#human rights

Since the global economic crisis began, the change in global attitudes is clear to see - and I think it is pitiful. Barack Obama came to China and he is probably the only president of the United States never to mention the words 'human rights' in public. ↗

— Ai Weiwei

#barack #barack obama #began #came #change

The Chinese art world does not exist. In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination. ↗

— Ai Weiwei

#art #art world #calls #chinese #create

Saddam Hussein wrote the book on human rights violations. ↗

— Curt Weldon

#human #human rights #hussein #rights #saddam

I used to always fight for human rights. I still fight for Leonard Peltier, who's spent 35 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. ↗

— Vivienne Westwood

#commit #crime #fight #human #human rights

Democratic societies can no longer give religious fanatics a free hand to abuse and murder non believers. Such action betrays contempt for the basic human rights which animate any democracy with meaning. ↗

— Armstrong Williams

#action #animate #any #basic #basic human rights

Iran's continued, widespread persecution of ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and political prisoners is a disgrace and stands as a shameful indictment of Iran's leaders. ↗

— William Hague

#defenders #disgrace #ethnic #human #human rights

We are not directly involved in Syria. But we will be working with our partners in the European Union and at the United Nations to see if we can persuade the Syrian authorities to go, as I say, more in that direction of respect for democracy and human rights. ↗

— William Hague

#democracy #direction #directly #european #european union

I think clearly the United States, as well as other western nations, should stand by their commitments to human rights and democracy and should try to influence other countries to move in that direction. ↗

— Samuel P. Huntington

#commitments #countries #democracy #direction #human

A commitment to human rights cannot be fostered simply through the transmission of knowledge. Action and experience play a crucial role in the learning process. ↗

— Daisaku Ikeda

#cannot #commitment #crucial #crucial role #experience

Human rights will be a powerful force for the transformation of reality when they are not simply understood as externally defined norms of behavior but are lived as the spontaneous manifestation of internalized values. ↗

— Daisaku Ikeda

#defined #force #human #human rights #internalized