(East-West Questions) Short Commentary: What is hidden in the United States under the mask of "human rights defenders"?
China News Agency, Beijing, March 2, Question: What is hidden in the United States under the mask of "human rights defenders"?
China News Agency reporter An Yingzhao
China's State Council Information Office recently released the 2021 Report on Human Rights Violations in the United States.
The report lists a large number of data and cases, revealing to the world the triple truth hidden by the United States under the mask of "human rights defender".
One is to ignore the protection of basic human rights.
As the most basic human rights, the people's right to life and health have become more important under the epidemic of the century.
However, since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the United States, the prevention and control of the epidemic has always been highly politicized, and it has become a tool and bargaining chip for the two parties to criticize, veto, and confront each other. Politicians only focus on political self-interest, but ignore the lives and health of the people.
The report, citing research from the University of Southern California and Princeton University, pointed out that the new crown pneumonia has reduced the average American life expectancy by 1.13 years, the largest drop since World War II.
In October 2021, the interactive art installation "After the End" created by the artist is displayed in the Greenwood Cemetery Church in New York, USA.
The work consists of hundreds of paper tubes with messages written on them to form a luminous altar. Visitors can write messages on the spot and put them on the altar to express their condolences to the deceased of the new crown.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
When the United States was founded, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and other "founding fathers" wrote in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. rights" in Zhuang.
Today, more than 200 years later, the United States has the most advanced medical equipment and technology in the world, but it has become the country with the highest number of new coronary pneumonia infections and deaths in the world.
What's more, according to the "USA Today" website, American police shoot and kill about 1,000 people every year; in the year after George Floyd was violently killed by police, law enforcement officers killed hundreds more in the United States. Ethnic minorities...In the United States today, everyone's "birth" is not easy, and it is even more delusional about equality.
In June 2021, a statue of Floyd will be inaugurated in Brooklyn, New York.
In 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the United States, African-American George Floyd was killed due to alleged misconduct by the police during law enforcement.
The incident sparked a wave of protests across the United States.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
The second is to manipulate civil and political rights.
From the "occupation" of the US Capitol Hill in early 2021 to the failure of the "democratic experiment" in Afghanistan in the middle of the year, the loopholes and defects of the US democratic system have become unprecedentedly highlighted, and the civil and political rights of the people have been reduced to "beautiful" mirrors.
As Noam Chomsky, a political critic and social activist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has shown, Americans' influence over policymaking is positively correlated with their level of wealth, with about 70 percent of Americans Without any influence, they are at a disadvantage in terms of income level, wealth, etc., which is equivalent to being deprived of the right to participate in politics.
According to data released by the Pew Research Center, the American public's trust in the government is close to a historical low since 1958; while the proportion of American respondents who believe that there are serious differences between supporters of different parties is as high as 90%.
American democracy, which was once regarded as a "beacon", has now become a "rich man's game", and as a result of political polarization, the society is increasingly divided, and in the end, ordinary people can only pay the bill.
The American media also had to admit that "when the United States is facing many domestic problems, people question whether the United States can act as a qualified spokesperson for democracy."
In September 2021, in Washington, the United States, hundreds of people gathered near the Capitol Hill. The police imposed martial law on the Capitol area, and a large number of police were on guard to prevent emergencies.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong
The third is to harm the cause of human rights in the world.
Under the mask of a "human rights defender", the United States has not only been criticized for its own human rights cause, but some actions have even threatened and damaged the world's human rights cause.
The NBC reports that the United States has scrapped at least 15 million doses of the new crown vaccine in six months since March 2021, wasting doses far beyond what many poor countries have prepared for their entire national populations.
The 20-year US military operations in Afghanistan have killed 174,000 people, including more than 30,000 civilians, and injured more than 60,000 people.
New York City's new crown vaccination bus.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
As Stephen Walter, a professor of international relations at Harvard University, put it, the United States "must first address the problems that arise at home and rethink how it deals with the rest of the world."
Today's America is no longer the "country on top of a mountain", but it is time to take off its mask and examine itself.
(over)