Are killing-free societies possible? Evidence suggests that by working with committed organizations, leaders and individuals like you we can signficantly reduce and eventually eliminate human killing. This goal belongs to everyone, across political, religious or ethnic affiliations. The development of truly civil societies, and nothing less than the future of humankind, depends on our joint success.

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    • Human Political Rights: a Nonkilling checklist, by Francisco Gomes de Matos

    When do we kill politically?
    We kill a person, a group, a community politically when we

    deprive him / her / them of the right to participate (in)directly in the management of government
    deprive him /her / them of the right to citizenship
    deprive him / her / them of the right to hold office (in city, state, federal government)
    deprive him / her / them of the right of voting for government office
    deprive him / her / them of the right to express one’s / their opinion on political issues
    deprive him / her / them of the right to a religious belief / liberty
    deprive him / her / them of the right to free association

    don’t guarantee the rights of women, of the indigenous, of children, of the disabled, of the imprisoned, of political refugees, of immigrants, of persons who have suffered sexual violence

    fail to denounce hideous violations of political rights (such as torture), unfair state interventions, humiliations imposed on prisoners and on the mentally ill

    don’t allow persons, groups to enter areas of life from which they have been excluded

    don’t confer on women the freedom from discrimination

    propose political rights which are not fulfilled

    don’t intervene to protect individual, group, community political rights

    don’t protest the violation of political rights

    don’t do our share in decreasing, reducing, ending lethality where we live, work, study, ...

    don’t do our share in supporting, and helping develop a Nonkilling Politics, a Nonkilling Political Science

    What other political rights would you add to the list? Why?

    Imagine you are a politician in your community: what political rights and responsibilities of politicians would you prioritize and why? See these examples below:

    1. Politicians have the political responsibility/duty to act with dignity and probity (in this case, if politicians engage in corrupt political act(ion)s, they can be said to be KILLING POLITICALLY)

    2.Politicians have the political duty to place the interests of their communities/countries above those of their political parties (similarly, if politicians engage in such shameful acts, they are KILLING POLITICALLY)

    If you are a politician, how about suggesting to members of your City /State/ Federal government the drafting of a specific chart of political rights and Responsibilities of Politicians? What could that contribute to the preparation of politicians as responsible citizens?

    If you are a politician, you might like to draft your own individual Chart of Human Political Rights and Responsibilities and ask yourself how well you have been doing and why. You might also like to share this suggestion with politicians friends of yours. All in a spirit of Nonkilling

    Voting nonkillingly
    Leading nonkillingly
    Choosing leaders nonkillingly
    Following nonkillingly



    Francisco Gomes de Matos is an applied peace linguist from Recife, Brazil; Co-author of the chapter "Toward a Nonkilling Linguistics" (Toward a Nonkilling Paradigm, Honolulu, 2009), basis of the Course "Nonkilling Linguistics" at Wikiversity's School of Nonkilling Studies. Professor Emeritus, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; Co-founder and currently President of the Board, Associação Brasil América. He can be reached at fcgm@hotlink.com.br