Global Illumination Council
Empowering The Human Experience
The 4-20 UN anti-racist peace talks
Source: Malta today
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/04/26/t14.html
Malta’s UN ambassador keeps away from Iran speech
Malta was ‘prepped’ for a walkout on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN’s Durban conference this week, sources told this newspaper, and sent a lowly embassy official to the meeting instead of its ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.
Malta was among the 23 EU member states in the walkout in protest at Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory speech at the Durban review conference to review the 2001 declaration from the World Conference Against Racism.
In his speech Ahmadinejad said the Zionist creation of Israel in Palestine was accomplished by “military aggressions to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering” and that migrants from around the world set up “a totally racist government” and that “in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine.”
The conference was initially boycotted by Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, and the United States, over claims that it would promote anti-Semitism by referring to Israel as a “racist government” over its occupation of Palestine.
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Source: Yahoo news
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6644979.html
14:00, April 25, 2009
UN rights chief slams "disinformation" on racism conference
The United Nations' top human rights official on Friday denounced a behind-the-scenes "campaign of disinformation" trying to depict a major UN anti-racism conference as a failure.
"Already the propaganda machine is starting to wind up, to term this conference a failure. And I quote, a 'hate-fest,' and all the rest of it. This is extraordinary," Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, told journalists on the final day of the Druban Review Conference.
"It was very difficult, I had to face a widespread and highly organized campaign of disinformation," she said.
Pillay did not say clearly who was behind the "disinformation campaign," but she pointed to the role of some non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The five-day Durban Review Conference was aimed to review the world's anti-racism progress since the last UN conference was held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.
The conference adopted an outcome document on Tuesday calling for greater resolve and political will in fighting all forms of racism, despite the boycott of the conference by the United States, Israel and several other Western countries citing concerns it could be used as a forum to criticize Israel.
Source: Xinhua
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Black Press USA.com
http://www.blackpressusa.com/news/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Natio...
NATIONAL NEWS U.S. Boycotts UN Racism Conference
by Zenitha Prince
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - In a move that surprised no one, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the World Conference Against Racism, held in Geneva, Switzerland, April 20-24, to advance his long-running attack against Israel.
In his speech on the opening day of the conference, Ahmadinejad called Israel a ''cruel and oppressive racist regime'' and a state created ''on the pretext of Jewish suffering'' from World War II.
Such vitriol — from Iran’s leader and others — was not unexpected and its anticipation is what prompted the Obama administration and eight other countries to boycott the anti-discrimination meeting.
Still, there are many in the African-American community who say they wish the United States had participated in the enclave of world diplomats.
“In a word, I feel disappointed,” said Black activist and radio show host, Joe Madison. “This was a missed opportunity and most of the people who called into my show felt the same way.”
Such sentiments have taken wind on Black talk radio and on the Internet, spread by average Joes and celebrities such as venerated actor Danny Glover.
In an opinion piece that made its way to several Web sites, Glover said America’s exclusion was “disappointing.”
“The U.N. conference seems to be exactly the right place for our new president to show the world that his administration's commitment to ‘change we can believe in’ means rejecting our country's tarnished legacy of violating international law, undermining the United Nations and using American exceptionalism to justify walking away from the leadership responsibility many in the world expect of the United States,” Glover wrote.
Imani Countess, senior director of public affairs with TransAfrica Forum, a Washington-based nonprofit that advocates on Black issues throughout the world, echoed Glover’s comments.
“This decision is inconsistent with the values this administration has touted,” she stated. “Boycotting this conference sends a mixed message about the US’s intentions when it comes to racism and intolerance.”
The administration has said it does not plan to abdicate its leadership on such issues.
Obama, speaking in Trinidad after attending the Summit of the Americas, said he would welcome the chance to be ''involved in a useful conference that addressed continuing issues of racism and discrimination around the globe.'' But, he added, he wanted to avoid a repetition of the 2001 Durban conference during which ''folks expressed antagonism toward Israel in ways that were oftentimes completely hypocritical and counterproductive.''
Courting U.S. support, organizers had revised the conference declaration but, on April 18, U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. would stick by its March decision to not participate. While the document was “significantly improved,” he said, it still contained an implied criticism of Israel — a key U.S. ally—since the document made reference to the text agreed upon at the 2001 meeting in which Zionism was equated to racism.
An April 13 statement released by Wood, clarifying the U. S. position, said:
''We commend those who have worked to effect these changes. There remain, however, elements of the current draft text that continue to pose significant concerns. The U.S. believes any viable text for the Review Conference must be shortened and not reaffirm in toto the flawed 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA). In addition, while references to “defamation of religion” have been removed from the current draft text, we cannot support restrictions on freedom of expression that could result from some of the document's language related to “incitement” to religious hatred - a concept that the United States believes should be narrow and clearly defined and made consistent with human rights obligations ensuring freedom of expression.''
Wood inplied that the U. S. would have participated had further changes been made:
''We hope that these remaining concerns will be addressed, so that the United States can re-engage the conference process with the hope of arriving at a Conference document that we can support.''
Durban II, as the event is sometimes dubbed, was a setting meant for evaluating progress toward the goals set by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.
That the decision to shun the conference was made by America’s first African-American president is a particularly sharp sticking point for some.
“Not only is he (Obama) Black, but the reality is he has been subjected to racism in his childhood and his adult life so he has a perspective that very few leaders in the West has,” Madison, a.k.a. “The Black Eagle,” said.
Given the Black experience in America and this nation’s unique history of combating racism and other forms of intolerance, the United States should have taken a leadership role in this meeting, Black lawmakers said in a statement released this weekend.
“Had the United States sent a high-level delegation reflecting the richness and diversity of our country, it would have sent a powerful message to the world that we’re ready to lead by example,” wrote Congressional Black Caucus Chair Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and members of the CBC Taskforce on Foreign Relations in a shared statement. “Instead, the administration opted to boycott the conference, a decision that does not advance the cause of combating racism and intolerance, but rather sets the cause back.”
Madison said he commended the CBC for taking a stance in opposition to the president.
“It shows they will not always be in lock step with the decisions he makes,” he said, then added, “We can’t give President Obama a pass on this position any more than we could give a pass to former President Bush.”
NNPA Editor-in-Chief Hazel Trice Edney contributed to this story.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/04/26/t14.html
Malta’s UN ambassador keeps away from Iran speech
Malta was ‘prepped’ for a walkout on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN’s Durban conference this week, sources told this newspaper, and sent a lowly embassy official to the meeting instead of its ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.
Malta was among the 23 EU member states in the walkout in protest at Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory speech at the Durban review conference to review the 2001 declaration from the World Conference Against Racism.
In his speech Ahmadinejad said the Zionist creation of Israel in Palestine was accomplished by “military aggressions to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering” and that migrants from around the world set up “a totally racist government” and that “in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine.”
The conference was initially boycotted by Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, and the United States, over claims that it would promote anti-Semitism by referring to Israel as a “racist government” over its occupation of Palestine.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Yahoo news
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6644979.html
14:00, April 25, 2009
UN rights chief slams "disinformation" on racism conference
The United Nations' top human rights official on Friday denounced a behind-the-scenes "campaign of disinformation" trying to depict a major UN anti-racism conference as a failure.
"Already the propaganda machine is starting to wind up, to term this conference a failure. And I quote, a 'hate-fest,' and all the rest of it. This is extraordinary," Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, told journalists on the final day of the Druban Review Conference.
"It was very difficult, I had to face a widespread and highly organized campaign of disinformation," she said.
Pillay did not say clearly who was behind the "disinformation campaign," but she pointed to the role of some non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The five-day Durban Review Conference was aimed to review the world's anti-racism progress since the last UN conference was held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.
The conference adopted an outcome document on Tuesday calling for greater resolve and political will in fighting all forms of racism, despite the boycott of the conference by the United States, Israel and several other Western countries citing concerns it could be used as a forum to criticize Israel.
Source: Xinhua
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Black Press USA.com
http://www.blackpressusa.com/news/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Natio...
NATIONAL NEWS U.S. Boycotts UN Racism Conference
by Zenitha Prince
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - In a move that surprised no one, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the World Conference Against Racism, held in Geneva, Switzerland, April 20-24, to advance his long-running attack against Israel.
In his speech on the opening day of the conference, Ahmadinejad called Israel a ''cruel and oppressive racist regime'' and a state created ''on the pretext of Jewish suffering'' from World War II.
Such vitriol — from Iran’s leader and others — was not unexpected and its anticipation is what prompted the Obama administration and eight other countries to boycott the anti-discrimination meeting.
Still, there are many in the African-American community who say they wish the United States had participated in the enclave of world diplomats.
“In a word, I feel disappointed,” said Black activist and radio show host, Joe Madison. “This was a missed opportunity and most of the people who called into my show felt the same way.”
Such sentiments have taken wind on Black talk radio and on the Internet, spread by average Joes and celebrities such as venerated actor Danny Glover.
In an opinion piece that made its way to several Web sites, Glover said America’s exclusion was “disappointing.”
“The U.N. conference seems to be exactly the right place for our new president to show the world that his administration's commitment to ‘change we can believe in’ means rejecting our country's tarnished legacy of violating international law, undermining the United Nations and using American exceptionalism to justify walking away from the leadership responsibility many in the world expect of the United States,” Glover wrote.
Imani Countess, senior director of public affairs with TransAfrica Forum, a Washington-based nonprofit that advocates on Black issues throughout the world, echoed Glover’s comments.
“This decision is inconsistent with the values this administration has touted,” she stated. “Boycotting this conference sends a mixed message about the US’s intentions when it comes to racism and intolerance.”
The administration has said it does not plan to abdicate its leadership on such issues.
Obama, speaking in Trinidad after attending the Summit of the Americas, said he would welcome the chance to be ''involved in a useful conference that addressed continuing issues of racism and discrimination around the globe.'' But, he added, he wanted to avoid a repetition of the 2001 Durban conference during which ''folks expressed antagonism toward Israel in ways that were oftentimes completely hypocritical and counterproductive.''
Courting U.S. support, organizers had revised the conference declaration but, on April 18, U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. would stick by its March decision to not participate. While the document was “significantly improved,” he said, it still contained an implied criticism of Israel — a key U.S. ally—since the document made reference to the text agreed upon at the 2001 meeting in which Zionism was equated to racism.
An April 13 statement released by Wood, clarifying the U. S. position, said:
''We commend those who have worked to effect these changes. There remain, however, elements of the current draft text that continue to pose significant concerns. The U.S. believes any viable text for the Review Conference must be shortened and not reaffirm in toto the flawed 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA). In addition, while references to “defamation of religion” have been removed from the current draft text, we cannot support restrictions on freedom of expression that could result from some of the document's language related to “incitement” to religious hatred - a concept that the United States believes should be narrow and clearly defined and made consistent with human rights obligations ensuring freedom of expression.''
Wood inplied that the U. S. would have participated had further changes been made:
''We hope that these remaining concerns will be addressed, so that the United States can re-engage the conference process with the hope of arriving at a Conference document that we can support.''
Durban II, as the event is sometimes dubbed, was a setting meant for evaluating progress toward the goals set by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.
That the decision to shun the conference was made by America’s first African-American president is a particularly sharp sticking point for some.
“Not only is he (Obama) Black, but the reality is he has been subjected to racism in his childhood and his adult life so he has a perspective that very few leaders in the West has,” Madison, a.k.a. “The Black Eagle,” said.
Given the Black experience in America and this nation’s unique history of combating racism and other forms of intolerance, the United States should have taken a leadership role in this meeting, Black lawmakers said in a statement released this weekend.
“Had the United States sent a high-level delegation reflecting the richness and diversity of our country, it would have sent a powerful message to the world that we’re ready to lead by example,” wrote Congressional Black Caucus Chair Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and members of the CBC Taskforce on Foreign Relations in a shared statement. “Instead, the administration opted to boycott the conference, a decision that does not advance the cause of combating racism and intolerance, but rather sets the cause back.”
Madison said he commended the CBC for taking a stance in opposition to the president.
“It shows they will not always be in lock step with the decisions he makes,” he said, then added, “We can’t give President Obama a pass on this position any more than we could give a pass to former President Bush.”
NNPA Editor-in-Chief Hazel Trice Edney contributed to this story.
Replies to This Discussion
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ADMINPermalink Reply by Derwin Sherwood on -
The preceding articles detail the UN anti racism peace talks held in Switzerland on April 20th 2009. As a voting citizen of the US, I find the information in these articles appalling for one basic reason. The US, one of the few UN delegate nations, sitting on the security council, and presuming to be one of the greatest nations in the world, boycotted these peace talks by stating that the Obama administration felt that this conference would be aimed at attacking the Jewish state of Israel for their governments racist treatment of the Palestinians. ‘Heaven forbid someone have a negative opinion about precious Israel and gods chosen people.’ I feel that if the US gave a damn about anti-racism peace talks they would have been there to voice their/our opinions. But let me detail the outline of these articles.
First, The US and eight other major nations in the world boycotted even sending delegates to this conference out of fear that “it would promote anti-Semitism by referring to Israel as a “racist government” over its occupation of Palestine (Malta).” Then next, many of the western world’s ‘superior’ nations that did attend only sent small delegations if not only a few media coverage personnel. And many of these delegations and national representatives, planned and staged, a boycott of the only world leader that attended the conference, the Iranian president Ahmadinejad. And finally, through our nation’s refusal to participate, many American citizens, including the African American community that helped elect president Obama, show the disgust with American policy makers who refused to attend this conference because of their fear of anti-Semitism, by objecting under the pretences that we should have been there as a leader in the anti-racist movement to pave the road for the talks, because of our nation’s past history fighting racism and other intolerances. American celebrities such as Danny Glover opposed our nation’s boycott by pointing out this very issue.
As a matter of civil rights, this international UN conference should have been viewed by the entire world as a good chance to voice opinions about racist issues as well as here some other individuals’ ideas. Instead it was a mockery of all international anti-racism sentiments. First off, setting aside the fact that many citizens of Earth know that the Palestinians are being treated unjustly in their own lands; and the fact that America obviously holds Israel, (A state which we created and stole land to do so) in much higher regards, and as more legitimate than Palestine. Let’s just focus on the fact that every representative who attended this conference, disapproved of the Iranian president so much, that rather than be mature adults and listen to his concerns and come up with viable counterpoints to his concerns, many individuals childishly walked out on his speech, showing an utter disrespect and lack of concern for anyone’s opinion but their own. Then too many who didn’t walk out of his speech, simply sat and hissed or booed the president. This is appalling to me because it seems as something a five year old would do. If nations can’t pick the proper representatives to go to a peace conference, then perhaps they are too immature to be part of an organization uniting the nations of the world with a common goal of peace. And the final point I would like to broach, is the fact that the US was one of the (and probably the leader in the movement) nations that refused to even attend. (We could have just sent a delegation!) As America begins to branch out in the decades to come, policing the world from what we call intolerance and injustice, and protecting our idea of basic human rights, it is important for the citizens of this nation to acknowledge the presence of others whose ideals might differ from ours; no matter who they might be. And the utter lack of disrespect shown by the Obama administration to the UN’s attempt at peace talks and ant-racist agenda, says to me that America is run by immature childish politicians that have no respect for international affairs that may not immediately benefit themselves; as well as the fact that these politicians and chosen delegate leaders show no compassion for the suffering of innocent civilians who’s botched leadership wars with our allies (Israel), who is indeed a racist government in the first place due to bitterness about the wars from biblical times. (Isn’t it time to move on!?)
In conclusion, it seems to me that America had a chance to be a major player in the UN peace talks and take on a more actively prudent role, for helping to teach international tolerance. But instead our government acted like a bunch of children by not going because ‘we don’t play if you don’t play by our rules.’ In addition to America’s unsupport of true civil liberties and anti-racist viewpoints, the other nations of the world have a lot to learn about respecting 3rd world countries, whose philosophies aren’t identical to western civilization. Boycotting peace is nothing short of terrorist actions. And treating any nations president as poorly as Iran’s president was treated (who granted is not a great person by any stretch) at this conference, is the most immature act of intolerance I have ever seen on a national or international level. Are we saying that America’s idea of civil rights only encompasses individuals whose ideals similarly reflect our own?
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