The Human Rights Revolution Platform

Why Democracies Outperform Autocracies

michaeloholmes — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:34:58 +0000

Watch Michael Weinstein and Joseph Siegle talk about their book The Democracy Advantage: How Democracies Promote Prosperity and Peace. I very much agree with what Leslie Gelb has written about this fascinating book: “It is very rare when you have established experts do a mountainous amount of hard research on a complex new subject. It is rarer still when the subject cuts across the boundaries of foreign policy, economics, and domestic politics. The result is far and away the best book to date making the argument that democracy furthers economic development better than authoritarian rule.”

Violence in the Quran and the Bible

michaeloholmes — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:54:19 +0000

Poooh! I’ve just finished reading all the violent and cruel stories in both the Bible and the Quran that I was able to find. I may have missed some, but probably not too many, because I used several good sources to find them. Here is my impression:
- Both books are astonishingly violent. Both gods use cruel violence themselves and demand their followers to do the same.
- There are more violent stories in the Bible.
- But the Bible is a much longer book. There are a little more violent stories in the Quran relative to the size of the text.
- There are a little more very cruel acts in the Bible – like genocides, ethnic cleansing, the killing of children or the stoning of people -, and they are described in more detail.
- The Quran is a little worse than the New Testament.
- The Old Testament is a little worse than the Quran.
- But, all in all, there aren’t any major differences between the texts.
- Much of the violence is very similar.

What can we learn from these comparisons? Not very much. Let’s just focus on the positive stories in both books! There are enough of them to help us win the struggle against fundamentalism! Peace, shalom, and salam to everyone!

It’s Not Culture, It’s the Economy, Stupid!

michaeloholmes — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 11:00:37 +0000

Is there any scientific evidence that the differences in violence across societies aren’t caused by religious differences? Yes, lots of it! First, there are hundreds of studies which show that poor countries are – on average – many times more violent and undemocratic than rich ones. And then there is one very comprehensive and rigorous study by Inglehart and Welzel which shows that there is only a very small – almost insignificant – cultural influence if you control for other factors – especially economic ones – and that economic change leads to cultural change (many times more than the other way round). I highly recommend their book on the topic from which I have learned more about the world we live in than from any other one.

The Next Crisis?

michaeloholmes — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:55:17 +0000

This is the most impressive, informative and frightening documentary on the last economic crisis – and the next one:

Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis

It is not too late – yet! – and it’s all up to us, but we have to change course.

Natural Born Anticapitalists?

michaeloholmes — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:59:30 +0000

Watch evolutionary psychologists Cosmides and Tooby explain why most people distrust the modern world and the market economy at Reason.tv.

Sex Can Save The World!

michaeloholmes — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:12:46 +0000

Matt Ridley is the author of “The Rational Optimist”, which is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Watch him explain how ideas making love can save mankind at this Ted Talk!

Can New York City become a green city?

michaeloholmes — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:26:20 +0000

Well, it already is. Watch this fascinating talk by David Bowen.

How Western nations killed up to 500 000 innocent Iraqis

michaeloholmes — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:53:10 +0000

Listen to Joy Gordon speak about her book “Invisible War – The United States and the Iraq Sanctions”

A Namibian Success Story

michaeloholmes — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:20:11 +0000

Watch John Kasaona from Namibia explain How poachers became caretakers at TED.

Neda’s Struggle for the Soul of Iran

michaeloholmes — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:17:14 +0000

Neda Agha-Soltan was 27 when she was shot dead in the streets of Tehran on June 20th, 2009. Watch a touching and powerful documentary about a courageous, lively and beautiful woman and her struggle against theocratic rule and gender apartheid in Iran.

For Neda

(also available in Farsi or Arabic)

The Financial Crisis and Global Poverty

michaeloholmes — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:45:25 +0000

Economists Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion have studied “The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the World’s Poorest”. Their analysis shows that the world poverty rate keeps declining despite the crisis:

“The same (post-crisis) growth projections imply that the aggregate $1.25 a day poverty rate will fall from 21% in the “pre-crisis” year of 2008 to 18% (1040 million people) in 2009; the pre-crisis growth rate for 2009 would have instead brought the poverty rate down to 17% (987 million). Using the $2 a day line, the poverty rate falls from 42% in 2008 to 39% (2,232 million) in 2009 under the lower expected growth rate, while the pre-crisis trajectory would have brought the poverty rate down to 38% (2,169 million).”