An Open Letter to President Obama: Attend the Upcoming United Nations Durban Review Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related intolerance
Demonstrators at the first World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.
The United Against Racism Coalition, an allied call to end the US boycott of the World Conference Against Racism and for genuine justice for Palestine, issued an open letter to the Obama Administration urging United States participation in the upcoming United Nations Durban Review of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), to be held in Geneva, Switzerland April 20 - 24. The United Against Racism coalition consists of a broad range of individuals and organizations concerned with the application of civil and human rights protections for immigrants and the communities of Arab, Indigenous, Jewish, African, and Latin descent within the US. The open letter calls on President Obama to apply his campaign themes of hope, change and renewed international diplomacy to this global forum to address issues of racial injustice domestically and internationally. This letter reflects a growing coalition of grassroots Palestinian, immigrant and indigenous rights, and racial and economic justice organizations who are committed to building a united struggle against racism at home and abroad. IJAN has been involved in the organizing of this coalition. Zionist support for Israel stifles anti-racist progress within the United States through false accusations of antisemitism against grassroots organizations that ally with the Palestinian struggle, often thwarting cross-movement building. We seek to interrupt this strategy with anti-Zionist Jewish participation in those coalitions. We encourage people to write letters to the U.S. administration urging their participation, and/or to write similar letters to their governments if they are considering boycott. If you are in the U.S., please add your individual signatures and organizational endorsements to this letter through the following link: http://www.unitedagainstracism.net. We can then also include you and your organization as this effort continues to build.
Yours, United Against Racism Coalition, adhoc coordinating committee: Cindy Wiesner, national organizer, Grassroots Global Justice
Darryl Johnson, staff, American Friends Service Committee
Gabriel Camacho, staff, American Friends Service Committee
Jaime Veve, organizer, NYC Transit Workers Union
Kali Akuno, national organizer, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Mariana Viturro, international organizer, IJAN & co-director, St. Peter’s Housing Committee
Merrie Najimy, staff American-Arab anti-Discrimination Committee
Monadel Herzallah, national organizer, USPCN
Monamie Maulik, staff, Desis Rising Up & Moving
Nadeen Elshorafa, member, Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Noura Erakat, national coordinating committee member, USPCN
Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi-AMED, professor, San Francisco State University
Sara Kershnar, international organizer, IJAN
Tammy Luu Bang, organizer, Labor Community Strategy Center | 
No comments:
Post a Comment