World Conference on Racism
South African groups charge U.S. extortion
By Pam
Parker
South African mass organizations that played leading roles
in the anti-apartheid revolution delivered a harsh
condemnation of United States threats to boycott the World
Conference on Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerances.
The message came in the form of mass protests and a harshly
worded statement delivered to the U.S. ambassador in Pretoria
and the United States consul in Durban on Aug. 16.
This issue has become the main focus of the conference,
which begins Aug. 31 in the South African coastal city of
Durban.
The organizations leading the protest were the South
African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade
Unions, and South African National Civics Organization.
Thousands of SACP and COSATU demonstrators waved signs that
read "Stop Apartheid Israel" and "United States: Stop
Supporting Racism."
Jan Tsiane, leader of a local political group, said
protesters identify with the Palestinian people and their
current uprising against Israeli occupation and
oppression.
The protesters pointed out that Palestine has suffered 52
years of apartheid under Israeli state terrorism, facing
violent subjugation of its people and an economic blockade.
They also pointed out that the situation has continued
unabated and has worsened in the last eight months with the
complicity of the United States.
The Aug. 16 memo delivered to the U.S. government stated
that the protesting organizations were "angry and disgusted"
by the U.S. government's threats to boycott the conference
unless certain topics are removed from the agenda.
The memo went on to state that the organizations are
"firmly behind the demand that debates take place on
reparations for the victims of slavery and racism and on
Palestine and the Middle East. The U.S. government has
objected to the conference conducting a discussion of Zionist
racism against Palestinians and of reparations for victims of
slavery and colonialism. The organizations declare this
unacceptable.
"Zionist racism and reparations for victims of slavery and
colonialism must be on the agenda of the World Conference,"
the memo read.
"The struggle against Zionist racism and effectively
addressing the issue of reparations is part of the struggle
of the poor and working people across the world against
capitalist globalization and for social progress, freedom,
justice, democracy and peace."
The memo also offered concrete solutions to end
discrimination by demanding cancellation of the debt of
developing countries, especially those debts owed to the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The South African
organizations explained that this would be a step toward
independence from vulnerability to the market fluctuations of
the developed countries.
The groups also pointed out that although apartheid has
officially ended in South Africa, many people of color still
suffer there because the means of production, along with a
disproportionate amount of the wealth, remain in the hands of
rich whites.
Director General of the South African Foreign Ministry
Sipho Pityana and other conference organizers have retreated
on the demand to discuss Israel's brutality against the
Palestinian people. But the masses and their representatives
in SACP and COSATU have shown that these issues are still
alive.
They have made it clear that the most effective remedies
to the debilitating consequences of racism are "far-reaching
structural changes to the world economy."
The memo questioned the U.S. government's commitment to
fighting racism. "Governments have been invited by the United
Nations on the assumption that they are all opposed to racism
and xenophobia," the three groups wrote. "If this is not true
of the Bush administration, then their participation will not
be missed.
"We cannot however tolerate threats to blackmail the rest
of the world to accept its own agenda for the
conference."
The joint statement ends by demanding that the United
States repeal its racist agenda and participate fully in the
debates of the conference; acknowledge the crimes of the
past, change the present, and build a future free from
racism, discrimination, and xenophobia; support an end to
occupation of Palestine; and support the right of
Palestinians to return to their homeland.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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