Pedro Innecco

I have always been puzzled about one aspect of society and politics. How is that people can get away with the defilement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by vindicating the same declaration themselves?

It seems that for those acting in their own disposition forget that the UDHR has 30 articles, and not 29. The 30th Article of the UDHR is perfectly clear:

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein

So how is it that sovereign states that adopt and recognise the UDHR accept the engagement of organisations, parties and other sort of entities that disregard the 30th Article?

Don’t get me wrong. I agree that instead of having extremist political groups or militants operating in the underground, is better to have them out in the open as it is easier to monitor their activities, and to expose their views. Concerning the recent decision of BBC to invite a far-right activist to a television debate, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he believes it is a duty to expose racist and sectarian politics – which I agree – and that “anybody who listens to what they are really about will find that what they are saying is unacceptable.” Well is this last bit that I am not so sure about. Mr Brown is parting from the principle that everyone has the same opinion. And unfortunately, this is not the case. If that was the case, there wouldn’t be any racism. Particularly, the political party in question wouldn’t have its supporters – which it does, no matter how minimum they are. This is a false consensus bias.

My concern is the use of democracy and the UDHR to destroy these same principles, or to deny these principles to others. An example that is often cited as the use of democracy for the destruction of democracy is the rise of the NAZI party in Germany.

After being elected through democratic means, the NAZI party started to impose authoritarianism and ideologies that destroyed democracy and oppressed minorities, to say the least. Following the defeat of the NAZI regime and the revelation of their atrocities to the whole world, it was the overall consensus that something had to be done to prevent the same to happen in the future. With this in mind, the UDHR was adopted in 1948.

Yet we don’t need to go that far in history to see events of democracy being used to destroy democracy or to thwart the UDHR. You can see clear examples in recent events where state leaders, once elected through democratic means, are violating constitutions to impose their authority, perpetuate their rule and oppress any sort of opposition.
So I think about what Mr Brown said:

“Anybody who listens to what they are really about will find that what they are saying is unacceptable.”

And I wonder: Is there anybody listening? If so, who is listening?

There is some frenzy going on in the international media about whether the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will be able to protect the public in the 2016 Olympic Games.
According to several international publications, there are new levels of violence in the city, which has been demonstrated in the recent clashes between the police and drug lords where 14 people died, and a police helicopter was shot-down.

Let me just make one brief point here: The reason we are seeing this escalation of violence is because the police is acting to tackle crime and pacify areas controlled by crime – and the criminals are fighting back. Rio is facing a now-or-never situation, where the government is aware that a change must be made, particularly for the 2014 World Cup and for the 2016 Olympic Games, which are serving as a major catalyst for such changes.

Let’s not forget that one day after being elected the city to host the 2012 Olympic Games, London was hit by a coordinated terrorist attack on its public transport. Since the UK government is under constant threat of international terrorism, one could argue that the public in general would be more vulnerable to violence in the 2012 games rather than in 2016 games. Drug-lords want to sell drugs; international terrorists want to kill people in the name of their ideology.

A few weeks ago, a dear person asked me a question: “what was the last time that you felt happy with yourself, by your own doings – regardless of others”?
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Sorry, this entry is only available in Português.

As of 25/April 2009, I will be moving back to Brazil after nine years of living in London, UK. In Brazil I will be working on a couple of projects where I will be making use not only of my IT skills, but also the knowledge I obtained during my MBA.

Plus there will be a lot of surfing, scuba diving, kayaking… You know, all those little perks you get from living in a sunny place like Rio de Janeiro.

If like me you are tired of paying premium rates calling customer services, then visit saynoto0870.com. This website will provide you will alternative phone numbers that you can call specific companies, thust avoiding paying premium rates.

Don’t know about you, but I find ludicrous that while “developing countries” like Brazil have strict regulations against such shenanigans, the UK is decades away on customer rights.

In recent news, the band Coldplay has been sued by guitar-legend Joe Satriani for plagiarism. Satriani claims that Coldplay’s Viva La Vida “incorporates substantial original portions of his 2004 instrumental If I Could Fly” (Reuters).

An uncanny coincidence or a total rip-off? Well just watch this Youtube video and decide for yourself.

Unfortunately this is not the first case of plagiarism in the music industry, and many cases which are in fact of a much higher profile tend to go unoticed. For instance, check out this Led Zeppelin video.

Sigh… And they used to be my biggest idols! Don’t get me wrong they still rock and I didn’t throw away my Led Zeppelin CDs. But I simply can’t respect them like I used to.

I must say that I am a big fan of Google products. Not only Google is my search engine of choice, but I love their line of online services. I am a heavy user of Google Applications which I use for two of custom domains including Google mail, docs, sites and calendar. Plus I am also looking forward to create my own custom applications for content aggregation and interoperability with social networking sites. However as much as I love their applications and services, I despite Google’s position on matters of social responsibility.

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In the state we find the world today with all its poverty, epidemics and never-ending conflicts, it is almost impossible to find comfort in the words and actions of our politicians and statesmen. We’re often tired of their rhetoric and demagogue speeches, in what many of us see as fuelling empty promises about making the world a better place. Speaking for myself, I can’t think politicians from our time that I can say hand on heart that I truly believe in their good intentions, integrity and honourable values. All but one, who unfortunately was taken away from us five years ago.

Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a man who lived his life to honour the principles for which the United Nations was created: To help ease the suffering of people and mediate conflicts around the world. Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a pivotal figure within the United Nations that legitimised the organisation’s existence. A charismatic figure and remarkable diplomatic, he worked to resolve conflicts in several regions including Lebanon, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Timor-Leste. He died five years ago in a coward attack in Iraq.

This week the murder of a TAXI driver in Thailand by a student who was “carrying out a scene” of the Game Grand Theft Auto IV, prompted authorities to ban the game nation-wide. Once again the question reigns: Does videogame influence people? Well, I have some comments on the matter not from a 3^rd person perspective, but from a 1^st person.

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