Peter:
>> Genocide, children  being abused sexually and working under slave
>>like conditions, executions and torture of anybody who criticizes the
>>political regime etc. are not part of the cultural traditions of
>>these cultures either but are for most part expressions of perversion
>>usually brought on by  the devastation of colonialism.

Jean_Louis:
>I agree that the structure of many societies, their traditions,
>etc... have been destroyed by the colonization, hence it becomes
>difficult to distinguish between "cultural" injustices and "artifial"
>injustices. Still, I believe that the notion of equality, human
>rights, etc... is rather recent and not universal at all, and that the
>value of life is higher in the mind of a westerner than in the mind of
>many other people. For instance, slavery, which is now strongly
>condemned in developed countries, was found in most civilizations
>(Greeks...).

If we are talking about technically and/or organizational advanced
cultures like the Greek and Roman societies I agree. But, if you look
at most hunter & gather societies or aboriginal peoples the picture is
quite different. They lived pretty much in harmony with each other and
nature and practiced "human rights" without knowing or having any idea
of the concept. A good book that makes these points very well is the
classic "The Continuum Concept" by Jean Liedloff. Not all societies are
created equal in the sense that some are closer than others to living
according to man's true nature and fulfilling his/her basic needs for a
nurturing & constructive, non-hierarchical community structure.

Best, Peter
[log in to unmask]