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WASHINGTON,
Aug 28 (IPS) - In another sign of the growing estrangement between
the United States and most of the rest of the world, the State Department
has confirmed that Secretary of State Colin Powell will not attend
the World Conference Against Racism and warned that Washington may
not participate at all.
''It
is clear to us now that the secretary will not go to this conference,''
said Department spokesman Richard Boucher. ''The exact nature and
level of our representation, if any, is not clear.''
He
added that Washington had always said it would boycott the conference,
which begins Friday in Durban and runs through Sep. 7, if the draft
declaration contained ''offensive'' language about Israel or attempted
to revive a U.N. General Assembly resolution - dating from the 1970s
- that equated Zionism with racism.
But
Boucher's rationale was blasted by Michael McClintock, a senior
policy analyst at New York-based Human Rights Watch as a ''pretext''
used by the administration of President George W. Bush to withdraw
from a meeting in which it never had any interest.
''It
sounds like this was a pretext for withdrawing,'' McClintock told
IPS. In fact, the words 'Zionism' and 'Israel' had pretty much disappeared
from the draft text in negotiations that have taken place in recent
days, although an indirect reference to Israel's ''occupied territories''
remains a point of continuing contention.
''This
fits the larger trend of the administration's foreign policy, which
everyone is calling unilateralism and the State Department says
is 'a la carte multilateralism','' according to McClintock.
Indeed,
paragraphs of greatest concern to the United States - dealing with
Israel and reparations for slavery - had been watered down considerably
over the last several weeks in hopes of persuading Washington to
send a delegation headed by Powell, the first African-American to
head the U.S. armed forces and the foreign service. He is said to
have had a personal interest in attending the conference.
Washington's
decision to downgrade its representation and possibly participate
only as observers at the World Conference Against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), as it
is formally called, marks the latest in a series of decisions which
have isolated the Bush administration from the larger international
community, including some of the closest U.S. allies.
Since
taking office last January, Bush has suspended high-level talks
with North Korea on missile proliferation, withdrawn from negotiations
on the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, vowed
to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) if Russia
declines to renegotiate its terms, announced its opposition to a
treaty banning chemical and biological weapons, worked to water
down a proposed framework convention restricting tobacco advertising
and marketing, and may now be considering ways to torpedo the Rome
Treaty to create an international criminal court.
The
decision against sending Powell was telegraphed by Bush himself
last Friday, when he was asked about U.S. attendance in Durban during
a press conference.
Washington
would boycott the Durban conference, he said, if delegates are permitted
to ''pick on Israel. If they use the forum as a way to isolate our
friend and strong ally, we will not participate,'' he warned.
But
he also indicated Washington opposed any serious discussion of reparations
for slavery, a stand that outraged many civil rights groups for
whom the issue has become a fast-rising priority over the last several
years as Washington and other governments have taken remedial action
for past human rights abuses, such as slave labour used by Nazi
Germany and the U.S. internment of Japanese-American citizens during
World War II.
''The
U.S. in particular should have participated at the highest level
and should have provided generous financial support for the conference
because it was historically the greatest beneficiary of slavery,''
argued Salih Booker, director of Africa Action, a Washington-based
lobby group. ''The U.S., after all, is the world's richest country
as a result.''
Booker
called the administration's threats to boycott WCAR ''the height
of arrogance,'' as well as a ''callous dismissal of one of the greatest
problems facing the U.S. and the world today.''
Not
everyone was disappointed by the decision. The Republican leadership
in the House of Representatives, which last month scotched hearings
on the U.S. position on WCAR, praised the move, as did pro-Israel
groups which lobbied hard against Powell's attendance.
''We
believe the intransigence of those nations determined to hijack
this conference to promote their self-serving, anti-Israel agenda
left the United States with no alternative,'' said Abraham Foxman,
director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a major Jewish group.
''Secretary Powell's presence in Durban would only confer legitimacy
on the anti-Semitic rhetoric that threatens to derail an otherwise
laudable effort to fight global racism.''
Still,
Washington may still pay a serious price for downgrading its participation
or sending only an observer delegation, according to some analysts.
''It's going to really hurt Bush's relations with the Congressional
Black Caucus (CBC) and any effort to cultivate African Americans,''
noted one Capitol Hill aide. She added that the conference had offered
a great platform for Powell to speak to blacks back home in Bush's
name.
According
to McClintock, Monday's decision will also add to the growing impression
abroad that Bush is determined to act unilaterally, even on symbolic
issues of no practical consequence to the United States.
He
said the decision also ''undermines the administration's credibility''
on international human rights, particularly in light of the ''hue
and cry'' it raised after losing its seat on the UN Human Rights
Commission last spring. ''They have a seat in Durban, but it seems
they're not going to sit in it,'' he said. (END/IPS/NA/HD/JL/AA/01)
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