13 - 19 September 2001
Issue No.551
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 September 2001 Issue No.551 |
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Stand up, speak out
When Durban is remembered, it will be as the place where international civil society began to dismantle Israel's apartheid, writes Raji Sourani*
For over a week, the world watched anxiously as diplomats at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa crowded in back rooms at late hours, wrangling over words only to produce yet another pro forma expression of concern over "the plight of the Palestinian people."
It was only at the conference's NGO Forum that the victims of racism worldwide raised their voices loudly and clearly, and no single issue prompted as much consensus as Palestine.
The overwhelming support for the cause was a surprise even to the Palestinian and Arab NGOs that had worked so hard to prepare for the conference. Of some 3,500 civil society groups attending the forum, nearly all supported a Declaration that condemned "Israel's brand of apartheid as a crime against humanity... characterised by separation and segregation, dispossession, restricted land access, denationalisation, 'bantustanisation,' and inhumane acts."
The NGO Programme of Action, however, did more than appeal to governments to implement long-ignored UN resolutions and enforce much-offended international law; it called upon global civil society to take action and launch a worldwide campaign against Israel, based on the anti-apartheid movement. Steps in this direction are already being taken thanks to the alliances forged in Durban.
Ironically, some of the credit for this should go to Israel. Constant media coverage of the situation in Palestine, prompted mainly by Sharon's continued attacks, focused the attention of civil society groups and gave the issue the urgency it deserved. Moreover, the threat of a US-Israeli boycott or walkout, which had loomed for months, forced the issue to the top of the agenda, sparking the opposition of a whole spectrum of groups working on various issues.
But the successes also resulted from an increasing awareness that in order to be effective, victims of racism everywhere must stand up and speak out together in the face of injustice. This manifested itself both in the near- universal condemnation of Israel and in the active support Palestinian and Arab groups gave other causes at the forum, among them the Dalits in India and reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Palestinian and Arab activists had seized on this sense of solidarity in their preparations for the conference. In July, they hosted a visit to the occupied territories by a coalition of South African NGOs, whose representatives remarked that the war being perpetrated against civilians there now was beyond anything they had seen in their struggle against apartheid. Throughout the year, Palestinian and international civil society groups continued to speak the truth about the situation, in contrast to the conspiracy of silence amongst governments in Europe and the US's immoral support for Israel.
One thing should be clear: despite ridicule from their governments as agents of the West or out-of-touch idealists, Palestinian and Arab NGO workers firmly established themselves in Durban as a force to be reckoned with. Not only were they far more effective than the PLO and Arab states in securing an unequivocal condemnation of Israel's crimes, but they also spoke out forcefully on issues within the Arab world, from slavery in Sudan to the oppression of the Kurds.
In light of such efficiency, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson's decision to reject the NGO Declaration came as a deep disappointment. More seriously, it constituted a transgression of her role as the conference facilitator. Nevertheless, it did nothing to diminish the statement's significance. Approved by over 3,500 civil society groups and addressing a wide range of issues, it stands on its own as an expression of the victims' will, even if Mrs Robinson has succumbed to pressure from Israel and its allies and closed her ears to their voices.
The truth that some governments tried to suppress at Durban was that in every generation, one cause emerges to prominence, galvanising world public opinion against the arrogant and brutal exercise of power. In the 1960s, it was Vietnam; in the 1980s, apartheid South Africa. The message from the NGO Forum in Durban was clear: in our times, the struggle is for Palestine.
This reveals an additional ingredient contributing to the success at the NGO Forum: the venue. Holding the conference in a democratic South Africa grounded the discussions in a sense of urgency and hope that would most likely have been absent in a bustling metropolis or picturesque resort in Europe. Moreover, the long-standing ties between South African and Palestinian activists made it only fitting that such an affirmation of solidarity should be expressed in Durban.
South Africa's experience shows that, despite the apathy or complicity of governments, concerted action by civil society in the face of injustice is possible -- and therefore necessary. That is why, years from now, Durban may be remembered not as the site of a bitter government conference, but as the birthplace of an international struggle to end Israel's apartheid once and for all.
* The writer is director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza.
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