Customer Reviews

The Umbrella of Power: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Contradiction of U.S. Policy (Open Media Pamphlet)

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As is so lucidly shown by Noam Chomsky in "The Umbrella of US Power", the US cynically uses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights only when it serves the purpose of attaining US foreign policy goals. Chomsky's analysis clearly shows how the US has selectively used the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when the need arises and how the US has ignored it when the need arises. One of the more essential aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the US prefers to ignore is the language about economic rights:

Article 23 of the UD declares that "Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment," along with "remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection." "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."

With the complete approval of the US Gov't., US industry has conducted one of the most successful antiunion wars ever, illegally firing thousands of workers for exercising their rights to organize, prompting the International Labor Organizationto issue a recommendation that the US conform to international standards.

Chomsky documents how US officials continually complain about goods made by prison labour in China, yet remain silent concerning the same practices in the US. Prison labour is a violation of the UD.

"The Umbrella of U.S. Power: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Contradictions of U.S. Policy" is a powerful and important work that exposes US hypocrisy and its total lack of respect for international law and humanitarian principles.

This is one of Noam Chomsky's most interesting pamphlets (actually a quarter-size booklet of 78 pages). It has a special relevance and importance to citizens in the aftermath of 9-11 because he directly links our corporate criminality ("Justice Department estimates the cost of corporate crime as 7 to 25 times as high as street crime") to our national policies against human rights (poverty pays, for the corporate class that strives to liquidate Third World nations in their predatory roving of the planet).

He pointedly identifies the U.S. arms industry as being among the worst violators, but even more importantly, points out that U.S. policies favoring our arms dealers are opposed by 96% of the U.S. population. While that number might be high, I believe there is no question but that Washington is being instructed by corporations rather than its citizens on this vital point of policy. It is time for citizens to take the power back.

Chomsky notes that in 1996 the World Health Organization characterized extreme poverty as the world's most ruthless killer and the greatest cause of suffering on earth. This ties in with the United Nations finding that human suffering is now a legitimate basis for intervention, and with George Soro's observation in The Washington Post of 24 February 2002, that "We can't be successful in fighting terrorism, unless we fight that other axis of evil--poverty, disease and ignorance."

This little gem of a book also includes well-footnoted observations about how nations seek to carry out trade negotiations in secrecy, in part because they are agreeing to overlook if not actively participate in the looting of poor countries as a condition for prosperous trade among the already developed nations.

The book begins and ends with thoughts from Chomsky on the intellectual discipline he founded, the relationship between linguistics, ethics, and action. He begins with pointed observations on how the most horrible crimes are allowed to go without comment because of *self* censorship, and ends by noting that our citizens do not need to be forbidden to speak of these monstrous deeds that our corporations and government are secretly agreeing to perpetuate, because we have chosen to remain ignorant and silent.

U.S. policy today is *not* founded on moral values, and it is *not* representative of the will of the people in so far as it is carried out in secret collaboration with major corporations and in opposition to the minimal mandatory needs of developing nations for water, food, disease, and economic security.

This is not about political ideology--Ralph Nader, the ultimate spoiler, has one thing right: the parties are irrelevant, this is now about the people versus the corporations. Absent a huge popular turn-out *prior* to each election, to make it clear to candidates that they will be held accountable by the people for keeping all trade and other negotiations in the public domain, and for voting on issues mindful of the will of the people rather than their corporate Enron-like paymasters, then we are the ones ultimately responsible for U.S. policy's misdirection.

As all his writings, thoroughly researched and well documented. The master has the skill of analyizing and putting the pieces together. Anyone who wants to know the Truth about US foreign policy should read Chomsky's books. That is if he has the courage to face the facts.

This is not so much a review as a note to buyers: you can obtain this exact essay by buying Chomsky's _Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs_. It's just a few dollars more than this pamphlet, yet it offers 13 *additional* essays. It doesn't fit quite as neatly into your back pocket, and it's a tad less digestable, but I think it's well worth the extra 2-3 dollars. That said, you can't go wrong with Chomsky--he's one of the greatest intellectuals and humanists of our time.

short discussion (pamphlet) of the hypocrasy of the US's enforcement (or not) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Sites specific actions since 1948 to show the contradictions.

Chomsky's writing is always something that will make an uproar. Good book for non-nationalists, not so good for close-minded people.

At times, Noam Chomsky is quite the critic of America; but, not out of dislike of his country, but because he recognizes our failures at face value. You don't have to agree with his politics, to learn something from his books. In "The Umbrella of U.S. Power", Chomsky points out the hypocrisy that our great country can sometime perpetrate; in this case in regards to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UD). The UD is an international document that U.S. is a co-signer of that spells out the universally accepted minimums of the human rights that all people of the Earth retain.

Unfortunately, we do not have a great track record of upholding these rights when dealing with threats to our nation. I am not going to debate the necessity of these or not in this review; I, like many, have my moments of better us than them. But, if we are to call ourselves Americans and wish to embrace our liberty, democracy, and freedom, we need to be honest with ourselves. And, to do that, we must, as good citizens, be aware of how our government conducts our business in these matters.

Only through fully understanding our history and our actions can we better handle crisis in the future. Is holding prisoners from our "War on Terror" in limbo on a beach in Cuba the best solution to the problem that some of these people pose? Or could we have found a viable solution to this situation and protect ourselves at same time, all while upholding the UD we signed?

Read this book for the truth. Then choose how you fall on the issue. But, don't stick your head in the sand and assume that our leaders know what's best; collectively, if informed, we the people can guide our nation best.

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

With a degree in Political Science, I have seen it all--including Noam Chomsky. If you are an open minded individual ready to see all sides, then you might just possibly give this book a chance. However, even the most open-minded person will have problems with this Chomsky edition simply because it is pure ultra-liberal propaganda that only a small percentage of people actually follow or for that matter, believe. Political affilations aside, Chomsky's assertions are based on half truths and are founded on the firm belief (Chomsky's belief) that the American government is inherently flawed in all that it does because of its hypocritical "means justify ends" approach to foreign policy. A true democracy (according to Chomsky and others)must approach policy with an "ends must justify the means" approach. That is, if America preaches the importance of freedom, democracy, diplomacy, its policies must be democratic and diplomatic, not unilateral and without regard to human rights. This is a common leftist and idealistic sentiment that political science academics debate all of the time. However, if you are like most Americans and firmly believe in the strength of the U.S. constitution (small c because our foundation lies not in the Constitution, the paper document, but the unwritten laws and codes that were established before such a document existed)and if you place a certain level of trust in our government to do the right thing most of the time and be as truthful as it can be --then you will quickly gag after reading Chomsky's extremism and firm anti-patriotic sentiments.

After 9-11, the last thing this country needs is an overly zealous political academic who is more than willing to criticize the past, present and future of American foreign policy. Has our governemnt done wrong to people around the world? Yes. Have we been told half truths and half lies in the name of National security. Yes. Has our military and corporations committed crimes against humanity? Most likely. However, freedom around the world comes at a heavy price. No one said it would be easy. No one ever said it was going to be democratic all of the time. Sometimes we and others must pay with our lives to secure freedom for the the good of the whole. This is what makes the United States a great and relatively safe place to live.

So if you like reading extreme liberal academics rant and rave about how the U.S. is so full of contradictions and flaws, but offer no realistic solutions to these obvious problems in U.S. foreign policy, read this book, you will love it and become a Noam Gnome. However, if you were like me and have had it up to here with extremism all around the world, then save your money and join a club or something.

The whole concept underlying this volume is based on a myth. The law in the United States is the U.S. Constitution. The Universal Declaration of Rights ("UD") is a creature of the UN. It arguably has the force of a treaty, but no more. It by no means supplants or replaces or trumps the U.S. Constitution. If we follow our own law, but not UD, this is fine, and probably preferable: basing our actions on votes at the UN is a pretty bad idea. Whereas Chomsky will always be much more critical of the US than any other country (even though the other countries are almost universally less free), most of these other countries would be only too happy to impose their views of liberty on us. It's a good thing that neither they, nor Chomsky, will get a chance.