Barefoot and passionate, free thinking Jamaican poet Mutabaruka commemorated International Human Rights Day on the steps of City Hall yesterday with a powerful message to men to stop abusing women with ?dishonesty and infidelity?.

?People talk about freedom, but I say today we have entered into an era whereby freedom of indoctrination is a result of the decadence of the global world,? he said.

The world famous poet first inspired thousands of Bermudians with his message in 1998 when he visited the Island.

Yesterday, he told the audience it was time to re-evaluate the role of women in society. His words followed remarks by Community and Cultural Affairs Minister Dale Butler, Premier Alex Scott and UBP spokesman for race and economic opportunity David Dodwell.

Mutabaruka is on the Island to begin weekend ceremonies to commemorate the 56th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

He was born ?Allan Hope?, in Rae Town, Kingston, in 1952.

He trained in Electronics and took employment with the Jamaica Telephone Company, where he began to examine Rastafarianism, which he found more meaningful than the Roman Catholicism of his upbringing.

Mutabaruka told the audience that talking about human rights means addressing the situations that exist in the world today ? namely the explosion of HIV cases among women, which also affects five million children world wide.

?To free ourselves our children and our women must be free,? he said. ?When we talk about men abusing women, it?s not the abuse most people think about. A lot of times it comes from words, it comes from infidelity and dishonesty, from a patriarchal male mindset that has overcome us so much it has become an intolerable situation.?

Mutabaruka challenged women to rise up against being featured as sex objects by male macho attitudes and to stop raising children on ?BET, MTV and every other T that was out there?.

He has been to every continent except for Antarctica as he continues a journey of looking inward to find ?self?, a quest he said helps people relate to one another in a peaceful and tolerable manner.

?Men can create bombs, but men cannot create anything to help us live more peacefully, consciously and generously toward one another as human beings. People have also been taught to accept that women come from men?s ribs ? a ridiculous idea perpetuated by men which women have accepted. Women sit and accept it and allow the macho world to be intolerant of feminine energies and consciousness.?

He said some of the craziest symbols of destruction ? such as bombs and technology created to destroy other people ? were created by men.

He said men like Christopher Coloumbus, Marco Polo and Henry Morgan are as so called ?heroes of the past? whose roles in history should be re-examined.

?If we really want to understand human rights, in a way we have to think about how the global world is not allowing the sovereign states of the world to exercise their true potential,? he said.

?As countries we have to stop looking for outside forces to solve our problems. We cannot depend on them for solutions. The message of human rights is to understand the importance of self. Through finding yourself, you find your true potential.?

Minister Dale Butler added that International Human Rights Day was about re-affirming the community?s commitment to the principles of the right to life, liberty, the security of persons, education and freedom of thought and conscience.

?We are here today recognising that we have made gains toward securing a better and more equitable life for all Bermudians,? Mr. Butler said. ?We are here to re-affirm that the vision that the world leaders had for the world when they adopted and proclaimed the universal declaration is still the primary impetus for this Government.?

Rod Attride-Stirling, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, spoke briefly about how the role of the HRC needs to change in the community as Government?s legislation dealing with employment issues and injustices provided the organisation with the opportunity to look into other areas of equality and opportunity, such as rights of seniors and discrimination against the disabled.

Additional Human Rights Day activities will take place tonight at 7 p.m. at No. 1 Shed, on Front Street.