The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1

Article 1 : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Violation of Article 1 in North Korea

“North Korea prioritizes the masses before the individual. North Korea also discriminates against people based on their genealogical background…those of the ‘hostile class’ face direct discrimination.”

- Survey of North Korean Human Rights Conditions 2008

“One’s songbun (class background) is either good or bad, and detailed records are kept by party cadre and security officials of the degree of goodness or badness of everyone’s songbun. There is really no way to escape one’s songbun.” The favored group constitutes about 25 to 30 percent of the population. “Ranked below them in descending order are forty-seven distinct groups in what must be the most classdifferentiated society in the world today….North Korea’s population can be broken down into three main groups, roughly equal in size. The preferred class…is given every advantage; with hard work, individuals in this group can easily rise to the top. The middle 40 percent of the population-the ordinary people-hope for a lucky break…There is no hope, however, of a college education or a professional career. The bottom 30 percent of the population –the ‘undesirables’ are treated like a pariah class; all doors to advancement, the army, the higher schools of education are closed to them.”

- Kim Il Sung’s North Korea by Helen Louise Hunter

North Korea practices a hereditary caste-based system to rank its citizens based on their family political background. From the study, I learnt that the classes will determine the precise mix of the privileges, punishments or surveillance. Also, this system creates a form of slave labor for a third of North Korea's population of 23 million citizens and loyalty-bound servants out of the remainder. All this clearly show us that in North Korea, all human beings are not born free and equal in dignity and rights. This indicates the violation of Article 1 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There has been many recommendations proposed by Collin in his report issued by the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, but the most important is a general one, that we recognize the essential nature of the Kim family regime. 

Anomie

Anomie

Anomie merupakan perkataan yang diperkenalkan olek pakar sosiologi Emile Durkheim dalam bukunya The Division of Labour in Society. Anomie berasal dari perkataan Greek iaitu a yang bermaksud tanpa dan noma yang bermaksud peraturan.

Emile Durkheim

 Menurut Durkheim, anomie adalah situasi di mana norma sesuatu masyarakat menjadi keliru, tidak jelas atau tidak wujud dan ini menyebabkan berlaku perubahan dalam sikap sesetengah individu dalam masyarakat tersebut. Beliau juga percaya anomie adalah punca utama berlakunya pembunuhan diri. Menurut Durkheim, berlaku perubahan dalam struktur masyarakat yang berkembang dari mudah ke lebih kompleks. Masyarakat, awalnya, mempunyai pemahamam dan tujuan yang sama dan perubahan dalam struktur masyarakat menyebabkan terputusnya hubungan sesame mereka. Dengan terputusnya hubungan sesama mereka maka norma sesuatu masyarakat tidak lagi mengawal perlakuan sesuatu individu dalam masyarakat tersebut. 

Perubahan(sama ada baik atau buruk) yang berlaku secara drastic ini menyebabkan tidak ada norma masyarakat yang menjadi panduan hidup untuk seseorang individu dalam masyarakat tersebut. Durkheim sedar bahawa perubahan drastic dalam masyarakat, misalnya kemelesetan ekonomi, menyebabkan berlaku anomie(kehilangan norma masyarakat sebagai panduan) yang membawa kepada situasi seperti jenayah, kes bunuh diri dan perubahan sikap

HERO OF THE WEEK 6

A Change Is Gonna Come

"A Change Is Gonna Come"

by Sam Cooke






I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh, and just like the river I've been running ever since

It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky

It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go down town
Somebody keep telling me don't hang around

It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say, "Brother, help me please."
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on

It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will

Song video :