Today, I'm ashamed to be Canadian.
This evening, Canada will be walking out of the United Nations in protest of Ahmadinejad's address to the General Assembly. Their reasons: he is a Holocaust denier. It is a label that is given to the Iranian President fairly. He is also well-known for his consistent violation of the human rights of his own people and the torture and murder of at least one Canadian journalist.
It's hard, as a Jew, a Canadian and a person who believes in peace and security, not to react strongly and violently to the actions of Ahmadinejad.
But I also believe in the United Nations.
Perhaps it's naïve, but the United Nations was founded as a place of dialogue, of diplomacy at a time when the countries of Europe had just spent a lot of energy trying to obliterate one another. It was founded on notions of peace when the Holocaust was still very fresh. In order for the mandate of the UN to have any hope of effectiveness, the organization must promote open dialogue between sworn enemies and peaceful interactions between warring nations -- at least within the walls of their buildings with their member representatives.
Over the years, the United Nations' General Assembly has been addressed by some pretty horrible people. Yassar Arafat for one, and today, Robert Mugabe -- a leader who would rather murder his opposition and many of his own people than run in a fair and free election. Mugabe is known for the systematic extermination of rural communities in Zimbabwe.
But no one is up in arms about that.
The point is that the United Nations has a lot of experience with horrible people and those who represent them. Just as world history is full of abusive leaders, so is the history of the UN.
Still, the principles of communication and diplomacy cannot fall simply because one leader polarizes the North American public more than others.
If we bother to show up the UN at all, we must do it with a commitment to co-operation and, when co-operation is impossible, with open ears and eyes. We must be present, for all of it, or risk undoing the very process of international diplomacy that might make things a little better for the people of Iran and for the citizens of the world.