Understanding What Happened at Durban II

May 14, 2009

The facts: How Israel orchestrated the real Geneva 'hate fest' against Black and Brown people

by Arlene Eisen

Outgoing U.N. Rapporteur on Racism Doudou Diene speaks April 18 at a rally before the official UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva begins. – Photo: Arlene Eisen

On Saturday, April 18, two days before the United Nations Durban Review Conference (DRC) officially convened, anti-racist demonstrators from every continent and nearly every struggle in the world filled the streets of downtown Geneva. A sea of flags, banners and posters spoke for indigenous people from Bolivia, Mexico and Guatemala, the landless former slaves of Brazil, Tamils struggling for survival in Sri Lanka, a huge contingent of Dalits demanding an end to the caste system, Black delegates from the U.S. and other points in the Diaspora calling for reparations and freedom for political prisoners, Africans from the continent, many European migrants from the third world and their supporters and a variety of groups in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Some had handmade signs: "Zionism equals racism" and "Israel is an Apartheid State."

At the rally, Doudou Diène, "Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related intolerance" and a scholar from Senegal, spoke. He emphasized that racism is rooted in slavery and colonialism, including settler colonialism. He pointed out that the Israeli occupation of Palestine continues a tradition of settler colonialism and racism. The crowd applauded. Not a heckler was in sight.

Most of us at the demonstration had heard the news that the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) - the organizer of the Conference - had attempted to appease the United States and Israel by deleting language supporting reparations for slavery and self determination for the Palestinian people. But the Obama administration's threat to continue the boycott begun by Bush and Israel in 2001 did not dampen the spirits of the demonstrators that afternoon. After the demonstration, various NGO caucuses met, many for the first time, attempting to prepare position papers that would pressure the DRC to be more responsive to grassroots anti-racist movements. We were about to learn that we had been thoroughly outmaneuvered.

Most were unaware that for nearly two years, hundreds of militant pro-Israeli activists and the Israeli Foreign Ministry had been coordinating their plans to sabotage the DRC. The fiercely pro-Israel NGO-Monitor named at least 17 Zionist organizations that had been "monitoring and protesting" the Durban Review Conference since May 2007 - only a few months after the U.N. General Assembly itself had passed a resolution to convene the Durban Review Conference.

[To read the rest of the article, click here.]

Sphere: Related Content