[Google translation from original French]
"France must disown the racist Durban IV conference
Reminder of the facts and issues
We remember the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) which took place in Durban, South Africa, from September 2-9, 2001.
This conference, sponsored by the United Nations, followed on from the international conferences against racial discrimination and apartheid that took place in Geneva in 1978 and 1983.
One might wonder about the usefulness of a new international meeting, the main objective of the previous ones - the dismantling of South African apartheid - having been achieved in 1994. The WCAR therefore turned to three new priorities:
- the struggle against Zionism, assimilated to racism, and against the State of Israel, presented as another "apartheid regime";
- a declaration of repentance from Western countries for the crimes of slavery and colonization;
- the payment of reparations to African countries and communities of African origin.
This drift has aroused the disapproval of many democratic countries. This did not prevent the sponsorship of a Durban II in 2009 in Geneva, then a Durban III in 2011 in New York, which took up the themes of the initial Conference, now called Durban I.
A Durban IV will take place in September 2021 in New York. The United States, Canada and Australia are again on the sidelines, as well as the United Kingdom. Within the EU, Hungary and the Netherlands have taken similar positions, announcing a similar position. Other countries are preparing to follow them.
Strangely, France seems determined to participate in Durban IV.
It would be a political and ethical mistake.
Historical reminder of Durban I
Durban I (2001) had two components: an NGO Forum, and an intergovernmental conference.
The NGO Forum was marked by numerous anti-Semitic incidents: physical attacks and threats against the Jewish NGOs present; sale of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion; denial propaganda; posters assimilating the State of Israel to the Third Reich and apartheid.
The final declaration of the intergovernmental conference, known as the "Durban Declaration", condemned only one country for racism, Israel. She presented the "occupation of Palestine" as a form of apartheid.
In other words, this Declaration can be seen as a return to the 1974 UN General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism: a resolution that was formally repealed by the same Assembly in 1992.
Israel and the United States left Durban I on September 3, 2001.
Historical reminders on Durban II and III
The stated aim of Durban II and III was to "reaffirm" the Durban Declaration, including its anti-Semitic theme.
Durban II (Geneva 2009) was boycotted by Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, United States.
Durban III (New York 2011) was boycotted by Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Poland, as well as by the three democratic permanent members of the UN Security Council: the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Highlight in Durban II: the speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the only head of state present. The latter calmly expressed denialist positions on the Shoah and equated Zionism with racism.
The objectives of Durban IV
In approving the organization of a fourth WCAR in New York in September 2021, the UN General Assembly clarified that the Conference "will adopt (...) a political declaration" aimed at "the full implementation and effective implementation of the Durban Declaration ”.
All the preparations for the Durban IV conference insist on this “full implementation” of the Durban Declaration.
Durban IV therefore has the explicit objective of completing a deligitimation of Israel and validating many forms of anti-Semitism, including Holocaust denial.
The inevitable consequence of such a process would be to decriminalize anti-Israel and anti-Jewish aggressions (conventional warfare, preparations for an unconventional war, terrorism, boycott), and to criminalize any possible responses, military or political, to these assaults.
Incidentally, a reaffirmation of the Durban Declaration could halt the ongoing peace process between Israel and many Arab countries.
Moreover, Durban IV is stepping up its "anti-racist" activism against all Western countries.
The preparatory documents indeed insist on a comprehensive (global) policy of "reparations, racial justice and equality for people of African origin". And therefore on the officialization of a “compensation” for Africa and the black world in general, on racial criteria, because of the “crimes against humanity” of slavery and colonization (the West being presumed to be the only ones in history to have committed such crimes, or to be or to have been guilty of racism or human rights abuses).
This policy, according to the preparatory documents, could eventually lead to legal action.
This amounts to endorsing, under the guise of anti-racism, an ideology and practices that are counter-racist or "racialist", absolutely contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to the European Declaration of Rights. of Man and French universalist traditions.
Clearly, it is neither in the interest nor in the honor of France to condone anti-Semitism and racialism.
France must not only steer clear of Durban IV but denounce this conference for what it is: a war machine against democracy and genuine anti-racism."