Give That Man a Microphone
By threatening to stay home from the UN Human Rights (sic) Conference, the US has attracted the attention of Commissioner Mary Robinson and Secretary General Kofi Annan. Both have called for removing the most blatantly anti-Zionist language from the conference documents because, Mrs. Robinson said, “If there is an attempt to revive the idea of Zionism as racism, we will not have a successful conference.” Note: she doesn’t want to get rid of it BECAUSE IT IS WRONG; only because it will get in the way.
By threatening to stay home from the UN Human Rights (sic) Conference, the US has attracted the attention of Commissioner Mary Robinson and Secretary General Kofi Annan. Both have called for removing the most blatantly anti-Zionist language from the conference documents because, Mrs. Robinson said, “If there is an attempt to revive the idea of Zionism as racism, we will not have a successful conference.” Note: she doesn’t want to get rid of it BECAUSE IT IS WRONG; only because it will get in the way.
It is an important point as countries scramble to figure out just what words have to disappear (at least in writing) before the US lends its prestige to the conference in the form of Rep. Tom Lantos, a man of serious stature as a human rights and pro-democracy activist. Mr. Lantos said he believes the “Zionism is racism” formulation may disappear, but the campaign against Israel will continue. “They are using the settlements issue as the technique through which to paint Israel as an imperialistic, colonial, suppressive, brutal regime,” he said. And you can bet that “imperialism, colonialism, suppression, and brutal regime” will be branded “racist”. It’s an algebraic equation: If Israel is Zionist; and Israel is imperialist, etc.; and imperialism, etc. are conditions of racism; then in the default mode, Israel is racist and Zionism is racism.
The United States has two choices:
- To skip the conference, which will be a 1970s-style blame-the-West-for-the-ills-of-mankind gripe session anyhow; or
- To go.
And if we go, never to stop talking. Mr. Lantos and our other delegates have to stand in front of every microphone and speak on behalf of democracies and democratic interests-ours and Israel’s and Taiwan’s and Tibet’s. We have to bring our own microphones and denounce corrupt and intolerant dictatorships by name and in public. To speak for the right of Iraqis, Iranians, Afghan women, Sudanese and Egyptian Christians, Palestinians living under the PA, Cubans, Indonesian Chinese and Mainland Chinese to live under open, democratic and accountable leadership. And not to forget the suffering of Lebanese, Syrian, and North Korean people, brought on by their governments. To shine light on the rape of Chechnya and disfigurement of Islam when it is used as a cover for nasty and dictatorial regimes. To side with the good guys and point fingers at the bad guys. (How come only the bad guys get to point fingers?)
There are mighty moments in world politics, where real leaders can set in motion events that inspire people to take their futures into their own hands for their own betterment. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down,” and “If you will it, it is no dream,” come to mind.
Israel is going to be vilified in Durban by dictators, murderers and a few naïve democrats whether we are in the room or not. It is a shame, but it is the truth. Maybe the best we can do is let the people who really need a Human Rights Conference hear the world’s greatest democracy stand up for them in front of their oppressors. Give that man a microphone.