From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 06:02:20 -0400 (EDT) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [CubaNews] Durban: US and Israel Turn Their Backs Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Granma International Digital, September 6, 2001 http://www.granma.cu World Conference on Racism: UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL TURN THEIR BACKS The South African government considered "unfortunate and unnecessary" the Washington delegation's withdrawal--mimicked by Israel--and affirmed that this action could be perceived as an unwillingness to confront racial problems present not only in the United States but also at global level. The conference will continue in the same spirit of humanism in which it began on August 31, added Essop Pahad, South African presidency minister. The country's president Thabo Mbeke qualified Washington's boycott as an error of judgment worse than sending a low-profile mission to Durban. Nkosazana Diamini-Zuma, South Africa's minister for Foreign Affairs, thought it unfortunate that the two countries decided to leave. The conference became extremely controversial after various representatives demanded that the international assembly's final declaration should include a sanction of Israeli state policy on Palestine. Prior to this, youth forums and non-governmental organizations had already charged Israel with being an apartheid-style racist state. Both Israel and the United States had threatened to leave Durban if the forum continued to use language allegedly offensive to Zionism. Finally, in an improvised press conference on September 3, Tom Lantos, a U.S. Democrat Party Congress member, confirmed that his delegation had returned home. For his part, Zouheir Hamdam, general secretary at the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recalled that the content of two previous international conferences against racism and discrimination conferences was diminished by focussing debates on South Africa and Israel. Although the United States "justified" its withdrawal by utilizing the Palestine issue, Washington had also united with the former colonizing countries that had opposed Africa's calls for these nations to ask for pardon and accept liability for some form of compensation for the slavery and slave trade of earlier centuries. Strictly speaking, topics related to possible retributions from European countries for the descendants of slaves and thus the historic recognition of slavery as a denigrating evil against the so-called Third World countries, introduced complications in the plenary session. "We are not withdrawing our demand for economic redress," stated spokespersons for the African group negotiating with the Europeans the terms of condemnation of the slave trade to be adopted in the meeting. To date, European delegation sources have commented that Italy and Germany have demonstrated a willingness to publicly apologize for their part in what was a bitter chapter of colonialism. However, Spain and Britain have not demonstrated a similar attitude. But at least the European Union decided to remain at the conference, which ends on Friday, and has stated it will help to draw up a general commitment against racial discrimination in the world. At the close of this edition, the 3rd World Conference against Racism was studying new documents relating to the Middle East conflict. "A new text on the Middle East is being drafted. The withdrawal of Israel and the United States has led us to attempt to seek a consensus for an effective global anti-racist policy", Louis Michel, Belgium's foreign affairs minister, also one of those responsible for the summit's agenda, informed journalists. However, Michel did not explain the vocabulary or the direction of the new reports, nor whether these will upset the White House to a greater or lesser degree. Copyright (c) 2001 Granma International Digital ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================= _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
