 Friday, August 10, last day'...to help each other understand the
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***Editorial****Videobite:double invervention by the Jewish caucus***Today´s happenings***The linkage Caucus***Quotes of the day***U.S. and them***The Mystery Woman***...and then the axe fell***Article:Thoughts for Durban*** LATEST VERSION OF THE NGO DRAFT PER 6-8-2001 |
EditorialDIVIDED WE STAND, UNITED WE FALL… Looking back on 2 weeks PrepCom how do I feel about it? I'm not quite sure. We started a sort of hopeful, although everyone knew that difficult negotiations lay ahead, as much with the governments as with the NGOs, I think those who came, mostly came to further the process, to agree on comprehensive documents to take to Durban for further consideration, some sort of unity. Towards the end of the first week the NGO process seemed firmly off the rails. To the extend that governmental delegations wondered why so little interventions were made during their deliberations. The dynamics during this whole PrepCom could be compared to the tides of the sea: on one day waves of disagreements would take big chunks out of the coastline, the next day the waters would have been reduced to a soft flow, as if embarrassed by the damage done by the previous high tide. So much was going on with the NGOs that the governmental process seemed to go smoothly in comparison. I say seemed, because in reality important issues (namely 2 issues I'm sure you are aware of) almost slided by us. That, to me was the turning point for the NGO process. While we were all arguing amongst ourselves, the governments also deadlocked in particular on paragraphs 11 through to 18 of the Declaration. The European Union proposed to replace these paragraphs by 3 others they had drafted. ( see PrepCom report from Friday August 3.) Fortunately not all NGOs were completely sucked in by our own problems, it was time to pull together and make a stand. UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL! So week 2 of the PrepCom brought a very different atmosphere amongst the NGO community. An urgent meeting which had been called on the previous Friday by the African and African Descendants Caucuses with the European Caucus to discuss the EU proposal and what to do about it, resulted in a historical statement read in the governmental drafting plenary session from the 3 caucuses on Wednesday August 8. Everybody shifted gears and finally I think we all realised that, as NGOs, we should work together, be supportive and united to make sure the voices of those affected by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance be heard! Lots of lose ends for the NGO forum in Durban were sorted out that last week, Thematical Commissions, workshops, and last but not least, how the NGO drafting committee will do its work in Durban. On Thursday a Linkage Caucus was set up, to ensure the intersectionality between issues (Caucasus). As we left the Palais des Nations at 17.30 hours, to catch our flight home, governments were still fighting it out in both drafting rooms. As we learned on Saturday, unsuccessfully. What will Durban bring? If nothing else, at least a world-wide NGO community, who are willing to stand together, even if its on a broader or different issue than your own. I think if we keep that in mind, we've already won. Suzette Bronkhorst Videobite of the day:
click here to play the RealVideo file. If you don´t have RealPlayer: Today´s happeningsNGO Briefing Today's NGO briefing brought more logistical data on workshops, passes, thematical commissions etc. During the Question-and-answer section only few questiona were asked. Double intervention by Jewish Caucus In the morning, Sybil Kessler and Karen Mock, representing the Jewish Caucus, gave a statement in the governemental working group on the Draft Declaration as well as in the Working group on the programme of action. The full text is here. Also see the videobite of the day. Later during the day... there was a meeting organised by the South African delegation called 'South African governemental consulation on the Middle East'. We went there but soon found out it was a closed session for governemental delegates only. ICARE (and others) were kicked out (in the nicest possible way) :-). U.S. and them All afternoon people were running around asking each other 'did the Americans already speak the boycott word?' Earlier on the rumour was that the U.S. had made a statement saying that they would go along with the paragraphs on 'the Middle East' as it is now euphemistically called. Nobody could believe this and indeed we found out soon enhough that the U.S. had said that they would agree, under certain conditions, with a kind of generic statement on occupied territories. Mary Robinson gave a press conference saying that 'It has been really very encouraging to see the shared commitment to going
together, every country, to Durban, to complete the work and to have a real
breakthrough against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance' |
The Linkage CaucusTwo days before the end of the conference the Linkage caucus was created. The purpose of this caucus is to serve as a common and safe space to share issues of concern, strategies and successes with other caucuses, to share information and to define and co-ordinate collective actions. Furthermore, the Linkage caucus will be an instrument to help each other understand the contentious issues than can be divisive, to develop a common understanding of non-negotiable principles for the government forum and to produce a realitistic and global analysis of the situation. Purpose of the Linkage caucus will also be to monitor, report back on government forum and develop an effective lobby to put forward issues of common concern to governments during the goevernment forum and to continue to act as a forum for caucuses to report back on progress of governments actions on program of action post-Durban. There will be a Caucus page for the Linkage caucus here on ICARE as soon as possible. And then the axe fell... Friday August 10 7:09 PM ET GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks failed Friday to settle angry disputes over how the U.N. Conference on Racism will deal with Israeli policies toward Palestinians and compensation for African slavery. But United Nations human rights chief Mary Robinson put on a brave face, voicing optimism that consensus could be reached on final texts on both controversial issues at the conference which opens in Durban, South Africa, in three weeks' time. 'A lot remains to be done. But I can say a framework has emerged from this preparatory conference which will carry our work forward to Durban' Robinson told a closing session of two-week negotiations in Geneva. Working groups are to pursue informal talks, but any compromise is expected to be hammered out in capitals, with Washington playing a key role, according to diplomats. The United States has said it will not attend the conference being held in Durban, South Africa, from August 31-Sept 7 unless Arab states drop demands that the conference texts single out Israel as a 'racist' occupying power allegedly depriving Palestinians of basic rights. The U.S. delegation took the floor to say it was pleased with 'some progress' had been made, but accused some delegations of adopting 'extremist positions.' 'The agenda in Durban should not be to single out and brand a certain country as racist. Have we no shame?' U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state Michael Southwick said in a speech. 'We think the majority of countries are extremely uncomfortable with such a course of action' he added. ISRAEL TO RECONSIDER ATTENDING Yaakov Levy, Israeli ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, expressed disappointment and as expected said his delegation would 'reconsider its participation' at Durban in coming days.'I wish to reiterate, the Middle East conflict is political, not racial,' he said in a speech.'Regrettably we found ourselves with the same shameful language in both documents,' Levy said, referring to draft texts for the conference proposed by Arab and Islamic countries. 'If adopted in Durban, such language could affect the success of the Conference as well as the fight against racism and racial discrimination' Levy said. Malaysia's delegate, speaking on behalf of Arab and Muslim member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), appeared to strike a conciliatory note. 'The OIC wishes to express its willingness to engage in consultations to reach compromise to pave the way for a successful conference in Durban' he said. Syria's delegation declared: 'The oppression suffered by the Palestinian people on racial grounds should be at the center of the work of the conference.' Nabil Ramlawi, the Palestinian representative, said: 'We ask that racist practices by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people be discussed at Durban... We cannot set aside racism and racial discrimination and new forms of apartheid.' Egypt's ambassador Fayza Aboulnaga said Arab delegations had adopted a 'Very reasonable, moderate and constructive' position which had tried to take account of Israeli concerns. 'It is simply not logical for the conference to take place and ignore a boiling region and a situation of massive violations of human rights' she told Reuters. On the question of potential compensation for slavery and colonization, a central issue was whether the final Durban text should include an apology for slavery in the past, according to Robinson, a former president of Ireland and trained lawyer. This has raised questions about whether an apology forms a legal basis to seek monetary compensation in courts, she said. Sources said any deal was unlikely to contain a formal apology, but instead would back aid to African countries. Tidbits A 'last minute meeting frenzy'has decended upon us. Suzette had a few short meetings with the South African delegation, with Mary Robinson she bumped into, with the Canadians, the ISC, and the UN WCAR NGO Liaison, all promoting the idea which is to us the solution for the passes problem: make a video-link between the ICC and the Kingsmead stadium and put one or two big screens there, so everybody can follow the governmental proceedings. Mary Robinson had her aides write it down and said that she would 'look into this interesting idea'. Let's hope something happens with it.  |
Reports from the Governemental proceedingsWith lots of thanks to the tireless people of the INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT AGAINST ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AND RACISM (IMADR), UN Office.
The Mystery Woman During the second week of the PepCom we heard rumours about an old lady who was going round making appointments with NGOs
since she 'could help them financially'. Nobody seemed to know who she was or which organisation she represented. She was not even wearing a badge... we became curious, investigated a bit and indeed found a number of people whith whom she had made
appointments. For some of the appointments she showed up, others not. She told people that she had been a professor at Cambridge, U.K. and that she was a friend of the Britisch Royal family. She told her name, but always so fast that nobody was able to remember it. Nobody wrote it down either. She has no badge. To one NGO she admitted that she was not a representative of any organisation but that she knew 'some very wealthy people' and that she would have 'a suprise at our next meeting'. One NGO from Argentinia she talked to in English for half an hour before all of a sudden switching to Spanish, saying that she was from Argentina herself! She never gave her card to anyone. We hid behind a plant and managed to take a picture of her
during one of her appointments. We showed it to some old hands who have been going to UN conferences a lot, and they all knew her by face, but had no idea of who she was. She goes in and out the building, sometimes carrying a document case under her arm. Despite the fact that she wears no badge, none of the U.N. guards stop her, they seem to know her. Ah well, one of the mysteries of the Palais des Nations. Our theory is that her husband worked for the U.N., she used to go there with him often, so everybody knew her by face, and after he died she just kept on going there every day. This confirms a theory of our friend Stephen, who says that if you hang around in a building long enough everybody will know you and ultimately they will
think you are working there, give you things to do and a salary. :-)). But then again, we might be all wrong. Maybe she really is a wealthy person who can help NGOs. Anyhow, if you recognize her from the picture and you know the real story please send mail to mysterywoman@icare.to to clear this up. There's a book or a filmscript in all this, we are sure. :-)
Videobite
click here to play the RealVideo file. Something went wrong completely here. We lost the name of the person we were interviewing and we lost part of the material because of a technical foul-up with the smartmedia cameracard. So, Graciella, could you please send us an e-mail with your friends' name and organisation, so we can correct this? Our apologies! If you don´t have RealPlayer: |
Quotes of the day:
'Your comments are so essential, why have you never cooperated with us' Thoughts for DurbanBy Ronald EissensSo did we learn anything that is essential for the WCAR in Durban? I always thought that interfacing (excuse the techno lingo) with other people was meant to create more understanding so that even when we are ships passing in the night we can relate and base the important decisions on what we have learned from each other. Headstrong as we all might be from time to time (or some of us all the time) there is some hope that we learn and not forget. Or ignore. The horrors of the Holocaust are forgotten by many and remembered by a few, while the remembrance of it is under attack constantly. The horrors of slavery and colonialism have been suppressed on purpose so much that it needs to be put on the agenda the hard way, hereby annoying lots of people who either never knew because the history books are culturally biased or who know full well but they just want to forget since it is 'so long ago' and it might cost them money'. We humans do not understand, or do not want to understand that the past plays a very important role in the present. The present is not an island on which we all arrived and certain things are 'just because that's how it is'. Mankind is masterful in distorting evidence, create bias and propagate myths which too often become reality for us. Durban is about deconstructing the myth of race but also about deconstructing hate. Hate, it rears its ugly face on all sides of the territories we humans occupy. Some are right about things, some are more right about things. Some suffer more. Some are more equal than others. That is also something we must deconstruct, the myth of the hierarchy of suffering. If one human suffers, we should think that we all suffer. If we save one we are saving the whole world, but then we must want to save. We are all equal in our suffering while we must admit that some things are of such a magnitude that one cannot compare. Why would we compare really? What is the use of that? Where is the need for that? Suffering in itself is ugly enough, big enough, unique enough. We can use each others words with respect, that is possible, without diminishing our own or the other's suffering. I know it is hard to respect others when you think they are part of your suffering but we must try, otherwise all goes down the drain. On the un-discussion list I made a comment a while ago, in one of my more cynical moods saying 'all equal all guilty' , meaning that all humans are equally guilty of discrimination or racism. My friend Mutombo Kenyana does not agree with me at all (in fact he disagrees with lots of my ideas) but he shows me the courtesy of a respectful discourse. Now he is trying to convince me that I'm wrong. Maybe he will succeed, maybe not. If he will succeed, if I will yield to his arguments, if I see the truth of his reasoning, then something is won, I will have learned. Or maybe it will be the other way around. And maybe we will spend a long time debating, not coming to any agreement on several matters. I am not a saint or holy person, and neither is he, I suspect. But we try to respect, I think we agree on respect. That is what I hope for Durban, since from respect understanding grows, and from understanding we can right fundamental wrongs. I appreciate the fact that we have to work hard too on a political level, we want justice and we want it now, the 'respect' part is the slow way, and live is short and we all die too soon. We might fail miserably in Durban. I fact I think with the draft as it is, if it doesn't change, I think we will. Maybe the Linkage caucus will make a real difference. Anyway, we can take a lot from Durban. A worldwide network, understanding, the seeds of peace maybe for some. Let's TRY!!!! |
Contributions by others:
That's it for PrepCom 3! See you all in Durban!
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