ROUNDTABLE WITH OUSMAN

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Rwanda is not free, what do you think?

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The topic of free speech is one of the most contentious issues in liberal societies. If the liberty to express oneself is not highly valued, as has often been the case, there is no problem: freedom of expression is simply curtailed in favor of other values. Free speech becomes a volatile issue when it is highly valued because only then do the limitations placed upon it become controversial. The first thing to note in any sensible discussion of freedom of speech is that it will have to be limited. Every society places some limits on the exercise of speech because speech always takes place within a context of competing values. In this sense, Stanley Fish is correct when he says that there is no such thing as free speech. Free speech is simply a useful term to focus our attention on a particular form of human interaction and the phrase is not meant to suggest that speech should never be interfered with. As Fish puts it, “free speech in short, is not an independent value but a political pr...
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This morning, I leant the biggest lesson of my life. The one that most probably I couldn’t learn from my pastors preaching, the many books I have read. Yes I have heard about customer care and good attitude towards your customer, employee or even strangers you meet every day but not until this driver taught me the lesson for life. Well, he is the new cab driver for my children, he comes this morning to pick them, and I decided to stand in my tainted window and watch the children get out of the gate. Now a couple of days ago, I had heard a comment from my daughter who is normally very critical on judging character traits. She is very observant and we sometimes fear to relate with her intellect of people judgment. Mum, this driver is a good one. I dint really consider it till this morning. The driver came and packed his car at the gate, hooted for once or twice and got out of the car and came out, stood at the door of the gate. See how he welcomes them, he first sent his greetings to eac...
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Human Rights and Money

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Dear Colleagues, Today in the morning, I was having breakfast with two friends and colleagues of mine and we were talking about Human rights work and how sometimes it varies depending on culture, country and even families. however along the way there was an issue that was raised; about human rights and money. one of my two friends believes that money is everything, he believes that money gives power so he believes the best way to engage in human rights advocacy you need money to be able to do your advocacy; in his own words, he says; I strongly believe that my work as a human rights activist would make sense if I was a big business person with lots of money because then I would have influence that would actually put me at a negotiation table to influence policies and so protect those who are oppressed, I feel that I don't have to alert the international community or the other partners to give some one a protection he/she deserves before I consulting anyone; I would feel valuable ...
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