[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens to Obama: US must participate in Durban 2 int'l antiracism summit

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, April 16, 2009



Green Party to Obama: US must participate in Durban 2 international
antiracism summit

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on
international and human rights issues http://www.gp.org/speakers

• "The First 100 Days: What Would a Green Administration Look Like?"
(video and text) http://www.gp.org/first100


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called US participation in the
Durban Review Conference an imperative and called on President Obama to
drop earlier plans to avoid the antiracism conference.

The Durban Review Conference ('Durban 2'), an international summit to
review progress in the fight against racism since the first meeting in
2001 in Durban, South Africa, will take place from April 20 to 24, 2009,
at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland
(http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/index.shtml).

2008 Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, who attended the
first Durban meeting as a US Representative from Georgia, sent a message
to President Obama expressing "great disappointment" over the Durban 2
pullout:

"Even the Bush Administration, under pressure from the Congressional
Black Caucus, provided some funding for the United Nations effort and
sent staff to support the Congressional delegation that attended the
Conference....  I would encourage you to please reconsider this decision
and not only attend the Conference, but also provide funding to ensure
its success."  ("Ruminations on President Obama's Tenure Thus Far and
'Acceptable Punditry,'" March 2, 2009,
http://www.gp.org/cynthia/index.shtml)

Rosa Clemente, Green Vice Presidential candidate in 2008, also attended
the 2001 Durban conference and sat on the Reparations Committee.  The
Green Party protested the Bush Administration's withdrawal from Durban 1
in 2001 (http://www.gp.org/press/pr_08_13_01.html).

"We are encouraged by recent reports that senior White House officials
may be leaning in favor of participating in Durban 2," said Ms. Clemente
(http://www.gp.org/speakers/tour-rosa.shtml), who was present in Durban
1 and witnessed the US pullout.  ("U.S. leaning toward taking part in
Durban 2 summit," Haaretz, April 12,
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078011.html)

"The election of an African American president has not erased racism
within US borders.  Enormous ethnic disparities remain in economics,
opportunity, the justice and incarceration systems, the election system
in many states, immigration policies, environmental policies such as the
citing of toxic plants and dumps, and Native American land rights.
We've also failed to address reparations for past injustices, from
slavery to Jim Crow to mid 20th century Federal Housing Administration
redlining that still suppresses the financial power of African
Americans.  President Obama can show he's serious about eliminating
racism in the US and around the world by sending representatives to
Durban 2," Ms. Clemente added.

Greens expressed concern over the removal of language addressing
reparations, the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity,
as well as paragraphs strengthening the Working Group of Experts on
People of African Descent (UN Commission on Human Rights), from
documents by the Durban review committee.

The most publicly discussed reason for avoidance of Durban 2 by the US
and European nations is expected criticism of Israel for its brutal
treatment of Palestinians in over 40 years of occupation, including the
recent invasion of Gaza, and apartheid-style denial of human rights to
non-Jewish Israeli citizens.

"The US refuses to hold Israel -- recipient of billions in US aid --
responsible for legally mandated inequality and segregation within its
own borders and conquest of Palestinian lands based on a claim of ethnic
and religious rights," said Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green
Party's International Committee (Speakers Bureau page:
http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=35).  "Because Democratic and
Republican leaders are reluctant to stand up to AIPAC and other
pro-Israel lobbies, American taxpayers' dollars are backing Israel's
government and fueling its military operations.  The same lobbies demand
that the US boycott Durban 2.  The Green Party rejects the idea that
Israel possesses a special right never to be criticized or that such
criticism is antisemitic."

The Green Party of the United States has endorsed the international call
for boycott, divestment, and sanctions as a nonviolent strategy to exert
economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation and guarantee full
human rights, calling reversal of Israel's policies the only hope for
peace and security for all Palestinians and Israelis
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=192).


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Tally of Green election victories
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
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• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

"Obama's Failure on International Human Rights and Racism"
By Vernellia Randall, Professor of Law, University of Dayton, March 21, 2009
http://academic.udayton.edu/Race/ObamaandRacism/Obama06.htm)

"US Posture Toward the Durban Review Conference and Participation in the
UN Human Rights Council"
Press release, February 27, 2009, Robert Wood, Acting Department
Spokesman, Office of the Spokesman, US Department of State
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/02/119892.htm

The 2001 Durban conference http://www.un.org/WCAR

Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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