Protection of Rights
national |
rights, freedoms and repression |
opinion/analysis 
Thursday August 20, 2009 14:57
by Sean Crudden - impero
sean.crudden at iol dot ie
Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth.
0879739945
Which Is Better - The North or The South?
On a planet running out of ideas and resources can we guarantee or buy rights?
The McCluskey Civil Rights Summer School has as its theme this year "Protection of Rights in Ireland, North and South." The school commences a day-long session at 10 a.m. on Saturday 29 August 2009 in The Heritage Centre, Holy Trinity Church, Carlingford, Co Louth.
The dictionary definition of civil rights refers to the personal rights of the individual citizen as upheld and protected by law. It is taken to mean also the promotion of equality in regard to social, economic and political rights. In Ireland the term civil rights has the connotation of marches and street demonstrations behind banners calling for one man one vote in Ulster in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. In that sense it was considered to be a grandiose and lofty aspiration worth taking a lot of trouble about and worth fighting for.
There is widespread disenchantment with politicians and our present political system and most people have switched off and are not worried about whether they vote again or who they will vote for.
However at an educational, religious, cultural level there is an important context of individual rights. At the level of the family, in school, in hospitals, before the law, none of us wants to be bullied or walked upon.
At a time when we are all expected to kowtow to the expert and the martinet a greater level of democracy in human relations was never more urgently needed.