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Notes to AsiansRobert Traer* 1 Saneh Chamarik, "Some Thoughts on Human Rights Promotion and Protection," in Access to Justice: Human Rights Struggles in South East Asia, ed. Harry M. Scoble and Laurie S. Wiseberg (London: Zed Books, 1985), 9. Similarly, Shao-chuan Leng writes: "Human rights are not just a Western concern but have a universal validity, with contributions from all the major civilizations." Leng, "Human Rights in Chinese Political Culture," in The Moral Imperatives of Human Rights: A World Survey, ed. Kenneth W. Thompson (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1980), 81.2 Ibid., 19.3 Ibid., 16.4 Francis Loh Kok Wah, "Human Rights in Malaysia: Reflections and Approaches," in Human Rights Activism in Asia: Some Perspectives, Problems and Approaches, ed. Asian Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (ACHRO) (New York: Council on International and Public Affairs in cooperation with the International Center for Law in Development, 1984), 46.5 Nagendra Singh, Human Rights and the Future of Mankind (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1982), 1-2.6 Raúl S. Manglapus, "Human Rights Are Not a Western Discovery," Worldview 21 (October 1978):4. He does not explain more precisely the meaning of these terms, nor respond to the obvious question of whether or not they are conceptually equivalent. For instance, Alasdair MacIntyre argues that the concept of "a right," used to refer to the notion of rights "which are obliged to belong to human beings as such," lacks "any means of expression in Hebrew, Greek, Latin or Arabic, classical or medieval, before about 1400, let alone in Old English or in Japanese even as late as the mid-nineteenth century." MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2nd edition, 1984), 68-69. He asserts: "From this it does not of course follow that there are no natural or human rights; it only follows that no one could have known there were." Ryosuke Inagaki notes that there was no word in Japanese for "right" until translators of Dutch books in the nineteenth century had to create a term. Ryosuke Inagaki, "Some Aspects of Human Rights in Japan," Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights (Paris: UNESCO, 1986), 191.7 Ibid. He rejects the notion that the poor of Asia are uninterested in fundamental freedoms and human rights, and tells the story of an Indian farmer who, when asked if he was voting in the upcoming elections, replied: "Just because I am poor and maybe cannot read does not mean I do not care for human rights."8 Peter K. Y. Woo, "A Metaphysical Approach to Human Rights from a Chinese Point of View," in The Philosophy of Human Rights: International Perspectives, ed. Alan S. Rosenbaum (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980), 113.9 Ibid., 116. Roger T. Ames argues for the superiority of a society in which rights and duties are enforced by social pressures rather than legal punishments. Ames, "Rites as Rights: The Confucian Alternative," in Human Rights and the World's Religions, ed. Leroy S. Rouner (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988), 199-216.10 Shao-chuan Leng argues that traditional Chinese culture contains some democratic traits: "Taoism as a philosophy advocated naturalism and condemned government meddling. As popular religions, both Taoism and Buddhism were concerned with the fate or salvation of the individual and stood for spiritual autonomy and freedom. Even Confucianism, while stressing man's particular place in society, exalted the moral worth of the individual and the attainment of his full development through self-cultivation." Moreover, education was open to all who were able, regardless of class. Leng, "Human Rights in Chinese Political Culture," in The Moral Imperataives of Human Rights, 82.11 Ibid., 117.12 Ibid., 117-18.13 Mab Huang, "Human Rights in a Revolutionary Society: The Case of the People's Republic of China," in Human Rights: Cultural and Ideological Perspectives, ed. Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1979), 63.14 Mao Tse-tung, speech at Hangchow, 21 December 1965. Quoted in Chairman Talks to the People, ed. Stuart Schram (New York: Pantheon, 1975), 234-35.15 Mao Tse-tung, On Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People (Peking: Foreign Language Press, 1957). Quoted in John Lewis, Major Doctrines of Communist China (New York: W. W. Norton, 1964), 101-02.16 The Fifth Modernization: China's Human Rights Movement, 1978-1979, ed. James D. Seymour (Stanfordville, N.Y.: Human Rights Publishing Group, 1980), 29. See Beijing Street Voices: The Poetry and Politics of China's Democracy Movement, ed. David S. G. Goodman (London: Marion Boyars, 1981). For a report on human rights in China today, see Seymour, "China," in International Handbook of Human Rights, ed. Jack Donnelly and Rhoda E. Howard (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987), 75-98.17 Wei Jingsheng, "The Fifth Modernization," in The Fifth Modernization, 68. Hung-chao Tai similarly claims: "In contrast to the diverse origins of the Western concept of human rights, the origin of the Chinese concept of human rights is simple, deriving from the Confucian ethical code." Hung-chao Tai, "Human Rights in Taiwan: Convergence of Two Political Cultures," in Human Rights in East Asia, ed. James C. Hsiung (New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1985), 89.18 James D. Seymour, The Fifth Modernization, 3 and 26.19 Wei Jingsheng, "The Fifth Modernization," 62.20 James D. Seymour, The Fifth Modernization, 19.21 Ibid., 267. Shao-chuan Leng writes: "The political ferment in China today illustrates the existence of a universal yearning for human rights and the fallacy of the proposition that a society can trade off individual rights for economic development with impunity." Leng, "Human Rights in Chinese Political Culture," in The Moral Imperataives of Human Rights, 100. See also R. Randle Edwards, Louis Henkin, and Andrew J. Nathan, Human Rights in Contemporary China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986).22 Fang Lizhi, "Human Rights and the New China," The Oakland Tribune, 17 April 1989, B-7. This article first appeared in the Los Angeles Times and was translated by Perry Link.23 Quoted in "China's Dark Hours," Time, 19 June 1989, 14. Another Chinese student leader, Wu'er Kaixi, speaking in exile in San Francisco, told guests at a dinner to raise funds for the Front for a Democratic China: "I hope that all peace-loving people in the world will link our [sic] hands together because peace, freedom and human rights belong to the human race. . .." Quoted in William Wong, "China's Dissidents Resume the Mission," The Oakland Tribune, 11 August 1989, A-13.24 James Hsiung, Human Rights in East Asia, vii. Henry Rosemont, Jr. argues that the notion of universal human rights is inconsistent with any concept of culture-specific rights. Thus he holds that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reflects a Western orientation which is antithetical to the Confucian way of thinking and to other traditional cultures. Rosemont, "Why Take Rights Seriously? A Confucian Critique," in Human Rights and the World's Religions, 167.25 Quoted in Bill Mann, "TV Makes Us Eyewitnesses to History," The Oakland Tribune, 6 June 1989, C-1. Joan Baez, human rights activist and folk singer, clearly understands this for in her song "China" she sings: "And Wang Wei Lin, you remember him/All alone he stood before the tanks/A shadow of forgotten ancestors in Tiananmen Square." Quoted in Jacqueline Cutler, "Remembering Tiananmen: Thousands in S.F. Rally for Democracy," The Oakland Tribune, 11 September 1989, A-8.26 Hung-chao Tai, "Human Rights in Taiwan: Convergence of Two Political Cultures," in Human Rights in East Asia, 85. In his recent book, China Watch, John King Fairbank is critical of the use of Western human rights language to describe the struggles in China. While sympathetic to this concern, Franklin Woo suggests that Fairbank's analysis errs by emphasizing the unique, cultural characteristics of China. See "On Books," China Notes 25, nos. 2 and 3 (Spring and Summer 1987):441-42.27 Ibid., 102. Fang Lizhi recently observed: "Two or three years ago, the phrase human rights was seldom heard in Chinese political discourse. Today everyone—not only supporters of human rights but also those who regard them as a headache—has to admit that the question of human rights has become an intrinsic part of Chinese political life." Fang Lizhi, "Human Rights and the New China," trans. Perry Link, The Oakland Tribune, 17 April 1989, B-7.28 Ryosuke Inagaki asserts that although the original human rights documents were developed primarily by Western nations, "The ideas of basic human rights, with the underlying emphasis upon the dignity of the human person, expressed in this constitution [1946], represent the substantial consensus of the Japanese people. The idea that the first and principal aim of government is to protect and promote the rights of people seems to have taken root in the thinking of people." Ryosuke Inagaki, "Some Aspects of Human Rights in Japan," in Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights, 182.29 Noboru Toishi, "Recent Trends in Human Rights in Japan," in Recent Trends in Human Rights, ed. Lawasia Human Rights Standing Committee (Sydney: The Law Association for Asia and the Western Pacific, 1982?), 25. Christians in Japan have led the way in this regard. For example, since it was founded in 1953, the International Christian University in Tokyo has required all entering students to sign a Human Rights Pledge based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "Japanese Students Sign Human Rights Pledge," Breakthrough 10, nos. 2-3 (Winter/Spring 1989):81.30 Yasuhiko Saito, "Japan and Human Rights Covenants," Human Rights Law Journal 2, nos. 1-2 (1981):106. Yuji Iwasawa argues that ratification of the international human rights covenants has begun to change Japanese law. See "Legal Treatment of Koreans in Japan: The Impact of International Human Rights Law on Japanese Law," Human Rights Quarterly 8, no. 2 (May 1986):131-79.31 Purificacion Valera-Quisumbing and Armando F. Bonifacio, ed. Human Rights in the Philippines: An Unassembled Symposium (Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Law Center, 1977), ix.32 Ibid.33 Ibid., 210.34 Ibid.35 Ibid., 214.36 Ibid.37 Ibid., 229.38 Ibid.39 Ibid., 53.40 Ibid.41 Ibid., 76.42 Ibid., 52.43 Ibid.44 Ibid., 72.45 Ibid.46 Ibid., ix.47 Ibid., 131.48 Ibid., 133.49 Hiroko Yamane, "Development of Human Rights Teaching and Research in Asia," in Frontiers of Human Rights Education, ed. Asbjørn Eide and Marek Thee (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), 45. See also Yamane, "Human Rights for the Peoples of Asia," in Human Rights Teaching 3 (Paris: UNESCO, 1982), 18-22.From Faith in Human Rights: Support in Religious Traditions for a Global Struggle (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991). |
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