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Salient: Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Vol. 24, No. 8. 1961.

Human Rights — No Such Thing

Human Rights — No Such Thing

Sir,—I wish to comment upon the declarations of the Ninth International Student Conference regarding Racialism. Section four of the declaration mentions "human rights."

It is about time that we remove these delusions. There is no such thing as human rights. Human rights are non-existent. There may be racial rights, national rights, political rights, etc.—but there are no "human rights." To speak of "human rights" is analagous to speaking of a "round square."

Let us forget this rot about "racial equality." There can never be "equality." There can never be anything which we can truly label "rights belonging to All humans without exception." So long as we are in this hateful world, there shall be despair for some. To admit that there are "human rights" (laughable term) would be to construe that man can achieve perfection. Always there shall be the superior and the inferior; there shall be the mighty and the weak, and there shall be the hopeful and the desperate, the .privileged and the unprivileged.

These blatant declarations about racialism, etc., by the International Student Conference—admirable though that organization may be— serve only to raise the bitterness of those born to be worshippers and slaves. To talk about human rights—when every person knows too well that they can never be simultaneously available to all in practise— would be to add insult to injury. I cannot but sneer at the stupidity and hypocrisy of those who tight for "equality." Yours, etc.,

W. P. Airotciv.