US Should Stay at the Table for the UN Racism Conference

Guest Columnist

US Should Stay at the Table for the UN Racism Conference

by Marissa Gutiérrez-Vicario

No doubt that the first United Nations Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa was wrought with controversy in 2001, and it appears already that its follow up Durban II will be also. Although former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed that, “no country is immune from racism and xenophobia,” and his hope that, “all governments will participate at the highest level possible,” the 2001 conference, like most U.N. initiatives, lacked the support of the United States, which disappointedly, withdrew from the conference on September 3, 2001 after the huge amount of anti-Semitism that ensued.

Yet, continuing along the same path, sources say that Canada, though committed to anti-racism domestically, will not be participating in the 2009 follow up Durban Review Conference. No doubt that the “hateful, even racist” atmosphere that emerged at the conference was wrong, and greatly detrimental to upholding human rights. No doubt that the racist incidents that occurred should, at all costs, be avoided again. Yet, I remain unconvinced that leaving the table, either by not participating or advocating for the de-funding of the conference, as some notable human rights scholars would suggest (i.e. Anne Bayesfsky, editor of EyeontheUN.org), is the solution.

The racism that continues since 2001 throughout the world, especially here in the United States in the aftermath of Katrina and the Jena Six incident and in the current immigration debate proves that a world forum committed to anti-racism has never been more necessary. Recently, a “Statement of Core Principles for WCAR Follow Up” has been signed by over forty non-governmental organizations from around the world, rejecting “hatred and incitement in all its forms” and encouraging groups to “work together in a spirit of mutual respect.” I find this a better alternative. Reject racism in all forms, learn from the “shortcomings” of the 2001 conference, but by all means, still stay at the table. The persistence of racism (xenophobia, in the caste system, institutional) is too huge of a problem to not.

Posted at 9:52 AM, Jan 24, 2008 in Global Issues | Permalink | View Comments

Comments

When the United States and Israel withdrew form the World Conference on Racism in 2001 they effectively silenced discussion and critique of Israeli racism. By conflating Zionism and Judaism, the US and Israel made it impossible to protest Israeli policies without being labeled an anti-Semite. The problem at Durban was not that there was an abundance of anti-Semitism but that the US and Israel did what they always do; to close down debate about what is effectively an apartheid state. I hope that this time around countries will come to the conference and put Israeli as well as North American racism on the table.

Hmmm, I disagree. I think there are some examples that show the prevalence of antisemitism at the conference. I think they disrupt the purified image of anti-zionism as being free of antisemitism.

According to an anti-racist activist who attended the 2001 conference, antisemitism was quite prevalent. In a report on the conference, here's a couple selections:

"It was painful to have to listen to so much hatred about Jews, to see buttons that read "Hitler didn’t do his job." Particularly when these comments came from other anti-racist activists. The singling out of Israel for condemnation in Durban, having Israel be the only country in the entire world noted in the UN NGO documents for it’s racism----were difficult."

and...

"The most painful moment for me happened on the last day of the conference. Earlier that week, Mary Robinson, the head of the non-governmental meeting of the UN conference on racism, had allegedly been shown a cartoon that was being circulated at the conference, depicting a Jewish man with a hooked nose, a beard, and blood pouring from his hands which were clasped in a greedy pose. Anyone viewing that cartoon could only be horrified of its resemblance to oppressive blood libel characatures of Jews that had been circulated for centuries in Europe. In seeing the cartoon, Mary, an Irish Catholic woman apparently said----"if these anti-Semitic cartoons are being passed out here at the conference—then —I’m a Jew." The headlines of the daily newspaper for the conference the next morning read: Mary Robinson says, "I’m a Jew." And on the last day of the conference, at the closing ceremonies, I sat in an outdoor amphitheater with thousands of anti-racism activists from around the world. When Mary got up to speak, right before the speech by Fidel Castro, the keynote speaker at the closing event, she was hissed and booed by a large majority of the audience. My heart broke. Here I was, at an international conference with anti-racism workers from around the world. These were my closest allies, my friends and colleagues who were devoting their lives every day to the fight against racism. And they were booing an international leader because she had taken a stand against anti-Semitism."