President-elect Obama: 100 days to demonstrate commitment to human rights
The election of Barack Obama to the US presidency opens new opportunities for an end to the seven-year assault on human rights by the US administration.
Amnesty International urges US President-elect Obama to make human rights central to his new administration. In the first 100 days, Amnesty International is calling on the new administration to:
- announce a plan and date to close Guantánamo;
- issue an executive order to ban torture and other ill-treatment, as defined under international law;
- ensure that an independent commission to investigate abuses committed by the US government in its “war on terror” is set up.
These demands are part of a “checklist” of actions Amnesty International is asking the new US President to take during the first 100 days in office.
Call on President-elect Barack Obama to demonstrate a commitment to human rights in his first 100 days in office.
I know this is not about the economy, but what I want to suggest is not listed on the topic list, and there was no “other”.
Mr. Obama, now that you have been elected by people from both political parties, independents, all socio-economic classes, all races, all ethnic groups, I think it is time to form a new party (as Abraham Lincoln did in 1864).
So long as the country is divided into red and blue, Republican and Democratic, old and young, black and white and brown, rich and poor and middle class, unity simply will not happen because people will continue to identify with these classifications, and the old divisions and divisiveness will never disappear.
Mr. Obama, you have already referred to “not a blue America or a red America, but a United States of America” (I hope that is the exact quotation). Why not turn that into a reality and form a “United Party” or whatever other name best conveys the idea.
This would have to be done while you are in office. Any later, it would turn out to be just one more third party, and we well know what happens to them.
A number of years ago, Kevin Philips stated that the American party system needs re-alignment. I agreed with him then, and I do now more than ever – and this seems like the perfect opportunity to make it work.
Sincerely,
Suzanne Cane
Mexico City
Excellent content…keep up the good work!