Examples of individuals who have been wrongly lionised by human rights activists

[Tooting Carmen]

Human rights activists have a tendency to turn individual people into BIG CAUSES putatively beyond question, criticism or reproach. Some examples:

Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemala

Indigenous rights activist prominent in the 80's and early 90's, during the latter years of the Guatemalan Civil War. Her seminal biopic I, Rigoberta Menchu turned out to be a fraud, as she wrote it based on many other people's experiences rather than her own.

Madres De La Plaza De Mayo, Argentina

Not long after the military junta came into power in 1976, several mothers would regularly gather at the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires to protest against the military regime and demand information on their missing children, assumed to have been kidnapped and murdered by the junta. Even today, they still regularly demonstrate in the same location. However noble their cause, several of their leading figures have been jailed over the years for fraud and corruption.

Ken Saro Wiwa, Nigeria

In 1994-95, Nigerian environmentalist and political activist Saro Wiwa made headlines globally as the Nigerian military regime, led by Sani Abacha, sentenced him to death for his activities against Shell Nigeria. Yet however flawed the trial process undoubtedly was, contrary to how the media portrayed his case he was NOT being persecuted for his political beliefs, but because he was responsible for starting numerous fires on Shell Nigeria's land, endangering many Nigerian and foreign workers alike.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, USSR

The author of the seminal and groundbreaking book The Gulag Archipelago has his darker side - many of his beliefs are deeply reactionary and even fascistic, and it is quite clear that he opposed the Soviet regime for its more progressive aspects regarding women's rights and secularism in particular, as well as all the nasty aspects of the regime.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma

The supposedly ultimate symbol of peace, love and serenity has proven to be somewhat of a disappointment as Prime Minister, to say the least. Having made peace with the Burmese military, she has openly acted as an apologist for its atrocities against the Rohingya, which some believe to be the worst genocide anywhere in the world since Rwanda.

[sean]

What about your ex-President Juan Manuel Santos? He is the guy who ended a 52-year civil war. For his efforts, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he even signed a decree that recognises Palestine as an independent nation with sovereignty, but he started his political career as a war criminal. When FARC was at its height, Colombian soldiers started abducting and killing innocent civilians and dressing them up as guerillas to boost their kill count. Over 2,000 people were killed this way on Santos's watch.

[AdrianV]

Mandela was a world class terrorist.

[Tooting Carmen]

What about your ex-President Juan Manuel Santos? He is the guy who ended a 52-year civil war. For his efforts, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he even signed a decree that recognises Palestine as an independent nation with sovereignty, but he started his political career as a war criminal. When FARC was at its height, Colombian soldiers started abducting and killing innocent civilians and dressing them up as guerillas to boost their kill count. Over 2,000 people were killed this way on Santos's watch.

Yes I am no great fan of Santos, but by getting the treaty signed he did a great service to the country. Also, he was far from alone in being responsible for the false positives scandal.