Author Archives: Joel D. Hirst

Joel D. Hirst served as a Human Freedom Fellow at the George W. Bush Institute from November 2011 – December 2012.

VENEZUELA JOINS THE U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

By Joel D. Hirst | November 20, 2012

In 2005, when former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan announced the replacement of the Human Rights Commission, he said that the “politicization of its sessions and the selectivity of its work” had “cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole.” It didn’t help that human rights abusers like Iran and Syria had been members. A new Human Rights Council was supposed to “offer a fresh start.”

A HUNGER STRIKE IN CUBA EXPOSES THE REGIME

By Joel D. Hirst | September 27, 2012

From September 7 to 19 Jorge Luís García Pérez Antúnez led a hunger strike of Cuban freedom advocates to demand that the Castro regime free political prisoner Jorge Vázquez Chaviano. Chaviano, who is an outspoken critic of the regime, was sentenced in March 2011 to 18 months of “correctional work without internment” for engaging in “unlawful economic activities.” The hunger strikers were also showing solidarity with Misahel Valdés Díaz, the Santiago representative of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Civic Resistance Front which Jorge Antúnez leads. Díaz was arbitrarily arrested on September 6 and returned to his home to find it in ruins.

A “PEACE DEAL” WITH THE FARC UNDERMINES FREEDOM

By Joel D. Hirst | September 13, 2012

Standing in front of the Palacio de Nariño, the Colombian Presidential Palace, President Juan Manuel Santos last week announced that the Government of Colombia would enter into a “peace process” with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).   What…

DEFENDING FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

By Joel D. Hirst | August 31, 2012

  The Woodrow Wilson Center recently held an event on “Understanding and Responding to Attacks on Civil Society.”  The panelists for this discussion were Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy; Nilda Bullain, operational vice president for the…

THE TROUBLING TIES BETWEEN IRAN AND VENEZUELA

By Joel D. Hirst | August 10, 2012

There’s no more serious geopolitical issue today than the global crisis over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.   To be clear, Iran is not a pariah state because it is seeking nuclear energy.  The regime is ostracized because it has not lived…

FREEDOM CANNOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED

By Joel D. Hirst | August 9, 2012

Last week I attended an event at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center, hosted by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance and the International Republican Institute to honor Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, who died under still-unclear circumstances in a recent car crash, and other dissidents who continue to work for a free and democratic Cuba.

One of the speakers was András Bácsi-Nagy, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Hungary. In his speech, Bácsi-Nagy described his own fight for freedom decades ago from Soviet oppression. In one amazing twist, he told the story of work done and support received from the Cuban Ambassador (before the arrival of Cuba’s communist government, of course) in their fight against the USSR. This reminded me once again that freedom cannot be taken for granted. As with everything worth having, it must be fought for energetically and defended vigorously; and, tragically, it is rarely permanent.

CHAVEZ MUST STOP HELPING ASSAD

By Joel D. Hirst | July 18, 2012

Few would dispute that Syria’s government has run afoul of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the new norm in international law that United Nations member states approved in 2005 to try and help prevent the worst “mass atrocity crimes” of…

A LIFETIME IS NOT ENOUGH

By Joel D. Hirst | July 9, 2012

I once had a college history professor who taught that human history could be summed up in the following axiom: mankind’s search for stability.  To be sure, this has often been the primary objective of diplomacy and realpolitik in the…

IRAN IN LATIN AMERICA

By Joel D. Hirst | July 3, 2012

Joel D. Hirst, a Human Freedom Fellow at the George W. Bush Institute, writes about Iran’s ongoing efforts to expand its influence in Latin America. Hirst calls on Latin American governments to remember Iran’s democratic shortcomings and how it treats its own people.

THE FREE EXPRESSION PROBLEMS OF AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES

By Joel D. Hirst | June 1, 2012

Five years ago this week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took RCTV off the air, Venezuela’s oldest and most important television channel, seizing its infrastructure, equipment and frequency.  I was there when this happened. From my perch I watched as the…