During the Enlightenment people realized all should have rights and equality. The most influential thinkers in this time period were John Locke, and Jean Rousseau. They both argued that the government was responsible for the obstruction of human rights, and their ideas both included the option that the people had a right to take down the government for what they have done. Locke expressed the radical view that government is morally obliged to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property. He explained the principle of checks and balances to limit government power. He favored representative government and a rule of law. He insisted that a government that violates individual rights gives the people the right to legitimately rebel (FEE). Rousseau was the first enlightenment thinker to speak explicitly about human rights. He was the thinker who gave terms such as General Will, what people believe is good, and Social Contract, right to get rid of government (Haberman 149). These enlightenment thinkers demonstrate the beginning of human beings standing up to fight against their objection of human rights. During the time period people were becoming more aware of what they are entitled to, and there was definitely more light shone on how badly the government was mistreating these rights. These realizations were not gone unseen or ignored as more and more thinkers like Locke and Rousseau became speaking their mind, educating people of what their rights were, and influencing the people to stand up and fight for their rights to be restored.
The French Revolution was a product of enlightenment views of demanding of rights. However, compared to the Enlightenment, standing up for the obstruction of ones rights did not include intellectuals creating awareness about it, but instead physically revolutionizing for their rights to be restored. Similar to Locke, Thomas Paine said, “Man did not enter into society to become worse than he was before, nor to have fewer rights than he had before, but to have those rights better secured” (Haberman 93). Paine argues that natural rights should be secured to all men, and that the government is responsible for making sure they are served and protected. It was during this time the people of the third estate were extremely deprived of their natural rights, and it was Sieyes who believed the third estate was the most important and deserved the most rights and acknowledgement. Also during the time of the French Rev. the National Assembly was formed to restore order and provide France with a written constitution. This made government for everyone, the French peasants were freed of all remaining labor services, manorial duties, and tithes. They became free persons, and the privileges of the nobility were ended (Haberman 162). The obstruction of human rights during the 18th century could not be ignored by the people that were suffering, this then is what resulted in the French Revolution. The people of France could not overlook what the government was not doing for their natural rights. By using ideas from Locke and Paine the people revolted against the government in order to restore their natural rights, and succeeded by standing up, and literally fighting for what they believed they deserved.
The Industrial Revolution was a change in the work world as industries and factories developed... and so did obstruction of human rights. During this time J.S Mill promoted utilitarianism, an ethical doctrine that virtue is based on utility, and that conduct should be should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest numbers of persons (Dictionary.com). With this he protected minority rights and argued with the government. The promotion of utilitarianism also lead to providing more education for all, which during this time period, was one of the greater human rights being fought for. The conditions of the factory lead to many obstructions of rights, along with child labor, and women inequality. There were many acts that fought for these rights, such as, the Saddler Report, which exposed conditions of factories to Britain, and The Factory Act was inspired by the Sadler Report and it established laws the amount of hours children could legally work for. Karl Marx believed that eventually workers would revolt against factory conditions, and lead to communism. The time of industrialism may seem horrible at first, however it created a revolution that eliminated horrible conditions in factories, limited over labor, and created the work world we know today within the Western World with no child labor, gender equality in the work place, maximum hours one can work per week, and unions for the majority of workplaces.
The post-1945 world still encountered many human right obstructions. The main human right problems during the time period were black segregation and racism. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an advocate for black rights as he protested and spoke publicly to crowds about the obstruction of African Americans human rights. Like the quote shown in the photo on the left, MLK believed that human rights, and freedoms, must be demanded by the people for them to ever be restored and for justice to be ensued. These events of King's peaceful protesting of change are relevant to how obstruction of human rights in the Western World will always be restored if the people stand up and fight for them.
In today's society humans are aware there is inequality and discrimination against LGBT communities. Because of who they love, how they look, or who they are many human beings experience discrimination and violence. The Human Rights Watch works for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights with activists promoting sexual orientation and gender identity are integral aspects of our selves and should never lead to discrimination or abuse (Human Rights Watch). This group of LGBT activists advocate for laws and policies that will protect everyone's dignity by exposing and documenting abuse based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In our modern society we take for granted the amount of rights and freedoms we have. Since the 1600s Western World human beings have not ignored or stood down from their obstruction of rights. Humans have fought for the government to serve the people, protect their well being, and treat all humans equally. Imagine if this was not true... if humans never stood up and fought for their rights to be restored, the life we know would not be the same. This is the same for years to come as well- humans in the Western World will continue to voice their opinion and stand up and fight for any obstruction to their rights. As supported by events in history, human beings of the Western World will never sit back and let the government obstruct their natural rights and freedoms. There will always be thinkers like Locke, Paine, Rousseau, Mill, or King that promote human rights and rise against the government to obtain those rights for all in Western society.
References
"utilitarianism." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 12 Jun. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/utilitarianism>.
Dittrich, B. (2015, June 5). Dispatches: June to be a pivotal month for LGBT rights. Retrieved from Human Rights Watch website: http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/06/05/dispatches-june-be-pivotal-month-lgbt-rights
Haberman, A. (1987). The Modern Age Ideas in Western Civilization. Toronto, Ontario: Gage Educational.
Haberman, A. (2002). The West and the World. Toronto: Gage Learning Coperation.
Powell, J. (n.d.). John Locke: Natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Retrieved from Foundation for Economical Education website: http://fee.org/freeman/detail/john-locke-natural-rights-to-life-liberty-and-property
No comments:
Post a Comment