Answering US/World RACISM toward Muslims/Palestinians/Jews/Israelis with Fairness, Peace & Justice

Let's Open the Dialogue!!!

Controversy over Tutu US visit:
here

See the following URGENT food for thought & ACTION: UN Racism conference, global dialogue & related

(while working with diverse leaders & avoiding racism toward all peoples/groups Israeli & Jewish)

UN's Racism Conference, Israel/US Peacemakers,"Stallers", "Brick ADC on Al-Jazeera - Discussion of Obama Outreach Efforts to Arab and Muslim Worlds Walls"

How might we each & all put the pressure on most effectively toward peacemaking with Iran/Palestinians/Arab leaders?

Are there mixed messages coming from Washington? What sort? How might we mitigate/mediate as people who care about peace, justice, global dialogue & understanding?

FIRST, if you are a writer/rights & media person, you may want to contact this most helpful group: ADC for recent dialogues and peace effort including reports from an international broadcast that took place today, 3 pm EST, Monday, April 13, 2009:
ADC Live on Al-Jazeera to Discuss Obama Outreach Efforts to Arab and Muslim Worlds

Washington, DC | April 12, 2009 | www.adc.org | Monday April 13, 2009, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) will be represented live by Kareem Shora, National Executive Director, on the Al-Jazeera Arabic news television network.

Shora will appear on Al-Jazeera's primetime news program,"Min Washington" (From Washington) worldwide at 3:00 pm (EST) (10:00 pm in most of the Middle East).

The topics of discussion will be the Obama Administration's recent effort to reach out to the Arab and Muslim worlds; including President Obama's recent remarks to the Turkish Parliament. Shora will also discuss the ongoing challenges of combating Islamophobia and anti-Arab intolerance. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll indicated that there is still "a broad lack of familiarity" with Islam in the United States with "about 48 percent of participants saying they have an unfavorable view of Islam" and nearly three in 10 saying that mainstream Islam advocates violence.


The program can be viewed live online at: http://www.aljazeera.net/Channel/Livestreaming
As with all scheduled live television programming, the show is subject to change without notice.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which is non sectarian and non partisan, is the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States. It was founded in 1980, by former Senator James Abourezk to protect the civil rights of people of Arab descent in the United States and to promote the cultural heritage of the Arabs. ADC has 38 chapters nationwide, including chapters in every major city in the country, and members in all 50 states.


The ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI), which was founded in 1981, is a Section 501(c)(3) educational organization that sponsors a wide range of programs on behalf of Arab Americans and of importance to all Americans. ADC-RI programs include research studies, seminars, conferences and publications that document and analyze the discrimination faced by Arab Americans in the workplace, schools, media, and governmental agencies and institutions. ADC-RI also celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Arabs.
__________________________________________
Contact: Yousef Munayyer

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee | www.adc.org
1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW | Washington, DC | 20007
Tel: 202-244-2990 | Fax: 202-244-7968 | E-mail: media@adc.org
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http://www.alternet.org/audits/136295/will_israel_attack_mixed_messages_from_washington_could_lead_to_catastrophe_in_iran/

MARLENE NADLE
Will Obama be a no-go to racism conference?
By Marlene Nadle | April 13, 2009

THERE IS A bitter irony in America's first black president continuing to boycott the UN's international conference on racism scheduled for this month.

President Barack Obama's position on attending the conference translates roughly into: Do it our way or we won't play. He has already gotten all references to Israel, to reparations for slavery, and to a proposed ban on speech defaming any religion dropped from the conference's draft document. Yet, he is still unwilling to have the United States attend. Even if the administration bullies its way into getting its final points, it is not really a win for the United States.

Obama's foot dragging and threat of a boycott will begin to deplete whatever goodwill he has created for himself and America in the nations of color. People in those countries, like many Americans, hoped he would head up the fight for racial justice, not become one of the obstacles to it.

The president's decision to boycott will undercut his attempt in Turkey to reach out to the Muslim world. It has been reported that the boycott was urged by members of the Jewish community in both the United States and Israel. If he continues to cave to that pressure, it will be seen in the Muslim world as more proof that America cannot be counted on as an honest broker in any peace process.

Despite the harm his threat of a boycott is doing, his administration continues its power play. State Department Spokesman Robert A. Wood said the United States would reengage in the conference only if its document meets our criteria. The main remaining objection is to a section reaffirming the declaration of the 2001 UN conference on racism.

That 2001 declaration contains statements many Israelis consider hostile. Obama seems to be adopting a policy of killing the messenger rather than dealing with the message. He is reacting to the symptoms, not the cause. It is a narrow, ineffective response to Arab and world anger at Israel, some of it ugly, some of it anti-Semitic, but much of it rage over legitimate grievances. By limiting people's right to speak their feelings and be heard, President Obama will have neutered the conference even if the United States finally participates in it.

Whatever Obama's final decision on the boycott, some members of the Congressional Black Caucus are planning to attend the conference. Although Congress members don't usually travel when in session, the leadership of the House Foreign Relations Committee is said to be open to the idea.

Meanwhile, the Black Caucus is trying to persuade the administration to attend, but without great success so far. In a meeting with State Department officials, the Caucus asked the obvious question: Why not just reject the parts of the document Obama cannot support, and go to the conference anyway? There is nothing radical about that. It is standard UN procedure to place a reservation on a particular paragraph of a document and then go on to endorse the rest of the document.

Instead of dealing with the logic of the Caucus's question, the State Department staff just sputtered on about people trying to hijack the conference.

In the run-up to the conference, the Congressional Black Caucus will continue to speak to State Department officials. Its case will be strengthened by a national Call-Obama campaign organized by the TransAfrica Forum, which is working with the Caucus. In its statement announcing the campaign, the Forum said, "There is a widespread belief in the administration that our communities simply do not care about the upcoming conference. We know differently."

It was, perhaps, a way of saying Obama is taking America's black community for granted.

The chilling effect on the goodwill toward the States will only grow with Obama's continued silence and reluctance to commit to attending the conference. Hopefully, he is "flexible" enough and brave enough to reverse the boycott before it does more damage to America and his administration.

Marlene Nadle is a foreign affairs journalist and an associate of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies at the New School University in New York.

© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

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Also see: Three Provocations - The Method in Madness by Uri Avnery
http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery02132007.html