GENEVA, SWITZERLAND Before asking him about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial speech here at the followup to the U.N.-sponsored World Conference Against Racism (Durban II), I first gave Nobel prize-winner, Elie Wiesel, my thanks. I thanked him not because of his condemnation of an opening speech in which the Iranian president called the holocaust a "dubious question"; I thanked holocaust survivor Wiesel because he provided us with one of the main slogans for combating past and recent racism in the United States: "No Human Being is Illegal." After he shook my hand and after I offered, in the most Spanish-inflected French possible, my gratitude on behalf of the Central Americans who first launched the "No Human Being is Illegal" campaign back when the United States denied them political asylum and refugee status in the 1980's, Wiesel smiled and reminisced,"Yes, I gave that term to the Sanctuary movement. It was wrong to deny them (Salvadorans and Guatemalans) (legal) status. I was happy to support the cause."
As one who dedicated a significant part of his adult life to the cause of Central Americans, meeting Wiesel served as a deeply personal reminder of the profoundly serious issues being discussed here. But as one dedicated to the global movement for migrants rights, which has, in many countries, also adopted his elegantly simple coinage, I'm also gravely concerned about how the focus on Ahmadinejad and the boycott of the Geneva conference supported by Wiesel, the United States and the powerful minority of countries backing the Israeli government is distracting the world from one of its most urgent facts: the exponential rise in xenophobia, hatred and racism around the world, especially following the exponential decline in economic stability triggered by the global greed and corruption centered in the United States.
Were Iran, Israel and other players involved in this display of geopolitical drama not so viscerally divided, someone attending the conference might reach the conclusion that their high-profile conflicts are a subterfuge designed to mask over and disguise the most damaging and deadly racial and ethnic consequences brought on by the depredations and failures of western governments - and the "blue eyed bankers" in the U.S. and other countries recently denounced by Brazilian President Lula and others.
Speaking with some from among the thousands of passionately committed and very smart participants from around the globe attending Durban II, I couldn't help but hear the grave disappointment and even anger at the damaging, even catastrophic effect that both the the boycott and President Ahmadinejad's speech are having on issues discussed throughout the conference. For example, lost in the global media's almost exclusive focus on Ahmadinejad's speech and on the walkout by a small minority of mostly white Western diplomats, are concerns of the overwhelmingly non-white majority attending the conference, attendees like Yousif Aboh.
"These conflicts (around the speech and the boycott) only help governments like Sudan's to continue racist practices that push people out, that starve people and that attack and kill people," said a very somber Aboh, who works with Darfur Peace and Development, a non-governmental organization which is the only Darfuri-led organization still operating in Darfur. "I'm here to get support for the people still living a great crisis in Darfur- people without food and water because of discrimination-and these kinds of controversies make my work difficult to impossible because many in the media don't want to talk about anything else except Israel and Iran."
Aboh and others attending Durban II also expressed deep disappointment at the Obama Administration's decision not to attend the conference. Non-attendance was roundly condemned as a very dangerous act that communicates the wrong message to racists, xenophobes and genocidal governments around the world. "Their (the Obama Administration) not attending tells governments like Sudan's that their dangerous racist policies are not a priority," said Aboh, who also condemned the government of Iran for its support of the Sudanese government.
For his part, Khalil Shahabi, an economist at the Tehran-based Institute for Scientific and Political Research, agreed with Aboh about the Obama Administration but also defended the Iranian government against Aboh, Wiesel and other critics, "Our President is the only head of state to come. It's important that he tell the world about how Israeli racism kills innocent people in Gaza, including fifteen percent who were children." When I asked him about the Iranian President's statements about the situation in Palestine, Wiesel told me he thought Ahmadinejad had done "dishonor to his people, who have such a rich history. What arrogance he has to come here to a UN conference on racism only to express such hatred."
Largely lost in the largely simplistic media coverage of both the conference and the speech by President Ahmadinejad were the more nuanced discussions taking place inside and outside the stately halls of the U.N. For example, Norway's Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, delivered a speech indirectly criticizing Iran, Israel and the United States. "We who have made a point of defending freedom of expression cannot opt for non-attendance as a strategy, leaving the floor to precisely those who hold opposite views" said Støre "We will not surrender the floor of the United Nations to the extremists.The President of Iran has just exercised that human right. He did so - I believe - in a way that threatens the very focus of this conference."
Such an inauspicious start to an event of such global import inspires fears; fears that the specific conflicts involving only a few of the world's many actors may detract from communicating the powerful spirit motivating most of those attending the Durban II conference. This spirit was best captured by Wiesel, when he said many years ago, "I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
I'm confused by Mr. Wiesel's remarks. When he says, "What arrogance he has to come here to a UN conference on racism only to express such hatred.", speaking of President Ahmadinejad, isn't Mr. Wiesel expressing hatred himself? And, when Mr. Wiesel says people must speak out and take sides, isn't that precisely what President Ahmadinejad did? I get the feeling that Mr. Wiesel didn't hear President Ahmadinejad's speech at the Durban II conference.
Listening to President Ahmadinejad's speech, I can't understand what's flummoxing President Obama, the other boycotters and people who walked out. If they can't respond maturely to that, they aren't very well equipped to lead a world. Running away in the pretence of moral superiority isn't helping the world.
Frankly, I think President Obama, the other boycotters and runners made complete fools of themselves. I don't always agree with everything that anyone says or maybe even how they say it, but at least President Ahmadinejad stood up and put his arguments forward. I imagine he would have been willing also to listen to the arguments of the others if they'd bothered expressing them.
expressing hatred of an individual for that individual's ideas or actions is nothing like expressing hatred for a group of people who are bound together by a culture, religion, or nationality.
THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!
Individuals should be held responsible for their own actions. Racism occurs when people are held responsible for the actions of others with whom they share an ethnic identity.
Get it now?
Yet I have never heard Mr. Weisil demonstrate against the brutal killing of 412 Gaza children by the IDF in under 3 weeks.
Nor have I ever heard him calling out against civilian Palestinian deportations with his brilliant: "no human being is illegal.
He wants the whole world to help the Israelis, but he won't lift a finger to help the millions of suffering Palestinians living right under his nose.
1. Human Rights Watch announced that Hamas murdered 35-40 Palestinians in Gaza who were political opponents during the Gaza war.
2. Gays and women who are accused of having extra marital affairs are being hung in Iran.
3. Al Queda and Iranian backed suicide terrorists are killing Iraqi civilians in Mosques, Markets, and Police stations
4. It is estimated over 100,000 Muslims have been killed in Chechnya by the Russians over the last five years, no one is speaking out about this (but they are furious over a far fewer amount dead in Gaza).
I'm sorry you can't come for a ride with all that baggage.
And please, I ask you kindly to stop putting your hate flyers on my windshield.
They really do litter up my neighborhood.