Human Rights

by Roberto Malini - translated from Italian by Glenys Robinson


Human rights,

bread of the world

buried laws,

codes of justice

laid aside.


Those who defend them

are watched and spied on

by the guardians of race,

of borders,

of public order

and their dogs.


Those who defend them

stand on the front line,

where Vengeance

stages trials,

fills prisons

and bloodies scaffolds.


(Every day

someone falls on the front line:

today it was the turn

of Salvator Muhindo,

human rights defender

from the Congo).


Human rights:

are scattered

on the air polluted by hatred

like oxygen

bearing life

like pollens of freedom.


Human rights,

we will set you free

a little more each day

so that the world

will not lose you

and become a hell

without even realising...



Milan, July 17, 2010


Roberto Malini is a poet, writer and activist. Together with Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau he is at the centre of a FrontLine campaign
(  http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/2597 ) opposing the persecution of human rights defenders. Sign Petition: www.petitiononline.com/italyhrd.

The author will read “Human Rights” and other poems, accompanied by gypsy guitar, during the 2010 Rototom Sunsplash festival (  http://www.rototomsunsplash.com/ ), an evening dedicated to the antiracist event “Vivere nella diversità” (Living Diversity). The Rototom Sunsplash festival is the most important event in Europe dedicated to reggae music and human rights. After 16 years, Rototom Sunsplash has become the biggest reggae gathering in Europe, attracting approximately 130,000 people every year from 120 countries. Confronted with the intolerance of Italian politics towards its values of different cultures and multi-racialism, Rototom Sunsplash has decided to move to Spain, a country that seems to be more democratic and more open to cultural diversity and therefore, the ideal environment for the festival to continue on its mission whilst protecting the rights of its public. After months of intense research, the festival’s organizers have finally chosen Benicassim as the location for the 2010 edition. Situated on the Mediterranean coast in the province of Castellon just 88km from Valencia, the hospitality of this place and its 17,000 inhabitants is widely demonstrated by its hosting of one of Europe’s major international indie rock festivals – ‘Fib’. The seventeenth edition of Rototom Sunsplash will therefore take place in Benicassim from 21st to 28th August, 2010. The festival will maintain its format – as well as the musical events, the festival will feature once again meetings, debates, courses, art exhibitions, films and documentaries, meditation seminaries, holistic therapies and many other activities, largely from non-profit organizations.

The author is promoting the UN Declaration on Human Rights defenders both in Italy and throughout the world.
(  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/defenders/docs/declaration/declaration.pdf )

Contact:

EveryOne Group

 info@everyonegroup.com :: www.everyonegroup.com