Gina Ponzi
March 2, 2009
12:15 AM
The United States, Israel, and Canada will most likely be involved in boycotting the United Nations conference on racism. In 2001, the United States walked out on a similar conference in Durban, South Africa, when Zionism was likened to racism. It read, “Movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas, in particular the Zionist movement, which is based on racial superiority.” Delegates from the United States traveled to Geneva to attempt negotiations, which were apparently unsuccessful. According to one US official the document is “unsalvageable.” The US claims that the text of the United Nation’s document is unjustifiably harsh on its critique of Israel, and it also worries that some excerpts of the document could infringe on the freedom speech.
Personally, I respect the United States’ decision to refrain from attending the conference. The UN is working towards attaining peace, but I do not believe that restricting the freedom of speech is an affective way of working towards this goal. As a staple of the US constitution, the United States must be consistent with their foundational beliefs and do everything they can to encourage the guarantee of this same human right in other nations as well. While the conflict between Israel and Palestine is certainly difficult and questionable, I believe that, based solely on the grounds of standing for the Constitution, the United Stats acts fairly and rightly.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7916191.stm
1 comment:
I didn't know that racism was an issue on such a high up level o.O
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