Internet a Key Tool for Neo-Nazis By KIM GAMEL STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - The Internet has given neo-Nazis a dangerous tool to spread racist propaganda around the world, a top Swiss official told a Holocaust conference Thursday. Switzerland's home affairs minister, Ruth Dreifuss, urged international cooperation to prevent the transmission of racist theories, hatred and discrimination across national borders. ''(The Internet) makes it possible for the perpetrators to organize into networks and distribute their products and books,'' she said in a speech at the International Forum on the Holocaust. Dreifuss said international experts would propose to include the subject at the World Conference on Racism next year in South Africa. On Jan. 1, Dreifuss stepped down from Switzerland's rotating presidency. She was the first Jew to hold the post. Her father helped smuggle Jewish refugees across the border during World War II. Dreifuss did not offer details about her proposal, but Switzerland already has begun work on the initiative, persuading some Internet providers to block access for some racist groups, said Lukas Beglinger, a minister in the Swiss Foreign Affairs department. The efforts so far have been easily circumvented, he said. U.S. envoy Stuart Eizenstat said that freedom of speech issues would prevent the United States from passing a law against racist activity on the Internet, but that hate groups could be monitored for ``planning destructive activity.'' Heads of countries, including Lithuania and Slovakia, addressed delegates on the second day of the conference. An opening ceremony on Wednesday featured speeches by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. In his speech, Schroeder also urged more international cooperation and improved legal efforts to keep neo-Nazis from using the Internet. The Swedish government organized the forum, which included panel discussions and remembrance ceremonies, as part of a campaign to raise awareness about the World War II Holocaust among young people. Six million Jews and more than 2 million others - including Gypsies and homosexuals - were killed as part of the Nazi extermination campaign, experts at the conference said. Speakers at the first-of-its-kind meeting, which ends Friday, stressed the need for improved education about the Holocaust, saying the need to remember was stronger than ever as survivors age and die. The forum coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day - marked Thursday in several countries. Participants gathered in Sweden's parliament building for a commemoration. Israel's parliament speaker, Avraham Burg, said the world continues to face ethnic conflict and increasing right-wing extremism. ``Hitler was defeated on the battlefield, but Hitlerism is not dead,'' Burg said.
