WCAR: South Africa between a rock and a hard place
7.22.01   D. Brutus & B.Cashdan TWBT

You will almost certainly not see the desperate living conditions of South Africa's poorest Indian community in the council flats in Chatsworth's Unit 3, known owing to its poverty as "Bangladesh." Last year Bangladesh hit the headlines when ANC-led Durban Metro Council evicted several families from their council flats for failing to keep up with their rents. The council is determined to ensure that rents are up to date in preparation for privatization of housing. The community resisted the evictions, with Indian grandmothers in saris defending the homes of their Zulu neighbors from the municipal police, who resorted to tear gas & rubber bullets.
30 years ago these families were evicted by the apartheid govt for being too dark in complexion. The ANC is now evicting the same families for being poor. Mandela's friend & biographer Professor Fatima Meer labeled the council's actions "fascist brutality." …

Cosatu threatens huge demo over racism talks
7.30.01   Sipho Khumalo The Star (Johannesburg, S.Africa)

Foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa was hopeful at the weekend that South Africa, as conference chair, could facilitate a compromise. In Durban on Sunday, Cosatu entered the fray with general-secretary Zwelibanzi Vavi urging workers to occupy Durban streets at the opening of the conference. "We must make it clear we support the conference and salute the United Nations for choosing our country to host it," Vavi said in Cosatu's message on the 80th anniversary of the South African Communist Party (SACP). "We, however, do not want just a jamboree that will only issue a few paragraphs of condemnation of racism, xenophobia and past practices of slave trade and colonialism. "This conference offers an opportunity to developed countries to take a range of steps and offer not just symbolic reparations." "In the streets of Durban we should demand transformation and democratisation of the US and all its institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation," Vavi said. "It must not just open its markets for goods from countries in the south, but should take active steps to ensure that the trade deficit that exists is eliminated."

Major Western countries which benefited from slavery and colonialism, incl France, Portugal, the US and Britain, fear they might end up coming under scrutiny at the WCAR if the reparations issue stayed on the agenda. The US, in particular, is concerned that the issue of Israel might divide the conference and bedevil efforts to broker peace in the volatile Middle East. But SACP secretary-general Blade Nzimande warned that Israelis would not be free until Palestinians were free. The African bloc, on its part, wants an apology for slavery and colonialism, with some states also insisting on reparations.
The two issues stalled the previous preparatory committee meeting in Geneva in May, forcing the WCAR secretariat to arrange a third meeting to finalise the draft declaration and the plan of action. If the showdown about the agenda is not resolved, fears have been expressed that South Africa may end up footing the bill for the conference, est. at R100-million. South Africa has already set aside R60-million for the indaba.

Colin Powell: Bush Man Or Black Man? 7.29.01   Courtland Milloy Wash.Post pC1 A recent letter from Sec.State Colin L. Powell to Dorothy Height regarding U.S. participation in the upcoming World Conference Against Racism began charmingly enough. Powell had scratched out the formal, typed salutation to "Dear Dr. Height" so that it read "Dear Dorothy" in his own handwriting. "We remain deeply committed to working toward a successful WCAR that, as you suggest, advances a better understanding of the factors contributing to current-day racism and intolerance," Powell wrote. That part sounded like Powell talking to a friend, a powerful black man reassuring a respected black woman who serves as chairman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. But in other parts of his letter, which was a response to Height's request that Powell lead the U.S. delegation to the conference in South Africa next month, Powell was unmistakably secretary of state, sounding more like a Bush man than a black man. "However, we are increasingly concerned that the WCAR may instead focus on divisive regional issues, thereby preventing the Conference from addressing the larger issue of racism affecting all societies," Powell wrote. One of those "divisive regional issues" is a proposed discussion of reparations for slavery in the United States. Another is a proposition equating Zionism with racism. Of all the diplomatic dances that America's first black secretary of state has performed so far, none has ever caused him to step on the toes of his fellow blacks. In fact, Powell won much praise for making the African continent his first tour abroad and for participating in an international AIDS conference, despite objections from some of the more conservative members of his own Republican Party. During the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia last year, Powell courageously tackled the thorny subject of race and impressed many in the audience with a strong defense of affirmative action. "Race still casts a shadow over our society," he noted. "Despite the impressive progress we have made over the last 40 years to overcome the legacy of our past, it is still with us." He went on to tell the convention: "We must understand the cynicism that exists in the black community, the kind of cynicism that is created when, for example, some in our party miss no opportunity to roundly and loudly condemn affirmative action that helped a few thousand black kids get an education, but you hardly hear a whimper when it's affirmative action for lobbyists who load our federal tax code with preferences and special interests." Although blacks voted 9 to 1 against the Bush-Cheney ticket in November, the worst that blacks had to say about Powell was that he had joined the wrong party. Now, President Bush's administration has put Powell on the spot by signaling that the United States may pull out of the racism conference, in part because participants want to address some of the same issues that Powell brought up in his convention speech. It is odd to see him in the position of seeming to protect American sensibilities against tough talk on race, which he has personally never shied away from. In a meeting last month with Mary Robinson, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Powell said that "serious work" needed to be done to remove the issues of reparations and Zionism from the discussion, which he said put the conference "in danger of becoming mired in past events." In her letter to Powell, written on July 9 and co-signed by Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Height stressed the importance of taking racial history into account. "We urge the United States to adopt policy positions at the WCAR that seek to advance an enlightened understanding of both the historic and contemporary factors contributing to current day problems of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," she wrote. Powell's reply, dated July 20, contained no guarantees on that matter. So, for now, the only solace to be found was that a secretary of state had at least taken the time to write back. resolution 3379   chronicle supplement CJC 2.01 re Tehran WCAR exclusion Addameer Palestinian HRts NGO Jewish Unity for a Just Peace SEARCH non-partisan Palestinian support media NGO RIA rationale 1.30.01 VoPJIP support MECC 4.7.01 Black Radical Congress 1.15.01 W.duBois Inst. work group Sec.State C.Powell re AIPAC influence Israel's assassination defense policy MidEast UN peacekeeping speculation Between Jim Crow & apartheid: Israel today 12.6.00   interview Phyllis Bennis by M.Elbaum ColorLines … After 1966, military rule was lifted, but it was replaced by a set of Jim Crow-like laws designed to discriminate against Arabs in Israel. According to Adalah, an Arab rights organization in Israel, today there are at least 20 laws that specifically provide unequal rights and obligations based on what the Israelis call nationality, which in Israel is defined on the basis of religion. Israelis must carry a card, which identifies them as either a Jew, a Muslim, or a Christian. All non-Jews are second-class citizens, legally and practically. The Israeli Supreme Court has literally dismissed all cases which dealt with equal rights for Arab citizens. … Global look at racism hits many sore points 3.1.01   Barbara Crossette NYTimes UN   … 2 earlier meetings held in 1978 and 1983 were more narrowly focused. "The last two conferences on racism were about foreign policy," said Gay J. McDougall, exec. dir. Intl HRts Law Group in Washington. "The first one was on decolonization and the second one was on apartheid. But this one is in everybody's back yard, and there's a lot of nervousness about it." … "The big story for me," said Ms. McDougall, also a member of UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination and attended the Santiago meeting, "was the cross-regional discourse that was generated in a new way among African-descended communities throughout the hemisphere, the poorest of the poor." The Tehran meeting, grouping the Middle East and Asia, was the most contentious, and there was a move to revive something of the old cold war shibboleth of Zionism as racism. Though the word Zionism was not used, official delegations urged the Durban conference to demand an end to the "foreign occupation" of Jerusalem and characterized Israeli domination of Palestinian areas as "a new kind of apartheid, a crime against humanity, a form of genocide, and a serious threat to intl peace & security." Kishore Mahbubani, the author of "Can Asians Think?" and Singapore's ambassador to the UN, said in an interview that "racism is a sunrise issue." "It is a natural result of a shrinking globe," he added. "Races that in a sense never had contact with each other are thrown together in close proximity in a new neighborhood. The first sign of this is the new wave of immigrants." But most controversial is an international movement to make concrete demands for reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade and for some form of compensation for centuries of colonialism. Mary Robinson, formerly president of Ireland and now UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, generally supports such demands, particularly in finding some form of recompense for slavery. "That trauma is still there," she said in an interview, "and it's deep, and it hasn't been properly acknowledged." Mrs. Robinson said the conference could achieve concrete results just by urging the enforcement of existing laws and international conventions against bias and discrimination. "About 85 % of measures that can be taken are already in force or will be agreed on without difficulty," she said. Foreign ministers meet ahead Of G7 summit 7.19.01   RFE/RL Rome   … The foreign ministers today also called on the UN to come up with a new approach towards Iraq and urged Israel to accept international observers to monitor the implementation of the Mitchell Report. … In Israel, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated Sharon's objections to international observers. Amnesty Int'l report cites 'legal racism' in Israel 7.25.01   Joseph Algazy Ha'aretz (Israel) A report to be issued by Amnesty International cites Israel as discriminating against Palestinians both inside the country and in the territories. The world's leading human rights organization is issuing a report on racism worldwide in advance of the World Conference Against Racism, slated for Durban this fall. According to the report, which covers nearly 100 countries and is slated for full release tomorrow, "prejudice against Palestinian citizens of Israel is widespread in the criminal justice system, both in the courts and law enforcement methods." The report notes that in the October 2000 riots, security services used live ammunition against civilians, killing 13 Israeli Arab citizens. It notes that "it took weeks of protests for a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to be set up. "A Border Policewoman was later quoted as saying 'we handle Jewish riots differently. When such a demonstration takes place, it is obvious from the start that we do not bring our guns along.'" Referring to the territories, the report says "different laws apply to Jewish settlers and Palestinian residents. Palestinians are governed by more than 3,000 military orders, allowing for trials by military courts, which are often unfair. "Since 1967, thousands of Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories have been demolished ostensibly because they were built without a permit but Israeli officials have discriminated against Palestinians when granting permissions and enforcing planning prohibitions." In anticipation of the Durban conference, where some countries, led by Iran, are seeking to brand Israel and Zionism as racist, Amnesty takes the unusual step of declaring in its introductory statement about racism that "the preparations for the World Conference Against Racism are currently marred primarily by disputes over the issue of reparations for slavery, and over colonialism and issues relating to Israel, Zionism and the use of the term 'Holocaust.'" Warning that because of these disputes some countries may "downgrade the level of their participation … or not attend," the human rights group says that the WCAR therefore "may fail to reach agreement on a common platform." The organization says it holds no position on any system of government or ideology "such as Zionism," but focuses instead on holding "states to be accountable for human rights violations under international human rights standards." Thus, the group says, "it would be more productive if the WCAR were to address any discriminatory state practice, such as discrimination in Israel and the Occupied Territories against Palestinians, by recalling the international obligations of states rather than addressing any particular ideology." "There is also a dispute over the use of the term 'Holocaust,'" says the group, noting that "each genocide has had specific aspects and survivors refer to their experience with terms that are particularly meaningful to them. "'Holocaust,' for instance, is widely understood to mean the racist genocide of the Jews during World War II. The controversy over this issue is insensitive to the feelings of survivors. All genocides are equally reprehensible. The WCAR must ensure that the crime of genocide is not trivialized and that all victims are recognized." Zionism is racism Ridiculous resolution or the truth that hurts? 8.91   Ian Williams NYTimes … Resolution 3379, which in 1975 determined that "zionism (sic) is a form of racism and racial discrimination." Of all the ignored resolutions passed by the UN against Israel, this is the one that rankles Israel most, perhaps proving the adage about the hurtfulness of the truth. It has even been quoted by Israelis as justification for the UN not having a role in the peace process-as if resolutions against apartheid debarred the UN from a role in South Africa. Indeed, 3379 referred back to the 1973 resolution condemning "the unholy alliance between South African racism and zionism, " and to the 1963 resolution which determined that "Any doctrine of racial differentiation or superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous. " It passed by 72 to 32, with 35 abstentions. In general it was the East Bloc and Islamic states against the West, with the nonaligned states split between abstentions and support. Sec.Gen Perez de Cuellar, whose sometimes discernible unhappiness with the Security Council's conduct of the Gulf war could not overcome his sense of duty to it, felt able to speak against this General Assembly resolution in May, after Quayle had spoken. He told reporters: "My position has always been that there was a wrong and unfair interpretation of what Zionism is. Zionism was first of all the need of the Jewish people to preserve their identity and at the same time to try and get a state for their nation. You cannot say that trying to get a territory for your nation is racism. … U.S. plans to boycott UN racism conference 3.9.01   Stephanie Nolen Toronto Globe & Mail The U.S. plans to boycott the UN global conference on racism in August if it becomes clear that the Zionism-is-racism issue will come up for debate. "We're trying to maintain the position that the UN can be helpful and solve problems, and we don't want that to get off track," said a State Dept official who is working on the U.S. role at the World Conference Against Racism. "If it really appears this is going to be a train wreck, we'll get off the rails rather than get run over." But the Canadian government said yesterday that, while it would oppose any effort to revive the incendiary issue, it will attend the UN gathering regardless. In one of the UN's most troubled hours, a resolution that "condemned Zionism as a threat to world peace and security" and "a form of racism and racial discrimination" was passed 75 votes to 35 by the General Assembly in 1975. The resolution was repealed in 1991 and has been largely absent from state-level discussion since. But recent fighting in the Middle East, which has claimed the lives of about 360 Palestinians and 65 Israelis, has rekindled support for the resolution, particularly from Arab and Islamic nations. The U.S. is determined not to see it on the agenda. "The world conference has to do with a worldwide phenomenon, not with individual country situations, and we will resist with all of the strength and diplomacy and all the parliamentary abilities we have, the injecting of a country-specific situation," the official said. "There have been two previous world conferences on racism [in 1978 and 1983] and we didn't go to those because they were about Zionism being a form of racism and about the apartheid regime in South Africa, exclusively. They were country-specific polemic-fests, that's what they were foreseen to be and what they turned out to be. We would like to [attend], we believe it's important, and racism is clearly something with which the U.S. has a long history of struggle and at least some success, and we think that we have some things to offer," he said. "But we're not going to get suckered into a situation where there's a document we'd have to vote against. I'm not going to tell [Secretary of State] Colin Powell it's worth his time if it's going to degenerate." … Arabs criticise Israeli 'apartheid' 7.23.01   The Star (Johannesburg, S.Africa) Cairo   Arab human rights activists are urging next month's UN racism conference in South Africa to push for an end to Israel's "apartheid regime" as well as racist practices in Arab countries. "The world community is urged to take on its responsibility to liquidate the last apartheid regime in Israel," they said at the end of their conference on Sunday. More than 60 delegations from non-government Arab and international human rights bodies attended the meeting. Bahedeen Hassan, an organiser, said activists were not calling on "throwing Israel and the Jews into the sea" but "appealing for an end to Israeli racist practices in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem". The Cairo declaration also focused on several forms of racism in Arab countries, said Hassan, who heads the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. The declaration called for an end to ethnic-driven conflicts and civil wars in Arab countries, such as Sudan. When the meeting opened on Thursday, Hanny Megally of the US-based Human Rights Watch charged Kuwait, Syria, Libya and Gulf Arab states with discrimination, such as denying citizenship to some groups or mistreating foreign workers. Rightists plan trip to Temple Mount 'disguised as Arabs'   7.25.01   Nadav Shragai Ha'aretz (Israel) A group of well-known right wing extremists, led by convicted Jewish underground member Yehuda Etzion and Kach activist Baruch Marzel, have announced plans to "camouflage" themselves as Arabs and infiltrate a group of Arabs heading to the Temple Mount so they can pray "silently" on the plaza. In a letter to Jerusalem Police Commander Mickey Levy, eight leading members of "The Temple Mount Movement," including Etzion and Marzel, write that "if we are denied access as Jews, dressed as and looking like Jews - we will recommend to friends who are ready and willing to go to the Temple Mount that we dress up as Arabs to do so." The 8 note that Muslims are allowed onto the mount, which has been closed to non-Muslims since the outbreak of the Intifada last fall. "They are allowed in without any checks to see if they are terrorists and the gates are open to them. Are we any worse than them?" In a related development, the Faithful of the Temple Mount movement has petitioned the High Court of Justice to force the police to allow them to bring "a symbolic cornerstone" for a Third Temple to Mograbi Gate on the southern side of the Western Wall on Sunday, for their annual Tisha B'Av ceremony there. The petitioners also want to be allowed to use a megaphone for their rally and to be allowed into the plaza on the mount in groups. Tough restrictions on Mount for Friday prayers 8.3.01   Baruch Kra Ha'aretz (Israel) Only men aged over 40 with Israeli identity cards will be allowed to enter the Jerusalem Temple Mount compound to attend prayers at mosques today. Police will not restrict the entrance of Moslem women to the compound. In anticipation of renewed trouble in the area, police and Border Police will take up positions from early morning throughout the city, backed by a helicopter. Reinforcements will be sent to help man roadblocks and spot checks will be carried out. Police will also beef up their patrols inside the Old City of Jerusalem and along major arteries. Several thousand policemen, led by Jerusalem District Commander Major General Mickey Levy, will be on duty and Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishky will follow developments. A police spokesman said that stringent action would be taken against anyone attempting to incite worshipers or disturb the peace and public order. reparations   2.23.01 conf. Race Relations Inst., Fisk Univ. Nashville S. Steinberg 7.16.01 S.Africa Foreign Affairs Dept DG Aztlan reparations 3.6.01 RE+MC Conf. NY 11.2.01 TransAfrica Forum Randall Robinson 6.9.00 Horowitz contra ad C.Worrill Robt. Westley E.Powell digest J.Edelstein, CSVR ORA Aleuts DoJ OVC La Voz de Aztlan 3.6.01 1991 Civil Rights Act enforcement, II. ¶5-7 Buti & Park, Murdoch Univ. 12.99 bellicose revisionist J.E. Fallon & links 7.01   Shrub champions grants, not loans ¹ for the poor en route to bankers' conference for world's richest nations. Subject: Re: U.S. boycott?   response Roger Wareham, Intl Assn. against Torture & ICARE Internet Ctr Anti-Racism Europe Amsterdam 3.7.01   Annalle Reports from several reliable sources including Gay McDougall from the Intl HRts Group and people from SA govt, that U.S. HAS threatened to boycott the WCAR if the Goal 3: Strategic Objective 3.1 CIVIL RIGHTS Strategic Plan for FY2000 - 2005   Justice Dept ¹ … Strategies to Achieve the Objective Investigate & prosecute individuals for civil violations of federal laws. The enforcement of civil violations against individuals is another critical aspect of the Dept's civil rights enforcement strategy. The importance & significance of such prosecutions are to remedy discriminatory conduct and make whole persons who have been victimized. ¹ … issue of reparations is raised. The boycott would be in terms of sending a lower-level delegation. Although Sec.State Powell has been briefed and he has the WCAR on his radar screen, in mind my, THAT DOES NOT MEAN that the US will not try to manipulate this process. To the person who said, "Who cares?!" , in some ways you're right. The reason why I think it is important is that first, several other countries have threatened to follow suit, and second, given the way the UN works, I think there will be attempts to try to appease these western countries. It may have the (intended ... notice the timing ,ie right before the Intersessional) affect of moving the discussion & consideration of reparations and other compensatory measures more towards their position. I think NGOs should clearly state that they vehemently reject any attempt, by any country, to manipulate the WCAR process. We all must recognize the power of the US in the UN. And many of you may not have been at the Informal Meeting in January, when Cheryl Sims of the US mission in Geneva read a bold & brazen statement that said the US "has no regrets, takes no responsibility and will not apologize" for slavery. They also said that they WOULD NOT support reparations or compensation being a sub-theme under WCAR Theme 4. It has been Ambassador Betty King's line since the first PrepCom, that the US will not deal with issues of reparations or compensation. There is a lot of power in a threat given the politics & protocol of the UN. I think we need to take it seriously. Dr. Deborah Robinson, exec. dir. Intl Possibilities Unlimited ¹ ² Powell seeks hispanic recruits for U.S. diplomacy 6.11.01   Reuters Sec. C.Powell 5.18.01   § archive WASHINGTON   Sec.State Powell on Monday underlined the Bush administration's increased focus on Hispanic issues by launching a drive for more Hispanic American diplomats. He signed a deal with a student association to attract new recruits and pledged to improve the State Dept's record on employing members of America's fastest-growing minority. "We haven't been doing too well," he told the audience at a signing ceremony of a Principles of Cooperation with the Hispanic Assoc. of Colleges & Universities (HACU). Only 4% of State Dept employees are Hispanic, compared to 6.6% among federal employees overall and 12.5% of the population overall, the first African American secretary of state said. Black voters overwhelmingly rejected President Bush in favor of Democrat Al Gore in an election in November. Republicans are targeting Hispanics, who like blacks make up about 10% of the voting population but are expected to overtake them as the largest U.S. minority by 2005. "We've taken action to make sure that Hispanic Americans are properly represented in the work of the U.S.," just as Americans in the past protested for the equal rights promised in the Declaration of Independence, Powell said. The deal forged new links with HACU, which groups 245 institutions with two-thirds of all Hispanics in U.S. higher education, aiming to increase their awareness about the State Dept as an employer. Powell & HACU President Antonio Flores noted before signing the deal that the president's first foreign port of call after taking office in January had been Mexico, and that President Vicente Fox had been the first foreign leader to visit him. Bush & Powell were also due to depart later on Monday for the president's first European tour, where their first stop would be the Spanish capital Madrid, Powell noted. "All of this seems to signal the fact that Secretary Powell and President Bush have wisely concluded that it is in America's best interests, and it is in fact necessary for the future prosperity of our nation, that the Western Hemisphere takes a top priority in our foreign policy," Flores said. Powell introduced three young Hispanics sworn in that day as State Dept interns as an example of the deal's goal. Maybe in 25 years or so one of them would be sworn in as Secretary of State, he said, welcoming them to their posts. "Don't restrict yourselves to Hispanic issues. The world is yours," he said. Calif. to boost minority students 7.20.01   AP SAN FRANCISCO   6 years after doing away with affirmative action, the University of California approved a new admissions policy Thursday intended to open the door wider to blacks and Hispanics and give a boost to good students from bad high schools. Starting in 2003, California students who graduate in the top 12.5 % of their high school class can be sure of a place at the University of California, though some may have to go to community college first. Currently, UC guarantees admission to the top 4 % of each of the state's high schools, or 12.5 % of all students statewide. The UC Board of Regents approved the new standard 14-3, effective for the fall of 2003. UC has 135,000 undergraduates at eight campuses. The new program, known as "dual admissions,'' could increase enrollment of blacks, Hispanics and American Indians, whose numbers have declined at the top campuses, particularly prestigious Berkeley and UCLA, since UC dropped its affirmative action programs in 1995. "There are still students in this state who need someone to believe in them,'' said Tracy Davis, the student representative to the UC Board of Regents, said Wednesday. "What we are hopefully doing with this proposal is creating an opportunity, a glimmer of hope.'' Dual admissions is the latest in a series of changes to UC admissions policy. At the same time, UC President Richard Atkinson is proposing eliminating the SAT I as an admissions requirement, a test that Hispanic and black students tend to score lower on than whites and Asian Americans. UC is keeping its overall overall admissions policy, which is to take the top 12.5 % of all students statewide. What is different about the new eligibility guarantee is that it applies to individual schools, addressing the problem of students who go to schools that may be ill-equipped, overcrowded and lack college prep courses. The new policy builds on a change implemented this year that extended eligibility to the top 4 % of students in individual high schools. Under the policy approved Thursday, students who fall between the top 4 % and 12.5 % of their class will have to go to community college for their first 2 years.UC has a long-standing commitment to accept all eligible students at one of its eight undergraduate campuses, though students may not necessarily get into the campus of their choice. The regents made it a condition of approval that UC officials review several issues, including raising the required grade-point average in community college from the current minimum of 2.4. UC officials estimate that up to 36 % of the students eligible under dual admissions would be black, Hispanic or American Indian. Those groups made up 18.6 % of the fall 2001 freshman class; recent census figures show they represent about 40 % of the state population. NGOs   Asian HRts Commission BLink UK FI UAH WCC NGO archive East Cape delegates see racism as a manifestation of poverty 5.11.01   Mike Loewe East Cape News Racial tension in the Eastern Cape is a reflection of underlying provincial poverty. … SA National NGOs Coalition (SANGOCO) … "People are also saying that racism assumes many forms but the onslaught between white and black is a manifestation of poverty. Poverty is the source of intolerance and racism." indigenous   4th World Eye Uwa links SCIA   § archive Black Mesa re Agenda item 11 Civil & Political Rights UN Commission on HRts, 56th session 3.19 - 4.27.01 per Intl Indian Treaty Council Aleuts Cong. hearings 6.20-9.12.84   documentary contra Aleutian Headache Deadly WWII Battles on American soil, Bert Webber raza     § archive nee African     § archive Black Radical Congress ¹   NAACP ¹ ² Kathleen Cleaver 4.20.01   interview Zachariah Mampilly Africana.com … empowerment, self-determination. … revolutionary movement. We weren't trying to get the right to vote. We weren't trying to get citizenship. We saw ourselves essentially as putting an end to domestic colonialism … told about, haven't actually seen, document in possession of State Dept released somehow. It stated what govt needed most to prevent, what they were most concerned about, was formation of close alliances to work together between African American or black revolutionaries, Arab revolutionaries and people fighting in Asia & Latin America, which is exactly what we were doing. We were working with people in Cuba, people in Mexico. We went to conferences with Vietnamese. When Eldridge left to Algeria, we organized the Intl Section of the BPP, which put us right in the same town with representatives of the MPLA from Angola, ZAPU and ZANU from Zimbabwe, ANC from South Africa, with people fighting in Ethiopia, in Canada, the FLQ, in Brazil. We made that link - completely. We were very clear about the way that the struggle we were part of was similar to struggles by people of color all fighting the same imperialist. It was anti-imperialist from the beginning, and recognized that we were up against the same enemy. … We could draw parallel between what the US Army was doing in Vietnam, and what Oakland police were doing in Oakland. It was not esoteric at all. … I had a son born in Algeria and a daughter born in North Korea, in Pyongyang. … The point is not the Party. The point is the political struggle and the movement. … This was an inspiring model. That's what is important about it. People took it and used it. That's why the govt had to destroy it. They did not destroy the model … prisoners who were former members of the BPP serving extraordinarily long time. People like Eddie Conway, in for 30 years & still trying to get a hearing. … This is not something that happened in 1968 & finished. interviewer: 1997. Largest black middle class in history. Largest black underclass. Black middle class has roughly tripled since the day King died, but 45 % of all black children live at or below poverty line. How did we get here? CLEAVER: Well, one of the ways we got here was through the takeover by corporate interests of the legal & political structures that govern our lives. … "commercial democracy" needs a middle class to function smoothly. It doesn't need equality. What it needs is inequality. It needs a certain number of people at the elite level, a certain number of people in the middle level, and the rest of the people scrambling and hoping they could get there, all following the same zealous commitment to making money. Now, when you have people who are revolutionaries, they repudiate the commitment to making money, and say, "We want justice. We want change. We want truth. We want freedom." Well, that's not going to work if the structure is based on financial rewards and financial incentives. So we were at odds with the way the system worked. We had a different idea. We said, "Power to the people." … you have class conflict, or you have political conflict generated within dependent communities. And therefore, the leadership is either aligning itself with the status quo or annihilated, and essentially have a leadership vacuum. … why should we be worried about the middle class? That's what I'm trying to say. What we should be able to expect is a democratic opportunity to use the resources of this country, and a use of the resources to value humans over property. … With the collapse of essentially segregation and residential segregation on the basis of color, residential segregation now is on the basis of wealth. So in the past, black communities had integrated middle class, lower class working people all in the same area. Now, middle class don't live in the same area where poor people live. So the models and the leadership that is available on a community local level is no longer available. And therefore, the leadership that has developed out of the civil rights struggle, which is essentially reflecting middle class values and middle class concerns, does not deal with the problems of the underclass. And the isolation and the lack of resources of the underclass makes it very difficult to generate leadership that will be listened to by the larger society. … consequence of a collapse of the community. All this dysfunctional behavior is for people who have no families, who have no parents, who have no one who cares about them. That's where that comes from. So the question is: How do you reconstitute communities that have no resources, that have no jobs, that have no future? We can't do it without the use of the resources that have been taken out of those communities. You have to have (I agree with Jesse Jackson) a Marshall Plan for America. When Europe at the end of the war was devastated, did they say, "Oh, well, Europeans, you just pick yourself up by your bootstrap, be responsible"? No. They said, "We have wealth. We're going to rebuild this community." … we don't have the political power to make this happen, and the corporations have no interest in making it happen. And the govt is in the pocket of the corporations. So what we need is very fundamental change of political direction, in order to restructure the communities. Meanwhile, you do a lot of private small-scale things that people are doing, because the situation is so desperate. Cong. Cynthia McKinney D•GA4th   & references NSAdv. C.Rice meets with CBC Task Force on WCAR 8.1.01 Bush Shows True Colors 8.1.01 Republicans muzzle minority WCAR voices 7.25.01 Urban League national conf. 7.31.01 VOA labor discrimination 2.28.01 § references House WCAR Hearing Statement 7.30.01 Madam Chair, the UN Conference Against Racism taking place in Durban South Africa between August and September 2001 is the largest meeting ever specifically devoted to combating the scourge of racism. In recognition of the importance of the Conference nearly every country has so far indicated a readiness to send delegations and hundreds of NGOs are sending representatives. The WCAR is something truly special to the world community and surely, on any view, something that our country should give complete support to. Our attendance is especially important because we hold ourselves out to be a nation that is the champion of human rights and the preeminent democracy in the world today. I must say Madam Chair that I am surprised that President Bush and his Administration do not share this view on the importance of the WCAR but instead have publicly adopted an intransigent, if not outwardly hostile, view of the entire Conference. I find the Bush Administration's public criticisms of the WCAR at odds with his carefully crafted public image, created for him by his minders: that is: the "compassionate conservative," "a uniter not a divider." The WCAR is a perfect opportunity for the Bush Administration to dispel criticisms that they don't care about race issues and are more content to make empty and meaningless statements about deploring racism during "meet and greets" on the campaign trail. The Bush Administration could use the WCAR to publicly show a commitment to ending racism in this country. Given that 30% of the US population consists of people of color and that we have all experienced racism first hand, I have to wonder if the Bush Administration's position on the WCAR is just politically dumb or if it is perhaps indicative of something more malignant. We all can understand political naivete. However, these Bush folks got together and conspired to deprive blacks in Florida of their right to vote. Naivete is not one of their more prominent characteristics. I am compelled to ask the obvious question, then, that no one will ask: Is the Bush White House just full of latent racists? Could it be that the Bush Administration's opposition to participating in the World Conference flows naturally from his Presidential campaign? We all remember the Bush Presidential Campaign which featured town hall events with him on stage with selected and prominently placed blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. Were they there because he wanted them there or were they there because they were strategically positioned to be with him inside contrived camera shots? And we remember how the President spoke in Spanish to Latino audiences. Did he do that because he really cares about Hispanics or was it because the politically necessary thing to do. I've really tried to give the new Administration the benefit of the doubt. I've reached out to them on a number of occasions, offering to work with them on issues affecting people in my district. But I am becoming concerned that they really don't care about racism. I think the Administration's opposition to the WCAR is a clear example of their indifference to racism. Madam Chair, you can tell a lot about a man the way they act when they think no one is watching. And I'm watching President Bush's Administration closely and I've learned a lot from comparing what the Bush people say publicly and the way they act privately. I must say that I was speechless that while President Bush said on many occasions throughout his campaign that he deplored racism and anti-Semitism; but then he chose to speak at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. An institution that is well known for its virulent racist views and homophobic statements. If Bush was at all sensitive to African Americans and our sensitivity to the racist and hateful diatribe directed at us by the Bob Jones institution, then surely he would have not gone there. Indeed, this is the same institution in which a Professor attacked GOP Presidential candidate Senator Bob McCain and his wife for having adopted a young Bangladeshi girl. If candidate Bush really felt that he had the need to go and speak and this type of institution, then he should have gone there and taken the opportunity to publicly condemn the institution for its vile views on segregation and for sewing the seeds of hate in this country. But he didn't do that, instead he went there and reached out to the racists because he believed that he needed to show the extreme right in his party that he was still one of them. But the cost to his credibility as being a uniter and not a divider was great. While President Bush continued to travel around the country campaigning and continuing to call out that he deplored racism, he steadfastly refused to support Hate Crimes legislation in Texas. Not surprisingly he came under intense criticism for his refusal to intervene in the execution of Gary Graham despite the availability of evidence pointing to his innocence on the charge of murder. And then what of the revelations that the Bush Campaign's Louisiana campaign chair, Governor Mike Foster, reportedly purchased mailing lists from the infamous David Duke. How could anyone priding themselves in being a uniter not a divider believe that no one would be shocked that a Presidential candidate was going to reach out to David Duke's base supporters? So you see Madam Chair, I'm more than a little suspicious that President Bush is disingenuous with respect to his opposition to racism and that in truth he really doesn't care about it at all. And therefore no wonder he doesn't see the need for this country to support the World Conference Against Racism. The recently published Henry Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University/Washington Post study on white misperceptions on the state of black America confirms that President Bush is not alone in placing little or no importance on racism and the state of black America. The central finding of the study was that 40-60% of all whites questioned believed that the average African-American is faring about as well and perhaps even better than the average white American and perhaps in some cases even better than the average white American. But as the study noted, government statistics confirm that this white view of the state of black America is misplaced and that black America actually falls way behind whites in terms of employment, income, education, and access to health. Despite this evidence that black America still lags way behind white America, the Clinton Administration undertook to introduce a number of reforms that were extremely harmful to people of color in America. President Clinton signed a Crime Bill that increased the penal population to over 2 million, two-thirds of which are black and Latino. The Clinton Administration repealed Welfare and in so doing took away billions of dollars of subsidies from poor and minority families. President Clinton presided over the quiet dismantling of the affirmative action policy. And he could do that because the leadership in this country doesn't really believe that black America is in dire condition, and perhaps worse still, many don't actually care. This public misconception about the state of black America is significant and owes much of its pervasiveness today to decades of leadership figures in our society trivializing both the history and extent of racism in our society. Discussion of lynchings, police beatings, slavery, racial segregation, and poverty in inner city ghettos have all been reduced to euphemisms like racial discrimination, racial profiling, strained race relations and economically distressed communities. And today while the US press is fascinated with the treatment of people in Sudan and China and routinely describes alleged human rights in those countries in inordinate detail, the US press seems steadfastly disinterested in talking about the appalling condition and present day treatment of people color in this country. And despite the credibility and timeliness of the Kaiser/Harvard/Washington Post study it largely passed without any discussion in the mainstream press. And most importantly, I suspectthat the findings of the study would not have been discussed at all in the White House. Madam Chair, the World Conference Against Racism is a perfect opportunity for President Bush to detail a clear commitment to preserve and extend civil rights in this country. George W. Bush could use this as an opportunity to allay fears among many of us that his attendance at Bob Jones University, his refusal to intervene on Gary Graham's behalf, and his failure to sign Hate Crimes legislation in Texas are aberrations and not demonstrative of a serious personal flaw related to racism. I can tell you with some confidence that if the Bush Administration fails to provide a serious commitment to the WCAR then he will live to regret it in 2004. The House On The Line 4.7.00   Richard E. Cohen Natl Journal … racial aspects of redistricting have changed considerably during the 1990s. States have drawn new court- ordered maps that significantly reduced the number of black voters in several black-held districts. But in the 2 most contested of those districts, Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia & Melvin Watt of North Carolina have easily won re-election. During the upcoming redistricting, national Democratic leaders hope to ensure that their black members win re-election, although they also want, in some cases, to reduce the minority populations in those districts to bolster their party's prospects elsewhere. Republicans, for their part, want to keep the minority population concentrated in fewer districts. But black lawmakers object to moving additional black voters from their districts. "Moving my constituents to [create] additional Democratic districts is specious," McKinney said in an interview. "There will be no interest in changing the districts of Democrats to the detriment of [those] Democrats. That won't happen." presented by § OCIAL JUSTICE   return to home page   §   email   site search courtesy of FreeFind Best Rate Card Processor | Jersey City New Jersey | Arcade Games | Movies Website Advertising | Online Recipe