the years
  • He was instrumental in establishing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, which was a civil rights organization that supported the philosophy of nonviolence.


Steve Biko
Biko was an activist in the late 1960’s up until his death in 1977. He was head of many anti apartheid and black consciousness movements in South Africa and his mission was to fight for his people. Even though it put him in jail multiple times and ended up being the reason for his untimely death he did not anything stop him while he was alive he wasn't gonna give up until blacks were free on their homeland.


2000’s
Todays world
There have been many improvements in human rights and equality over the years, but all around the world racial discrimination is still prevalent. Unfortunately there are many, racial related killings still occurring in today's society, which are leading to many riots and revolts. The Baltimore riots are one of the many backlashes involving race in today's world leading to many injuries and deaths. But in Canada I feel we have much more diversity and people from many walks of life so we don’t focus as much on the differences of people because there is no point we focus more on how they contribute to society and not as much race or gender.

Work Cited









https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=French_Revolution

2 comments:

  1. Completely agree with thesis, do you have a suggestion for how to improve it?
    I believe there should be a steady improvement of slowly changing ideas and rules, not all at one time, just slowly weening people to the idea.

    I believe the french revolution was one of the most important times for the revolution of human rights.

    worker's rights were very important, and it's good that you mentioned that these rights took kids out of harm's way, because that's exactly what it did.

    The factory act section and breaking it up into little pieces and years was very interesting to see how it developed over the years.

    "He believed in nonviolent protest instead of aggression he held multiple Boycotts, protests, and marches which eventually became effective, and much legislation was passed against racial discrimination." was probably the most true statement you could say about MLK.

    Steve Biko was a good inclusion in the post. He isn't as well known as MLK yet he provided so much for human's rights.
    It was good including the today's world section. This helped me realize more what is going on in today's society and how it relates to me in the modern day.
    Good post overall!

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  2. I agree with your thesis stating has always been a struggle for freedom and equality and there has always and will always need room for improvement. It's a nice fact to know John Locke fight about human being have natural rights that the government can't touch. but to what extent was that. I don't think he fought for black rights, women's right or gay rights in his era. The factory act is also a nice interesting fact know that the hours of work limited was brought down to 12 hours maximum for women and children. The martin luther King speech was a huge speech that went global that touched the world in having to put our differences aside and live life happily as one .

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