Saturday, 16 March 2013

Why we must never abandon human rights

This morning I saw for the first time a short 1950's French documentary screened at ‘The Cinema and Human Rights' film festival at Birkbeck University, London.  

‘Night and Fog’ is shocking, harrowing and true.  It reveals a gnawing glimpse of the horror of the Holocaust.  This film needs to be seen, preserved and re-shown to every future generation, so that we never forget.

It’s vital viewing for everyone; but absolutely essential watching for anyone who doubts, or denies, or denigrates that many millions and millions of innocent people were rounded-up across all Europe, and systematically slaughtered on an industrial scale. 

In this short documentary we witness the callous cruel and utterly cynical depth to which humans plummet when they forget that all humans are human.  

To anyone who sees no merit or value in supporting and upholding human rights for all the world’s people, watch this brief window on recent history: 'Night and Fog'.  Then watch 'The Story of Human Rights'.  

See also:


Night and Fog  (32 minutes - in French)
Warning: contains very disturbing images

The Story of Human Rights (10 minutes)

2 comments:

  1. how do you compare the "organised" ethnic cleansing of the Nazis to the orgy of buchery in Rwanda?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it’s important to acknowledge that all genocide, wherever, however and whenever, represents the worst of human rights breaches.

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