How the left is slowly losing the flag of Human Rights

The title is slightly misleading and thus deliberately provoking. But I hope it will raise the question as to why the people who are supposed to defend Human Rights, and freedom, above anything else are been proven in recent years to be not so committed about their conviction. In fact today from the democratic center and right we tend to find some of the clearest minds on Human Rights defense.

The two glaring examples I have at hand are China and Venezuela. On China the economic realities have allowed for left and right to turn a blind eye to the continued violations of Human Rights, and outright repression close to genocide in Tibet. That did not stop the world to give China the Olympics games, another Munich moment as I also called Tuesday resolution at the OAS.

On Venezuela, of course, Tuesday at the OAS was a harbinger of things to come as slowly but surely Chavez is preparing the foreign field to accept that repression that is already starting and that will expand inevitably (full recent review here by Alek Boyd, not to be missed). Interestingly, some of Chavez supporters take China as the model to follow. No further comments are needed.

It was thus refreshing to see that Human Rights defenders form the center and right are stepping in to pick up the shameful lack of the democratic left. Even organizations like well respected Amnesty International are more and more willing to criticize regimes like Chavez.

The latest heartening installment was an Oslo conference duly reported by the Wall Street Journal. Cuba launched a big campaign against it, which proves only how on the mark were the Oslo conference organizers.

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