No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

This has been one of the most debated and patrolled articles. The use of torture has been so widespread in times of war and terrorism that it has become government policy in many countries, just another extension of police and military processsing.

It probably falls under “does the means justify the ends” debate. Does torturing information out of a prisoner, which turns out to save lives, justify the action.

Abu Ghraib is an example of how it can all go horribly wrong. The US is not alone in taking whatever measures are needed to break or humiliate a prisoner.

There is no mention in the UNDHR of the responsibilities that come with the granting of rights. Clearly breaking the law is one of them and that would include waging terrorism or state sponsored war.

The Geneva Convention set the standard for treatment or prisoners in a more conventional theatre of war. But many political prisoners are routinely tortured and they may include prisoners arrested for any number of reason which may include terrorism, which these days cuts a wide swathe.

But when dealing with people who wish to kill and maim civilians (such as the 7/7 bombings in London) how far would you go in trying to extract information?

Is it justifiable under pragmatic grounds or should it just be ruled out? Does one take an absolutist perspective such as no death penalty or does one take a more relavatist or utilitarianist approach?

There are many differing views on this.

My personal view is that we should oppose torture. It just lowers us and keeps the fire of anger and hatred burning and quite frankly rarely achieves anything except to deliver more bad karma into the universe.

What do you think?

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

This seems pretty obvious and to many the days of slavery would seem to be long past. Unfortunately that isn’t the case. The trafficking of people (modern day slavery) continues to happen on a global scale.

Not many countries are unaffected in some way by this hideous activity. It’s long past our historic notion of black slaves taken from Africa to the Empire and beyond. Today slavery consists of bonded labour, early or forced marriage, forced labour, slavery by descent, forced sex work and extreme forms of child labour.

None of it is pleasant.

It’s true that our economic system prizes cheap labour and so in a way encourages that drive. Certainly it makes one think about why and how this still happens? Certainly people look to escape poor circumstances and that can often lead them into the hands of traffickers of hope but deliverers of hell.

But wherever you are reading this from don’t think your country is immune to this. It isn’t.

I caught up with an old friend in London recently and he mentioned Once Were Warriors, the New Zealand film, as still being seared in his consciousness. His comment has been reinforced since I got back to NZ with the revelations of Tony Veitch and his violent assault on his previous partner.

Violence never seems far from the front pages over here. Whether it’s child abuse, domestic assault, late night bashings or just some good old biffo on the sports pitch, the modus operandi is the same: fists. Is Jake the Muss the deeply ingrained dark side of the NZ male? That’s not to present the UK as a country that doesn’t experience violence on a regular basis. It’s hard to remember a month in recent years where a teenager hasn’t been knifed to death.

The rise in violent crime in London was certainly one reason to move to NZ.

But there are differences. The two Deborah’s raise the issues of violence and anti-intellectualism as being embedded in NZ society. Deborah Coddington laments the violent culture that pervades this “Godless country” noting the desire to hand out “loving smacks” as an inviolate right. If one casts back a year and remembers the furore at the introduction of an “anti smacking” law here. The energy going into a repeal of this law is quite impressive. Regardless of the merits of the new law it is the desire to be allowed to hit that, for me at least, reflects a desire to sort matters out with brawn rather than brains.

This follows neatly onto Deborah Hill Cone’s piece on Jim Bolger and his new appointment as the “Fat Controller” for Kiwirail (will all the trains be black?). As she notes

“The only conclusion to draw is New Zealand’s anti-intellectualism is so acute we really feel most comfortable being governed by thick people or bullies”.

This point was reinforced by Robert Winston on his recent trip to NZ where he noted that cleverness was not valued. He also noted we are exporting our talented people in droves and under investing in research and education.

New Zealand is in some ways still primitive. We rely on our primary industries for the bulk of our economic performance. Perhaps that is still reflected in our base culture. Perhaps that is why the Auckland rugby league team was named “The Warriors”. Talk about embedding the brand!

The way the news is presented on TV One sometimes seems an extension of that silly programme “A Game of Two Halves” which makes “A Question of Sport” look like “University Challenge”. That the man in question is involved in both probably reflects the current malaise. On top of that the jocularity of the presenters leaves one to wonder whether it is the news or some mates gathering.

This story wont go away. At some point the violence, and its seeming acceptance, has to be addressed at a wider level.

I haven’t blogged for some time now. One reason is that I have been very busy and when you get busy sometimes the creative juices don’t run fast enough. Having said that what’s new to write about? It feels a little like groundhog day…….

I’m sitting comfortably at 39,000 ft on the new A380 heading for London. It’s a lovely machine. It’s amazing what we can build and the technology we can put together and yet………….

A dictator pounds along the well worn route to genocide, societal collapse and the ignominy of international tribunals and exile in some foreign land whilst the international community looks on in horror and wonders what to do.

The sad fact is that people like Mugabe will always appear. They are our shadow, our dark side. They come as saviours representing hope but become corrupted by power, insecurity and self loathing. Democracy is damned messy, it’s painful but one thing is for sure it gives space for us to address our shadow, to address our short comings, our weaknesses and our frailties. Nothing can be done for Zimbabwe now. The play has been written long ago and we are into the final act. Mugabe like Amin before him is unravelling in a paranoiac binge of violence. It’s painful to watch the people there suffer so much.

The Burmese catastrophe simply reinforces this never ending drama. It’s like Alice in Wonderland, curious and curiouser, as those generals walk around in their own fantasy creation. Is this really happening? Can you lock up the democratically elected leader forever? Are these generals real people or some kind of virtual reality?

I say carpet bomb the country with food parcels and emergency kit. Shower the place like a mid winter storm. Get Santa and his reindeers involved.

Invasion of national sovereignty they say wringing their hands with diplomatic concern.

Bollocks….we need an invasion of humanity. Now.

It’s tragic to see South Africa descend back into violence and disharmony. Necklacing, a one time favourite method of killing in the apartheid era, is back in vogue. As economic pressures mount in the townships rage has intensified towards the old maxim of “last in first to get it in the neck”.

The huge wage of immigration from other African states, such as Zimbabwe, has seen tensions rise at the same time that unemployment has risen to almost 4 million. Soldiers are out in the streets and even the prosperous Cape Town has been affected by unrest.

It’s poignant that Mbeki has been propping up Mugabe’s regime of fear which has accelerated the flow of Zimbabweans fleeing the violence and impoverishment in Zimbabwe.

It seems in their efforts to erase colonialism and restore their rightful sovereignty they have developed a high level of tolerance for violence and repression. This is the same story in Burma.

It’s a sad time for South Africa which has made such progress in recent years. One can only hope the Zimbabwe situation is resolved soon and the post-Mugabe rebuilding process can begin.

That should take the pressure off the situation is South Africa as the situation calms.

Another of nature’s incredible creations, the cyclone, has wreaked havoc on Burma with the loss of life expected to be upwards of 100,000. Living around the Bay of Bengal can be a dangerous business with Bangladesh a regular guest of tragedy and Thailand more recently with the Tsunami of 2004.

Numbers of this magnitude tend to overhwhelm causing a certain numbness to appear. 90,000 or 120,000, it’s a big number. But I don’t want to dwell on that aspect of the disaster but more on what this means for Burma.

A period of searching and mourning followed by rebuilding will take place, following a similar pattern to these events, but in what framework? The miltary junta, bunch of decrepid bovver boys, has no choice but to allow the world in as it has no hope of handling this on its own. Repression yes! reconstruction nah.

If ever a message was to be heeded this is it. The Saffron Revolution was just the beginning, creating a force of energy which some might say has manifested in this terrible way. It is surely no coincidence that just 2 days away is the proposed referendum on a new constitution. A referendum where you can vote but not against it.

It’s been interesting watching the warlord generals and how they look shellshocked and dazed as the cameras focus in on them. But more than anything they look very human. Sure they have plenty of vicious thugs to carry out their torture and murder but now they look weak as they are exposed to the world.

It’s time for the world to really put the hammer down on these dictators and try and bring about some kind of change. Just being able to live without fear of being carted off to prison or a labour camp would be a good start but this may be the point at which birth, although painful, can be given to a new Burma.