The Universal Truths of Human Equality and Liberty

The Universal Truths of Human Equality and Liberty

April 1, 2009
by Jeffrey Imm
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
http://www.realcourage.org/2009/04/universal-truths/
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/133.html

In the world today, a series of groups, organizations, and individuals are determined to deny the truths of human equality and liberty. They seek to claim that their race, national origin, religion, gender, or other identity somehow allows them to have superiority over all other people. Others claim that we should not be talking about liberty and freedom because such inalienable human rights are offensive to some people. We reject these claims by supremacists and their apologists, as we view human equality and liberty as truths that we hold self-evident, truths that we must all share, truths that we must defend, and truths that humanity must embrace for peace and harmony.


A. The Truths We Hold Self-Evident

In America, "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This is not a question. This is not an opinion. This is a declaration of inalienable truths for all humanity - men and women of every kind. It is also a declaration of the basis for the identity of America itself.

These truths are not confined merely to America's borders or to American citizens. We view these as universal truths for all of humanity. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that "the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world," and that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."

Universal truths are truths for everyone. Equality and liberty are objective human rights, not subjective opinions. Therefore when we defend the truths of human equality and liberty, we must defend such truths for everyone - not just who we like or who are like us. The truths of such human rights of equality and liberty are not negotiable for countries, states, cities, or people who want some people to have different human rights than others. Universal truths are not an option for some, but not for others. Universal truths apply to everyone. Universal truths are not relativist, they are absolute.

The objective nature of human equality and liberty as truths is a concept that we must defend. They are truths that must be universally understood. We can't accept the unnatural concept that different nations, different organizations, and people of different races and religions, can choose to determine whether the objective human rights of equality and liberty apply to humanity or not.

When we seek to find a direction and use a compass, the compass points to the directions of north, south, east, or west - regardless of where you are on Earth. We don't have different compasses for different parts of the world - but the same compass works everywhere - drawing on the natural magnetic fields of the Earth itself.

Similarly, the natural laws of equality and liberty draw upon the inherent rights of humanity itself. It makes no more sense to deny that north is north or south is south than it does to deny that all men and women are created equal. We don't need so-called "experts" to tell us either. We just need to accept and defend the universal truths for all of humanity.



B. The Truths That We All Must Share

Respecting diversity among humanity requires that we first respect the truths of our shared human rights of equality and liberty. Over the past several decades, many organizations have focused discussions and efforts on gaining respect for human diversity and multiculturalism. The objective of such efforts has been to ensure that unique cultures have representation and visibility in society. Many have maintained a consistent focus primarily on our differences, rather than on what we share. As a result, the truths that we all must share regarding equality and liberty for all of humanity are being eroded, and some believe that respecting multiculturalism means that different cultures can choose how they interpret human equality and liberty. In addition, we also see the growth of organizations that seek to defend the supremacism of individual races, religions, and identities of groups.

We need respect for different cultures and values. We need respect for diversity among humanity. We need tolerance for each other's differences. We need equal opportunities as well as equal rights. But we won't get there by forgetting the truths that we must all share on human equality and liberty. We can't promote diversity of cultures without singularity in human rights. Because if we fail to prioritize the truths that we must all share on human rights, then we open up our support of cultural diversity to cultures of hate, cultures of oppression, cultures of totalitarianism, cultures of fear, and cultures of death.

All men and women are created equal - not all cultures are created equal. Respecting diversity does not mean respecting hate and oppression. The culture of racial supremacism, the culture of totalitarianism, the culture of religious supremacism -- these cultures are not the cultures that we must defend in seeking diversity. Cultures that defy the natural laws of human equality and liberty do not seek diversity; they seek destruction of our human rights.

Our priority must be for a UNIVERSAL culture of human equality and liberty. It is our universal culture of such inalienable freedoms that binds us together as humanity.

Humanity has been sent a message with the miracle of the rainbow. But too many don't understand the message. We are not just to admire the spectrum of colors in the rainbow, but we are to understand that every unique color - even the colors that we cannot see with our human eyes - all come from the same sunlight. Without it, the rainbow would not exist.

The universal truths of human equality and liberty unite us together as humanity. While we may have different cultures, values, and ideas, without accepting these universal truths, ultimately we will lose what it means to be a human being.



C. The Truths That We Must Defend Around the World

There are many who believe that the universal truths of human equality and liberty are offensive. There are also some that believe that calling for such universal human rights is an attempt to control and dominate others. Those who seek equal rights and liberty for all of humanity seek no "control," no "dominance," and no "superiority." It is precisely such attempts to control humanity by supremacists that such universal truths of human rights defy. For all of humanity, we seek nothing more and nothing less than recognizing that all men and women are equal, and that all of humanity shares the same universal human rights of equality and liberty.

You won't see any calls for cultural superiority referenced in the United Nations' Universal Declaration on Human Rights or in the American Declaration of Independence. These declarations call for the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty for "all" of humanity. "All" means everyone.

But some groups, some societies, and some nations want to create their own "brand" of human rights. They believe that equality, liberty, and freedom are not inalienable human rights, but open for interpretation by supremacists and totalitarians that hold power. They not only have the delusional arrogance to believe that they can redefine human rights; they also believe that they can define their own "world." They believe that they can create their own closed societies where human rights are different there from the rest of the world and they can choose who deserves human rights and who doesn't.

States and societies of oppression are not diverse cultures - they are anti-humanity cultures. Such states and groups that seek to declare civil war against the rest of humanity are not to be appeased; they must be confronted with our steadfast defense of equality and liberty as inalienable human rights. Such states and societies of oppression believe that they can divide the world into slave nations of oppression separate from free nations of equality and liberty.

But there is just one world - not a free world and a world of submission - not a world of liberty and a totalitarian world - not a world of equality and a world of supremacism. There is only one world. It is our shared home - our Earth.

Our Earth belongs to no one person, no one nation, and no one group. Our Earth belongs to all of humanity. All of Earth's humanity deserves their inalienable human rights of equality and liberty - these are the truths that we must defend around the world.

In this shared home of Earth, when our shared human rights are attacked in one place, it is an attack on our rights globally. When our shared human rights are denied by one society, it is a rejection of all of our rights. When a fellow human being is murdered by those against equality and liberty, it is a mortal attack on our brothers and sisters in humanity. What we share in our human destiny of equality and liberty is much larger than our small differences in politics, nationalities, and points of view. An attack on the universal truths of equality and liberty anywhere is an attack everywhere. It is an attack on your human rights. It is an attack on your Earth, your home.

It is an attack that will not end with just one closed society, one slave nation, one society of submission - but is nothing less than an ever-growing assault upon freedom around the world. These attacks on equality and liberty demand our consistent defiance and consistent defense of these truths as inalienable human rights for all of humanity everywhere. These attacks are nothing less than an existential war on the meaning of humanity itself.



D. The Truths That Humanity Needs for Peace and Harmony

The universality of the human rights of equality and liberty is an essential truth necessary for peace and harmony. Equality and liberty are non-negotiable and universal to all of humanity. Our hope for human peace and harmony can only be found in the defense of these inalienable human rights. We know from history, from reason, and from the truths that we hold self-evident, that there is no peace with those who seek oppression, supremacism, totalitarianism, and submission. They will always want more, and accepting an attack on human rights for some people is accepting an attack on human rights for all people.

We must challenge those individuals that claim to represent us in governments, institutions, and international organizations that would accept negotiations with those who seek to create havens of oppression and submission. We must reject "engagement" for compromise on the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty. We must defy those who believe that they can sacrifice our brothers and sisters in humanity to those who seek to promote inhumanity as a way to find "peace for our times."

Our history has repeatedly shown that supremacists and totalitarians are never appeased, never accommodated - no amount of human sacrifice is enough to satisfy their goals. Supremacists and totalitarians seek to defy humanity's natural rights of equality and liberty and remold our Earth into a world of oppression and submission. Their dark vision is never merely a "regional" or a "local" sickness, but it is nothing less than a cancer that seeks to consume humanity itself. We must stop those who believe that allowing the cancer of oppression and supremacism to spread is an answer to healing the violence in our world. Such oppression and supremacism is violence itself, not just to some of humanity, but to all of humanity.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said "the time is always right to do what is right."

When leaders state that we should not speak of freedom and liberty for fear of offending supremacists and totalitarians, the time is right now to do what is right.

To turn the tide of appeasement for those who deny human rights and seek to oppress others, it is time right now for all free people to act. We can't wait until next week, next month, and next year. Thousands are being murdered by supremacists around the world. Millions more are being oppressed and terrorized by supremacists and totalitarians. The forces that seek to deny equality and liberty are growing stronger every day. The forces that seek to spread hatred and deny freedom are gaining new converts to their anti-humanity cause every day.

Our silence in the face of this growing human catastrophe is nothing less than a death sentence to many who are dependent on our voice in defense of the universal truths of human equality and liberty today. Humanity's conscience demands that we are silent no more.

The forces of supremacism and totalitarianism fear our universal truths of human equality and liberty. These truths are what can truly defeat them. Those who seek to oppress others fear the light of human liberty to inspire and encourage. Those who seek the submission of others fear the shield of human equality to gain equal protection for all. The forces of hate allied against humanity demand that we be silent about such liberty, freedom, and equality. They seek to deny our defense of these universal human rights.

This is why it so essential for us to organize, to speak out, and to make equality and liberty a priority to our government representatives, institutions, and international organizations. This is why it is so urgent that we replace those leaders who would appease those that deny such universal human rights. This is why it is so vital to use the forces of globalism, not for amoral and hypocritical profit without a conscience, but to consistently communicate our commitment to human rights to the world.

This is why we must defend these truths for our Earth, our home. We cannot allow supremacists and totalitarians to think that there is any place, any city, and any distant hamlet - where these universal truths do not apply. We cannot allow those who seek to spread hatred and division to believe that there is any dark corner where the bright light of these universal truths will not shine. We cannot allow those who argue for the submission of humanity to believe that there is any argument that will defy the universal truths of human equality and liberty.

Peace and harmony among humanity is dependent on our mutual respect, understanding, and acceptance of such universal equality and liberty for all of humanity. The hope for the future depends on our willingness to demonstrate our commitment to such universal truths.

These are the truths that we hold self-evident - that all men and women are created equal. We accept the universal truths that all men and women have the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty.

If we accept these universal truths of human equality and liberty, we must live our lives to show that we mean what we say. We must demonstrate that we have the courage of our convictions.

Now is the right time to do what is right. Now is the right time to stand united to reclaim all of our Earth, all of our home, for equality and liberty.

Now is the right time to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

For details of what you can do in our common cause, see RealCourage.org.