Re: Shun Durban II
[ Follow-Ups ]
[ Post Followup ]
[ Canadian Coalition for Democracies Public Message Forum ]
Posted by National Post Editorial on 15:10:08 2008/01/25
In Reply to:
CCD applauds Harper government for withdrawal of support for UN 'anti-racism' conference posted by CCD Media Release
Shun Durban II
National Post Editorial
Friday, January 25, 2008
We are tempted to compare the first World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) -- organized by the United Nations in Durban, South Africa in 2001 -- to a circus. But that would be unfair to circuses. Far from a forum promoting tolerance among peoples and nations, as it was billed, the WCAR became a festival for hateful screeds against Israel and the West by some of the most repressive regimes in the world, cheered on by NGOs from Europe and North America.
Now the UN is planning a second WCAR for 2009. Reports from the planning meetings suggest Durban II, as it is being called, will be worse than the first. Thankfully, rather than lend Canada's credibility to the whole shabby exercise, Canada's Conservative government appears set to become the first major government to walk away from the pre-conference meetings and arrangements. To do so will demonstrate once again the moral and policy clarity Stephen Harper's government has practised on international affairs.
At Durban I, Yasser Arafat, the terrorist and Palestinian strongman (who has since died) claimed Israel was guilty of a "supremacist mentality, a mentality of racial discrimination" and that "the Israeli occupation is a new and advanced type of apartheid."
African dictators used calls for slavery reparations from the U.S. to distract internal critics from their brutal and hapless governments. Non-governmental organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, refused to demand that calls for violence against Israeli and Western targets be removed from a common NGO communique. They felt violence was sometimes "justified if against apartheid or on behalf of the intifada."
Most Western leaders and foreign ministers refused to attend. Canada dispatched only then-multiculturalism minister Hedy Fry. Halfway through the conference, the U.S. and Israel withdrew their delegations. Canada's stayed -- though it did issue a strong statement condemning the proceedings.
Durban I took place just before 9/11. Since then, the war on terror has begun, Iraq and Afghanistan have been invaded, Arafat's intifada has run its course, Israel has built a security fence between its citizens and the Palestinians, Hamas has taken over the Gaza Strip, Israel and Hezbollah have clashed in Southern Lebanon and George Bush will have been President for eight years. And so it is easy to imagine how shrill the charges and rhetoric will be next year. For instance, Arab states are said to be asking for an agenda item that would halt the terror war by labelling it "Islamophobic" and insisting it is nothing more than a plot to demolish their religion.
Canada should have no part in this charade. Participating in Durban I cost Canada $2-million. If fighting racism is the goal, it would be far better to spend that money on earnest national advertisements urging tolerance. Those ads would be useless, of course. But at least they wouldn't be dangerous.
Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup
[ Follow Ups ]
[ Post Followup ]
[ Canadian Coalition for Democracies Public Message Forum ]