Should The U.S Have Boycotted The UN Conference On Racism?

Apparently,the U.S has decided that it will not attend a UN conference on racism.One of the reasons given was that Zionism is being compared to racism.And that,among other things,is unacceptable to the U.S.Remember when Rev. Jackson said that Barack Obama will stop "the zionist" influence in US policy if he became president.Looks like he was completely wrong about that!

Like me,many folks feel that it was a mistake for the U.S to boycott this important human rights event because they disagreed with the language & the ideology that was being presented there.Congresswoman Barbara Lee made an excellent point when she said that the Obama administration is being inconsistent with their policy of listening to those we don't agree with.Here's more from BBC News:

"The state department said it was "with regret" that the US had decided to boycott the conference.

"The text still contains language that reaffirms in toto the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action [DDPA] from 2001, which the United States has long said it is unable to support," it said in a statement.

"Its inclusion in the review conference document has the same effect as inserting that original text into the current document and re-adopting it.

"The DDPA singles out one particular conflict and prejudges key issues that can only be resolved in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.

"The United States also has serious concerns with relatively new additions to the text regarding 'incitement', that run counter to the US commitment to unfettered free speech."

Internal debate has raged in the US for weeks on whether to attend, the Associated Press news agency reports from Washington.

Pro-Israel groups vehemently opposed participation while human rights advocates and organisations like TransAfrica and members of the Congressional Black Caucus thought it was important to attend.

Immediately after the announcement, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who heads the black caucus in Congress, said the group was "deeply dismayed" by the boycott.

"This decision is inconsistent with the administration's policy of engaging with those we agree with and those we disagree with..." she said.

"The US is making it more difficult for it to play a leadership role on UN Human Rights Council as it states it plans to do. This is a missed opportunity, plain and simple."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the whole article here.