This is part five in a ten part series on Dangerous United Nations Schemes Obama Could Buy Into. It was written by Jim of Dude with Tude.
The UN’s 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa was billed as a global dialogue among civilizations, an opportunity for nations to fearlessly look hatred squarely in the eye – make it blink – then come up with a plan to fix it.
But on the third day of the week-long conference – also known as Durban 1 — an angry Secretary of State Colin Powell ordered the American delegation to pack its bags and come home. The Conference, created to analyze racism and seek an antidote, was destroyed by racism itself: militant Muslims whose sole agenda was to heap ridicule and blame for most of the world’s problems on Israel and the United States.
The Americans came home, but hatred was hot on their heels. The Conference concluded on September 9; two days later our nation was attacked.
Unfortunately, every bad horror movie has a sequel. In Geneva in April of 2009, Durban 1 will be followed by Durban 2. Its alleged purpose is to review the progress made against racism, vis-a-vis the official declarations and plans of action produced in 200l.
Barack Obama, who has said he’s willing to sit down with anyone, anytime, anywhere, will decide if America attends. A brief look at what happened at the first World Conference – and how it all went wrong – offers a preview of the folly of going back for more.
Four Shall Become One
The Conference blueprint was relatively simple. Participating nations would attend preliminary regional meetings in roughly their own four corners of the world: Dakar, Senegal; Santiago, Chile; Strasbourg, France and the Iranian capital, Tehran.
The ground rules were also simple: Broadly identify historical and current problems stemming from racist attitudes and practices and offer remedies. There was to be no finger-pointing or naming of specific nations — only a recognition of transgressions and a strategy for change.
Each regional meeting would then draft a declaration and action plan, and those papers would later be blended into a single draft resolution at a May meeting in Geneva.
Tehran Violates the Pooch
The delegations that convened in Iran took one look at the ground rules and smothered them with prayer rugs. Israel was barred from attending (you are not a nation, ergo, your passports are worthless). Australia and New Zealand, deemed sympathetic to the Jews, were also denied credentials.
The Tehran meeting was strictly OIC – the Organization of the Islamic Conference. And the OIC could find no evidence of racism in the land other than the alleged sins of Israel against Palestinians. Its draft declaration accused the Jews of “ethnic cleansing” of the Arab population, and establishing a new and grave policy of apartheid in the Middle East.
Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (the Conference was her baby), came to Tehran, protested none of the wording, and congratulated the delegates on their ability to reach a “consensus”. Armed with the head honcho’s complicity, the OIC was boldly off to Geneva.
Nails in the Conference Coffin
The U.S. delegation, with limited outside help, worked tirelessly in Geneva to remove the anti-Israeli language from the final blended document that would be presented at Durban. The OIC would not be moved, however, and even upped the ante: It demanded the U.S. apologize and provide reparations for the slave trade of the 1800s, and attempted to insert wording in other regional documents that would equate “The Holocaust” with Israel’s alleged ethnic cleansing of the Arabs.
The OIC wanted nothing less than to turn Israel into an international pariah – a leper among nations.
Things got so ugly that Commissioner Robinson brought the delegates back for a second Geneva meeting in July. That also ended in disarray, and Secretary Powell retaliated by sending only a low-level delegation to the actual World Conference on Racism in Durban. Three days into the meeting, they were ordered home.
Durban 2 – Fruit from the Poison Tree
The Durban Review Conference in April has been snubbed by America up to now. We’ve attended none of the preparatory meetings, and Jewish organizations are heartened by Hillary Clinton’s statements — prior to her appointment as Secretary of State — that an American boycott is in order. (All you need to know about the Conference is this: it will be chaired by Libya, with Iran, Cuba and Pakistan as vice-chairs.)
But Barack Obama – the go anywhere, talk to anyone candidate – will feel pressure from some quarters to send a delegation. They will tell him talk is cheap, we have nothing to lose. “Mr. President,” they will say, “show the world this is not the same old America.”
He may want to do that, but this is not the venue. If you deem a building’s foundation unsafe for habitation – as we did with Durban 1 – you don’t go back to see how construction is coming along.
(For a thorough and brilliantly written account of the 200l Conference against Racism, use keywords “The Durban Debacle.” The late Tom Lantos, the only actual Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, was a leading delegate to Durban 1.)
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Ten Dangerous U.N. Schemes Obama Could Buy Into
Part One: Obama and Kyoto II: A Wealth Redistributionist’s Dream, America’s Nightmare by Duane Lester of All American Blogger
Part Two: L.O.S.T. get LOST! by Sonlit Knight of A Newt One
Part Three: What Will a President Obama Likely Do With the U.N. Responsibility to Protect Doctrine? by Gray Rinehart of The GrayMan Writes.
Part Four: Why We Should Not Join the United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations by Mr. Websmith of Mr. Websmith.
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