Angry in the Great White North

The decision by the Conservative government, announced by Jason Kenney (multiculturalism and Canadian identity), to withdraw all participation in the UN-sponsored Durban II anti-racism conference has caused some confusion with the opposition.

The Durban I conference in 2001 turned into a anti-Semitic West-bashing spectacle of the worst kind.  Pro-Hitler pamphlets being handed out.  The Protocols of Zion for sale. 

Given the sort of rage directed at Israel and at the West in general by many of the NDP's core supporters, it was heartening to see that the NDP had come around to support the Conservative government's decision not to participate in the Durban II conference coming in 2009.

These people would love to see Canada at this conference.  Consider this sarcastic comment from one of the moderators of the rabble forum:

Yes, it's wonderful to see the NDP lending support to the status quo, and comforting the comfortable. A quick glance at this thread to see who is cheering the NDP for this should tell people all they need to know about what the NDP stands for these days: colonialism, occupation, liberalism, and white western hegemony.

Indeed, some find it difficult to understand why anti-Semitism should be such a concern.  There just aren't all that many Jews:

I am always suprised [sic] at the power this base is supposed to have. Canada has 31 million or so people here. Of that 300,000 are Jews.

Where is this influencial [sic] political base? Ridings like Mont Royal or Thornhill have the 2 largest percentages of Jewish people but neither is 40%.

These folks have noted the change in the NDP position from the initial one stated by MP Bill Siksay, in which the NDP maintained that Canada ought to be at that conference.  An email campaign was started to demand that the NDP position be that Canada attend the conference, anti-Semitism (sorry, that is to say a principled stand against Israeli apartheid policies supported by the imperialistic Americans and their stooges) notwithstanding.

Now the griping and rudeness that passes for discussion on rabble's forums is easily ignored, but for the fact that the NDP has taken down the page that stated the party's position in favour of the government's decision.  I'll repeat the entire text of the original NDP statement on Durban II here:

The NDP is deeply committed to fighting racism and intolerance in Canada and around the world, said NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) and NDP International Human Rights Critic Wayne Marston (Hamilton-East Stoney Creek).

“We are deeply concerned that the integrity of the UN Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance has been compromised as a result of poor structure and a lack of real anti-racism leadership on the planning committee,” said Dewar.

According to the New Democrat MPs, the first UN anti-racism conference, held in Durban in 2001, became little more than a forum for spreading hatred and was a missed opportunity to work multilaterally to fight racism, discrimination and intolerance.

“New Democrats believe that the issue of anti-racism must be led by international voices that are respected throughout the world community,” said Marston. “This conference was clearly failing to achieve that.”

The NDP MPs also called on the Harper Conservatives to show real leadership on the issue. “Canada should not only cancel its participation in Durban II, but it should also take a role in proposing an alternative,” said Dewar. “Canada should take the initiative and host an international forum on the issues of racism, discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance. Our country can serve as a platform for a world-wide discussion committed to uprooting racism.”

“The cancellation of our participation doesn’t mean that the Harper government can continue to sit on its hands and ignore the serious problems of racism that still exist in Canada,” said Marston. “Mr. Kenney should, without delay, assure the Government of Canada’s continued funding for the Anti-Racism Council of Canada.”

This statement is gone.  Now you get "Access denied".  The rabble folks are hoping that this means the NDP is shifting its position...again:

Perhaps this is a hopeful sign that the NDP is reconsidering its position?

I think that's a reasonable assumption. A pure guess on my part but this may indicate that the entire parliamentary caucus may make the call on this issue, rather than just the critics.

As much as I like and respect Bill Siksay, he may have had a momentary brain cramp forgetting that we was no longer the human rights critic (except for LGBT issues) when the CTV reporter originally called for reaction. Then the real critics may have felt pressure to "set the record straight" rather than waiting to take it to the caucus to decide.

Whatever the reason, I would welcome a re-think of the matter by the entire parliamentary caucus.

And kudos to remind for being so quick off the mark by emailing the NDP MPs. I haven't gotten around to sending my email yet.

Actually, I don't think it's all that reasonable.  I think it is just a technical glitch or some sort of cosmetic update being made to the page.  It might be back up 10 seconds after I post this article.

But just in case it isn't...well...I'll keep an eye for the press release to make a reappearance.

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