Human rights are one of the great tasks of our civilisation. This article discusses the importance of this task along with our personal responsibility to be involved.
This article fleshes out some of the ideas in the introduction and would be a good one to read after that.
The massacres in Rwanda were an event that touched me deeply, and taught me much about the world. Here are a couple of good summary articles about why the west should also learn from them.
The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation
Having been a bomber in World War Two, Howard Zinn is well placed to give a unique perspective on issues of pacifism, violence, dissent and just war in his short interview-based book Terrorism and War. Zinn in this book reminded me somewhat of Chomsky (who deeply admires and has been heavily influenced by Zinn) with his obviously broad knowledge and recall of statistics, quotes and other evidence. This book is inspiring and thought-provoking, especially Zinn's original take on the morality of WW2. If you can't find time to read this book, at least watch his talk "Three holy wars" as...