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JOHANNESBURG,
Aug 17 (IPS) - The Non-governmental
Organisation (NGO) Forum of the World Conference Against Racism
(WCAR) is trying to recruit groups - perceived to be racist - for
the meeting, despite reservations from some international NGOs.
''We would like them to attend because we believe we should not
have a situation where we preach to the converted,'' explains the
director of the NGO Forum secretariat, Moshe More. He believes the
Forum can convince alleged racists to change their ways.
More
refuses to name some of the organisations the secretariat is approaching
in case they felt they were being labelled before the Forum even
started.
He
admits there has been resistance by some NGOs - especially those
from the United States -- to inviting perceived racists to the conference.
''They say they would not feel safe, and be offended, if some organisations
attended the conference,'' explains More.
''We
fully appreciate their position,'' he says.
Despite
threats by the U.S. government to boycott the World Conference Against
Racism at least 2000 organisations from the United States have registered
for the NGO Forum, that will be held just ahead of the Aug 31-Sep
7 conference in Durban, South Africa.
''We
understand the NGO forum to be a place where organisations can meet
to work out their differences and come-up with a strategy to tackle
racism,'' says South African Non-governmental Organisation Coalition
(Sangoco) spokesperson, Mark Weinberg.
Leader
of the Freedom Front, a party that is campaigning for a homeland
for Afrikaners and minority rights, Dr Pieter Mulder, is disappointed
that his party could not attend WCAR as part of the government delegation.
''The story of South Africa cannot only be represented by one party,
the (ruling) African National Congress,'' he explains. However,
the Front is applying to attend the NGO Forum.
In
South Africa, ''self-determination'' is often seen as a racist ideology
because of its historical links with apartheid and because it is
seen to promote the rights of minorities to the exclusion of other
racial and ethnic groups.
Mulder
believes there is an international trend towards the recognition
of minority rights and the granting of the right to self-determination
to ethnic or cultural groups. He does not believe that the struggle
for self-determination and minority rights is racist. He wants to
attend the NGO Forum to argue his case.
Other
Afrikaner groups who favour self-determination for minority groups
also have applied to attend the NGO Forum.
While
the United States and Israel are threatening to stay-away from WCAR
if the draft declaration describes the Jewish State as racist, the
NGO Forum has succeeded in securing the participation of both Israeli
and Palestinian organisations, says More.
The
South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) will be attending
the NGO Forum, says Yehuda Kay, the national director of the Board.
Kay indicates that the Board will fully support any declarations
against racism, but will object to the Forum being used as a platform
to attack Israel. The draft declaration of the NGO Forum contains
a very strong condemnation of Israel as a racist state. Kay says
the Board will see what room there is at the NGO Forum for them
to influence the wording of the draft declaration. In the meantime,
the South African Department of Foreign Affairs Director-General,
Sipho Pityana, reportedly said that the WCAR preparatory committee
had agreed to abide by a decision of the United Nations not to describe
Zionism as racism.
However,
the conference still had to find a way to reflect on the situation
in the Middle East in a way acceptable to all parties.
He
was speaking after his return from a WCAR third preparatory committee
meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Aug 14. The United States
also has threatened to stay-away from the conference if slavery
and reparations were on the agenda.
Pityana
said there was reluctance from former colonial powers to extend
an apology for slavery and colonialism because it would create grounds
for legal action for compensation and reparation by victims. The
African bloc, he said, wanted an acknowledgement that slavery and
colonialism played an important part in laying the foundation for
the kinds of racial discrimination existing today.
As
it now stood, the former colonial powers were willing to express
themselves in language of regret and remorse, in what came close
to an apology. ''The debate whether that constitutes sufficient
apology will continue in Durban,'' Pityana said.
However,
he added that he was confident that the conference would find a
solution to the sticking points.(END/IPS/AF/HD/AS/MN/01)
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