Posted
28th August 2001
Racism Against Time
The political opportunists of this world have always played
with fire, but only recently with nuclear fire. Racism is at
the heart of all power politics and its essence is the terrible
formula for disaster, Racism = War. The UN has yet to prevent
a single war, on the contary, it has acted as proxy belligerent
in all too many occasions in the recent past. Things have got
to change, but will they? The World Conference against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (South
Africa 31 August-7 September) might be a UN talking shop - or
it might be a step towards the creation of a new world vision
for the fight against racism, complete with practical measures.Whatever
the outcome, it has stirred controversy from the moment of its
inception. The Middle East conflict could derail racism conference,
UN admits.
Preparations
for the major World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which begins in Durban,
South Africa on 31 August, are proceeding apace. Governments
are now entering the final stages of the preparatory sessions
that will prepare the text of the conference discussion. The
UN has been candid in its disappointment that two critical issues
have bedevilled the talks so far. First is the legacy of slavery
and colonialism; the second is the equating of Zionism with
racism. Speaking this week, the United Nations Secretary-General,
Kofi Annan went so far as to refer to "deep fissures on a number
of sensitive issues." If the Conference was to succeed, he stressed,
common ground must be found. "The Conference must help heal
old wounds without reopening them; it must confront the past,
but most importantly it must help set a new course against racism
in the future."
Acknowledging
that while prejudice could be found around the world, its effects
were particularly stark in Africa. "From the genocide in Rwanda
to the conflict in the Sudan to the tensions in Burundi, the
continent is living with the most devastating consequences of
division and intolerance," he observed. Mary Robinson, the former
President of Ireland and now the UN's High Commissioner for
Human Rights also sounded distinctly edgy when she opened the
final session of the preparatory talks in Geneva on Monday,
even conceding the possibility of a failure to reach agreement
on a draft declaration. She urged countries not to dwell on
past wrongs such as the effects of mass slavery, lest the conference
lapse into recriminations. The world must come to terms with
the past in order to move forward, she said. "I need hardly
say that it would send an extremely negative signal if agreement
could not be reached on a worthwhile Declaration and Programme
of Action."
The UN is clearly concerned about the difficulties that surround
the issue of Zionism. Mary Robinson said that she herself had
spoken to the Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat about
the matter. In remarks to the press she admitted that if there
were an attempt to revive the idea of Zionism and racism, "we
will not have a successful conference in Durban." She doubted
whether any country or group would walk away from the conference
completely satisfied, but the time for staking out positions
and laying down markers had passed. "We are now at the stage
where we need to begin reaching agreements," she said. According
to the High Commissioner, the Durban meeting would be nothing
less than a conference to discuss the core principles that should
underpin this new century. "It is an important opportunity for
the world community to commit, for the first time in the post-apartheid
era, to a truly global effort to address the ancient and the
modern manifestations of this evil." The thing is, the bigger
the opportunity the bigger the potential for a crisis of failure
to realise the opportunity. .
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