Cruelty or Humanity. Rees, Stuart
Motives to start this book came from several sources. I needed to react to states’ cruelties and to their disregard for human rights. Accounts of cruelties were difficult to ignore. Conversations with friends who championed human rights gave clues to pursue. Richard Hil, Jennifer Granger, Cathy Peters, Peter Slezak, Hannah Middleton, Dennis Doherty, Juliet Bennett, Mary Kostakidis, Karen Collier, Erik Paul, Frank Stilwell, Peggy Craddock and Evan Jones might be surprised that their coffee-time conversations contributed to this book. May such face-to-face exchanges continue.
Invaluable commentary on early drafts confirmed the direction of a journey and identified ideas and evidence that I needed to collect. Insightful academic colleagues Ken Macnab, Joe Camilleri and Jim Ife were selfless in reading completed drafts. I benefitted from their ideas and encouragement. Alec Pemberton and Adam Courtenay gave generous feedback on early chapters.
It is appropriate to acknowledge the referees whom my publishers asked to evaluate the book proposal and manuscript. Former Professor of Peace Studies at Coventry University Andrew Rigby, and Richard Falk, Professor of International Law at Princeton and the University of California, Santa Barbara, gave positive evaluations of the timing, relevance and content of the proposed book. I owe a particular debt to Richard. A highly regarded jurist, wonderful international citizen and amazingly busy person, he nevertheless responds quickly to ideas and requests and does so with a generosity which underlines a key dimension of humanity.
Characteristic patience and support from Ragnhild has as usual been indispensable, even though, at the beginning, she commented, ‘You’re not going to write another book are you?’ Ragnhild nevertheless knew the significance of this project. On the vexed problem of my limited understanding of computers, my eldest granddaughter, Isabella Celata, has been the always available, skilful, humorous problem solver. I have benefitted from the consistent support and research inquiries of Susan Moy and am also very grateful to my generous, research-experienced and literary astute friend Alison Wallace, who proof-read the final manuscript.
The cover of this book was crafted by a distinguished artist, Steve Harris, and a skilled website designer, Alex Penny. They worked from the Son of Odin image given by the brilliant sculptor Ben Hammond and from the Phoenix Rising image provided by the international photographer James Porto. I acknowledge their skills and generosity.
Obtaining permission to quote lines from poetry and from songs has been the final trek on this journey. Lines from If I Had A Hammer, words and music by Peter Seeger and Lee Hays, are used by permission of Ludlow Music, Inc./Essex Music Australia Pty. Ltd. Roger Waters, singer-songwriter and campaigner for justice, was generous and unhesitating in agreeing to my request to quote lines from his songs. The poets David Krieger, Saba Vasefi and Samah Sabawi were enthusiastic about my using examples of their work. Samah also spoke on behalf of her father, the significant Palestinian poet Abdul Sabawi.
The publishers New Directions agreed to my quoting lines from Denise Levertov poems, Thai Binh (Peace) Province, Weeping Woman, What It Could Be and Political Action. David Higham Associates agreed to my quoting lines from Prayer Before Birth from a Louis MacNeice anthology. Fred Courtwright from Confluence Press gave permission to quote from William Stafford poems, Poetry and You Reading this Stop. Lyn Coffin gave copyright permission to use Anna Akhmatova’s Requiem and Emma Raddatz from Archipelago publishers gave permission to quote lines from Mahmoud Darwish, including A River Dies of Thirst. Lines from Les Murray’s Equanimity are reproduced by permission of the Estate of Les Murray, c/o Margaret Connolly & Associates Pty Ltd and from Carcanet Press. Epitaph on a Tyrant, copyright renewed 1968, by W.H. Auden from Collected Poems by W.H. Auden, edited by Edward Mendelson, is used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. September 1 1939, copyright renewed 1968, from Selected Poems by W.H. Auden is used by permission of Vintage Books, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. A Brave and Startling Truth from A Brave and Startling Truth by Maya Angelou, copyright©1995 by Maya Angelou is used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. Human Family from I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou, copyright©1990 by Maya Angelou is used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. Petrina Walker, beneficiary of the literary estate of Kath Walker, granted permission to republish excerpts from All One Race and The Protectors, each poem credited to Oodgeroo Nunucaal. Monica Tavazzani, from Garzanti, represented authorization for Primo Levi’s works and gave permission to quote from that poet’s Almanac. Harper Collins Publishers Australia Pty Ltd gave permission to quote lines from Judith Wright’s Two Dreamtimes and The Flame Tree, taken from Judith Wright’s Collected Poems.
Under the ‘fair usage’ criteria, Seren Adams from United Agents supported my quoting from James Fenton’s poem Tiananmen. Bertolt Brecht Heirs, publishers Suhrkamp Verlag, granted permission to quote from Brecht’s When Evil-Doing Comes Like Falling Rain, Violence, To Those Born Later and The Bread of the People. Carcanet Press of Manchester did the same with extracts from an anthology by Octavio Paz. Professor Harry Aveling, translator of poems by Willibrordus Rendra, gave permission to quote from his work. The Rights Executive of Pan Macmillan agreed to my quoting lines from Clive James’ Statement from the Secretary of Defense. Robert Bly, translator of Pablo Neruda’s poems for Beacon Press, granted permission to use lines from Neruda’s The Dictators.
Throughout the crafting of the manuscript, I have benefitted from the interest, advice and support of all the editorial and publicity staff at Bristol University Press. I am grateful for their professionalism: their constructive observations, their responses coming usually by return and with enthusiasm.
I have undertaken to obtain permission to use copyright material reproduced in this book. Information from copyright holders that will enable me to rectify any error or omission would be welcomed. The sources of all poems and songs are given in chapter references listed at the end of the book.
Stuart Rees
Hyams Beach, NSW, Australia
We are living in an anguishing historical period. From one direction come dire warnings about humans’ future if the challenges posed by climate change and ecological instability are not addressed within a rather tiny window of less than twelve years. From another direction come depressing indications that peoples around the world are choosing by their own free will, extremist autocrats, even demagogues, who are extinguishing fires of freedom, building walls to keep the unwanted out and stigmatizing the stranger. In such an atmosphere, human rights are in retreat, empathy for the suffering of others is repudiated, international law is all but forgotten in the annals of diplomacy and the United Nations is often reduced to the bickering of irresponsible governments seeking nothing grander than maximum national advantage, and in the process, let the common public