Racism Protesters Stand Disunited

Some shouted “Zionism is racism!” waved Palestinian flags and displayed posters that said “Apartheid is Real.” But few people looked up.

Others screamed “South Africa is not for sale!” chanted slogans in their native Zulu, blew whistles and vowed to fight against government policies they said leave the poor without water or electricity. And few people listened.

Still others marched quietly to the rhythm of a drum, holding signs that called for an end to “caste discrimination,” which they said condemns India’s Dalits, or “untouchables,” to poverty and abuse. Few people turned to watch.

There is a lot of dissatisfaction in this Indian Ocean port city, where groups representing oppressed peoples from around the globe find themselves competing to be heard at the World Conference Against Racism, scheduled to officially open today. For three days, nongovernmental groups have held their own forum as part of the gathering. They have taken up many of the sensitive causes that government leaders tend to avoid, from India’s caste system to rights for Kurds, Roma, Tibetans and even native Hawaiians.

But the groups raising these issues have hardly united and have instead been fighting for the attention of the world media, the United Nations, delegates to the convention and each other. The nongovernmental forum was held inside the Kingsmead Stadium, a downtown cricket arena, and when groups rallied or protested or hollered, they were rallying, protesting and hollering to one another.

“We are given the illusion we are dealing with racism,” Ashraf Bauomi, an Egyptian activist with the Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organization, said to hundreds gathered in a tent for a panel discussion. “We are all fragmented. Everybody is thinking of their own problems. What we should be doing is coming up with the commonality between us.”

Jerry Nkeli of the South African Human Rights Commission said he was frustrated that some tried to turn the event into a catchall for popular causes.

“This would have been better if it was a conference on human rights,” he said. “But it’s not. People want to talk about age discrimination, but tell me, what does that have to do with racism? They want to put sexual orientation on the agenda. We object, and they say we are homophobic--but this is a conference on racism.”

The gathering--formally called the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance--was doomed to controversy even before the first planeload of delegates arrived. If the United Nations, which is sponsoring the conference, thought that it would be able to deal with racism independent of politics, it learned quickly that that was impossible. Palestinians and their supporters have pushed to declare Israel a racist state. Some African nations want the West to pay reparations for centuries of slavery.

Although those items have been toned down in the formal agenda, they still hover over the conference, frustrating many.

“The issue of racism is too big to reduce it to the controversy about the Middle East,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who arrived here Thursday. “Neither Israel nor any other country should be singled out for criticism during the conference.”

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell recently decided not to attend the conference, and the United States announced Wednesday that it was sending only a mid-level delegation in protest over language in a draft resolution that it considers anti-Semitic. The draft includes a statement that the conference “calls upon all related United Nations organs to bring the foreign occupation of Jerusalem by Israel, together with its racist practices, to an end . . . “

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan saw firsthand Thursday how acrimonious the gathering had become. Caribbean blacks, Latinos, Dalits, Palestinians and others challenged Annan at a meeting to have the conference give their issues greater attention. When he avoided discussing the caste system--saying the Dalit leader had made a statement, not asked a question--he was heckled by the group’s supporters.

“There is no reason for you, as a mature person, to stand and behave like that,” Annan reprimanded. “I heard you.”

During his prepared speech, Annan acknowledged the limitations placed on such a conference and seemed to lower expectations, saying the work of nongovernmental organizations is far more important than any document the formal conference might finally adopt when it concludes next Friday.

“Many of you, I know, feel your concerns are not adequately represented,” he said. “But your anger can be valuable if you channel this into a worldwide racism struggle where all of your agendas converge.”

If there was one overarching positive note to the gathering, emphasized by Annan and other human rights advocates, it was that it has attracted world attention to issues that otherwise were rarely discussed, such as discrimination against Roma, also called Gypsies, and Dalits.

But that did little to placate people who came here hoping to be helped in a tangible way.

“The World Conference Against Racism is discriminating against us by not putting our concerns on their agenda,” said Hiranya Srestha, a Dalit from Nepal.

But the bitterness and tension were most evident in the conflict between Palestinians and Israel, which threatened to overshadow the meetings. Palestinians and their supporters papered the entrance to the stadium with virulently anti-Israel posters, drawings and leaflets.

Confrontations often broke out as the few supporters of Israel who are here tried to hand out leaflets, only to be shouted down. On Thursday morning, a group of Jewish leaders from around the world tried to hold a news conference to discuss their concerns, only to have supporters of the Palestinians interrupt and declare that they were being discriminated against--because they were not being given the chance to respond.

Controversy raged not only at the stadium but also outside the fenced compound. Many poor South Africans complained bitterly about a conference being held in their backyard that they could not attend because they could not afford the admission fee of about $90. Many also expressed anger that the conference, by being held in post-apartheid South Africa, seemed to be an endorsement for the current government and its policies.

“Racism is a problem, but major problems we face in the country are poverty and access to basic necessities,” said Virginia Setshedi, an activist from Soweto.