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World Racism Conference Agenda Still in Doubt

by Frances M. Beal (fbeal [at] aclunc.org)
US Boycott threat of WCAR fails to move Reparations supporters, while NGOs plan to put US on hotseat on racist criminal justice issues
WCAR Agenda Still in Dispute
By Frances M. Beal

The Geneva preparatory meeting for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) has come and gone and the brackets are still there. Brackets around language in the draft document indicate that the various governments have not agreed to the specified phrase or wording. As expected, many states capitulated to the heavy pressure exerted by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to withdraw their support for defining Zionism as a form of racism. Unexpectedly, however, on the question of reparations, the African and Caribbean states are standing firm on including wording describing slavery as a crime against humanity meriting reparations. Despite this diplomatic defeat, it is unlikely that the U.S. will boycott the conference as threatened. It is more likely that the U.S. will downgrade its participation by sending in a second string delegation.

Some observers are speculating, however, that more than their opposition to reparations has been displeasing to the Bush Administration regarding the upcoming United Nations gathering. Point 8 of the Draft Programme of Action is a case in point. It reads as follows:

by Anti-Fascist
On the subject of the death penalty and the racism of the U.S. criminal (in)justice system, the global community must be reminded of the continuing government vendetta against Mumia Abu Jamal, an innocent (according to all evidence witheld from presentation in his trial by the government) political prisoner who was wrongly put on death row in Pennsylvania for exposing racist police misconduct as a journalist in Philadelphia, and coming to the aid of his brother who was being beaten by the cops.
They should also bring a copy of "Stolen Lives", a book documenting over 2,000 police murders of innocent people, mostly people of color like Tyisha Miller and Abadu Diallo by cops in the U.S. and the fact that almost none of them are ever prosecuted for these crimes; and even if they were, as in the Diallo case, they consistently are let off.
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