Declare Your Human Rights. Demand the Robin Hood Tax

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/08



***SNIP

Just to remind myself how far we have and have not come, I generally look at the International Declaration of Human Rights signed so long ago and ponder about why we would ever want to make ourselves more distant from these rights. The ones that always call to me are as follows:

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Is it a sign of some sort that I laugh when I read some sections of this and cry when I read others? How many Americans really have any rights whatsoever to times of rest and leisure, vacation, or limits on working hours or employers who honor holidays in any way? It is often some sort of badge of courage for employers to see just how far they can push their employees against any legal limits in the United States, and vacations and holidays are less available to many working Americans now than ever.