Well for me human rights is a really important thing in our life but even though its really important, most of us are not aware of our rights. I had the chance to form part of this cluster as I learned a bunch of stuff that I never realized before, and which will help me in the future, especially when I start working. Human rights are the rights we have simply by being born on earth. Everyone has equal rights, but unfortunately, not all people that can use those rights, for different reasons. Its the things we have the right to do which are protected by the law. Our rights stop where someone elses rights begin, which means that even though we have rights, we have to respect other peoples rights. We can't do whatever we want just because we have human rights.
For my project i'll talk about my experience at work, where human rights are really exploited. I work at a place called Tribeca Rooftop in lower Manhattan. I've been there for like 9 months and i've always had hard times there. Why? The reason is simple: The managers there don't respect the workers rights. I know that the New York State law says that all workers are entitled to a 30 minute break per shift. But there, if ever you take even a 10 minute break, you'll get in trouble for it. The thing is that there are lots of illegal workers there, so they exploit them a lot. Either your illegal or not, your a human being, and you have rights. Now the problem is that as the managers are so used to ill-treat illegal workers, now I get treated the same way, even though i'm a US citizen. So sometimes I work during twelve to fourteen hour shifts without getting a rest. But to be honest I dont really care about it. Im only there for the money, im not living only on the money i get there. But I feel bad for the immigrants though, it's really unfair for them. They're trying to earn money to feed their families, an they are treated in such a way. They work for almost 60 hours every week, only $9 per hour, without medicare, insurance and all that. Really messed up in my opinion. But I guess the guys have no option than to work and to abide by their nasty rules as they need the money and they're trying their best to help their family. Thats why they'll never try to sue them or some kind of stuff like that. As long as they get the money they will work for them.
But this kind of practice should stop. Its happening there, and i'm sure its happening in lots and lots of places throughout the country and even the whole world. There are laws against it, but still it's being practiced.
If I want to relate this life experience to the language of human rights, I would say that language is a really important thing for these people in their quest for their rights, but as they are deprived from their freedom of expression, which is freedom to speak and voice out their concerns, they will always have to live and work in this dreadful conditions. I will say that the language of human rights here is the tool that will help these people to come out of the dark. If these people are able to learn their human rights, and also learn the english language and gain a proper education, they will finally be able to fight for what they were looking for: a better and more just and fair life. In the past, we have seen people fighting for different reasons, and finally won what they were looking for thanks to language: Martin Luther King Jr. was known to lead successful campaigns as he was a great and convincing speaker, as well as George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who were said to have won their respective elections thanks to their great speeches.
No comments:
Post a Comment