To the editor:
If the Iraq constitutional process is really of free determination and democracy, I hope that they may choose to incorporate parts of the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights, which goes well beyond the U.S. Bill of Rights in protecting the range of civil liberties.
The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights includes a right to free education, a right to environmental protection, a right to consumer protection, a sweeping right of privacy and protection of personal data, a right to join unions and go on strike, a basic human right to health care, the right to a limitation of maximum working hours, daily and weekly rest periods, annual paid leave, parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child, rights of asylum, and that all workers employed in a country, no matter what their nationalities, are entitled to all of the benefits provided to nationals of that country.
Finally, in the most sweeping terms, it states: "Any discrimination based on grounds such as sex, race, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited."
Are we promoting true freedom in Iraq or the spread of Anglo-American corporate power (of the transnational corporations) and then calling it "American Democracy"? The "coalition of the willing" is for the most part U.S. Inc. and U.K. Inc., so expect the main interests to be in preserving oil supplies, not in establishing true freedom.
Sven Erik Alstrom,
Lawrence
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snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
The svombie endures.....