Timothy Barrett wrote: I just had an interesting lesson in human nature. Ive just returned from listening to a presentation and the subsequent Q&A with Amnesty Internationals new Executive Director, Steve Hawkins. The title of the talk was Bringing Human Rights Home. During the Q&A, more questions were asked about Amnestys position on economic rights than any other single issue. During the evening, the people next to me asked me what local issues were most important to me. The question made me think of my friend David, who has a steady job here in town with a national chain but who cant afford to rent a room to live in. I thought of my nearby elderly neighbors who confided in me that were it not for the generosity of local church food banks, they wouldnt be able to put food on the table given the constraints of their fixed income. With those thoughts in mind, I confided to the people sitting next to me that diversifying and fueling investment in our depressed local economy is my number one issue. Given that the Hawkins talk was titled Bringing Human Rights Home and given that Economic Rights were highlighted like a laser beam during the Q&A, its extremely interesting that those who sat next to me shared that economic diversification and investment at the local level was more appropriately left to officials beyond the municipal level, in other words at higher levels of government. Folks, I believe that bringing it home literally means right here in the City of Monterey. The future to a large degree is decided by what we do right here at the local level. Yes, we do have options, and I dont believe that our local economic future should be left to decision makers at a higher level without local discussion and input from this community that I care about so deeply.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 13:25:14 +0000