Yesterday, in protest of Arizona's hateful and illegal immigration law, San Francisco Mayor and Lt. Guv candidate Gavin Newsom signed a moratorium on official City travel to Arizona. Meanwhile, San Francisco's officially recognized “Sister Cities” continue to include:
- Amman, Jordan, where “honor killings” are rampant and rarely pursued by the police, and whose government condones torturing of prisoners.
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, whose human rights the Department of State ranks as “poor” and whose government continues to hold political prisoners and to squelch free speech and the right to assemble.
- Manila, Philippines, which is on the United Nations' human rights watch list because of about 800 politically-motivated killings in the last few years by the government. Oh, they like to kill journalists who disagree with the government too.
- Shanghai, China, whose . . . it's China: need I say more about human rights? Yet, how many times has Gavin Newsom visited China to celebrate San Francisco's special relationship with Shanghai?
I'm all for a full-throated repudiation of Arizona's despicable and racist law. But if San Francisco is going to restrict official City travel to places that have laws or governments we don't like, it should start by ending our “Sister City” relationship with these oppressive governments.
In the rush towards globalization, human rights have taken a back seat to economics. It’s not always best to get the cheapest item if it is being done by a 7 year old Chinese kid in near slave conditions.
But as much as it is on our leaders to push other nations to do what is right, it also on us. We must buy with a mind towards human rights
Honor Killings are a concern? Well I got news for you they happen here too and rarely identified correctly by law enforcement and much like Gang Killings get little corporation from the people affected – Non Issue unless you fix the hypocrisy among our own people first.
Squelching Free Speech a concern in a country where the Truth and Righteousness doesn’t get covered by the Mass Media? How many know there May Day marches planned for immigration reform? How many people know WTF May Day means?
Manila is a concern when how many journalist have been killed in the Middle East? How about Journalist being tortured by The Israeli Military or US Troops shooting Journalist all caught on tape?
I can understand the concern, but REALLY, there’s much more to be concerned about than tiny bit of hypocrisy here.