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Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator
207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator
202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED
STATES
GREENS DEMAND THAT BUSH NOT WITHDRAW THE U.S. FROM
THE U.N. CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the United States endorsed a
strongly worded resolution demanding that the Bush Administration
reverse plans to withdraw the United States from participation in the
United Nations Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, set to begin August 31, 2001 in
Durban, South Africa. The text of the resolution is appended below.
"Pulling the U.S. out of the Durban conference is an act of moral
cowardice and irresponsibility," said Jerry L. Coleman, Green Party
candidate for Governor of New Jersey, who is African American.
"The U.S. has an obligation, as leader of the free world, to attend
a conference on a subject that touches on the major conflict of American
history, the struggle between the nation's stated dedication to
equality, democracy, and freedom on one hand and, on the other,
attitudes and practices that have imposed injustice based on race and
ethnicity, such as slavery, Jim Crow laws, exploitation and denial of
jobs, and obstruction of voting rights."
"Such conflict is not unique to America," added Scott McLarty,
of Washington D.C., media coordinator for the Green Party. "In the
past decade, we witnessed the genocidal massacres in the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda, assassination and suppression of the rights of
Palestinians by Israel, and the slaughter and oppression of Kurds in
Turkey and Iraq. The 20th century saw the genocide of Jews, Gypsies, and
Armenians; apartheid in South Africa and Rhodesia; Japan's slaughter of
Chinese in Shanghai and other cities and forced prostitution of Korean
women; and other racially motivated atrocities. No nation, no government
should be exempt from scrutiny. In many cases, democratic nations turned
a blind eye until it was too late."
"The Greens are dedicated to nonviolence, human rights, and the
eradication of racism everywhere," added Tom Sevigny of
Connecticut, of the Steering Committee of the Green Party of the United
States. "We urge all Americans and all organizations that say they
detest racism in any form to demand the U.S.'s participation in this
conference, and we recognize and stand with Rep. Cynthia McKinney of
Georgia and other leaders who have protested Bush's reckless
policy."
GREEN PARTY RESOLUTION ON US WITHDRAWAL FROM
CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM
RESOLUTION on the Bush Administration's withdrawal of the United
States from the UN Conference Against Racism
"The Green Party of the United States calls on the Bush
Administration not to remove the United States from participating in the
United Nations Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which is scheduled to begin August
31, 2001 in Durban, South Africa. Greens remind President Bush that
basic values of human rights, freedom, and democracy cannot be upheld
without taking into account racial and ethnic hatred, discrimination,
exploitation, intolerance, and other injustices
that have hindered these values. Human rights, freedom, and democracy
are American values, but the continued presence in the United States of
racial and ethnic divisiveness, the lingering effects of historical
injustices such as slavery, Jim Crow laws, and enforced economic
disadvantage suffered by people of color, and the heroic struggles to
overcome all these injustices morally compel the United States to
participate
in the Durban conference.
"Greens recognize that people of color have legitimate claims in
this country to reparations for slavery and its aftereffects. While we
do not believe that discussion of the claim that "Zionism is
Racism" is a constructive way to challenge the racist policies of
the state of Israel, we believe that Israeli policies that deny full
civil, political and human rights to non-Jews should be on the table at
the conference and that the apartheid nature of the Israeli occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a topic that cannot be excluded from
a world
conference intended to address racism in all its manifestations across
the globe.
"We recognize that there's a diversity of opinions on such matters,
but regardless of disagreement among Americans on these and other
responses to historical and current racism, absence from the Durban
conference will betray the same reckless irresponsibility that caused
the U.S. to lose its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
We especially appeal to Secretary of State Colin Powell not to risk
further damage to the worldwide reputation of the United States and our
commitment to justice."
The Green Party of the United States, August, 2001
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