Two moments of silence
At two Durban Review Conference NGO side-events on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, participants called for a minute of silence, but the two moments could not have been more different.
In the first, “Racism: The road to genocide” organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and other groups, panelist Prof. Charles Small called for the audience to rise and observe a moment of silence in memory of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust. The crowd respectfully complied, and 100+ people commemorated those victims. Iranian NGO representatives, some of whom remained sitting initially, also stood after about 10 seconds of hesitation. Unfortunately, a single individual refused to stand. An individual dressed in Hasidic garb sat, in contrast to the over 100 Jews and non-Jews who stood – probably including individuals who are not the biggest fans of the Jewish people.
At a later meeting, entitled “Human rights, discrimination and Islamophobia and organized and moderated by Interfaith International, a member of the audience (probably from an Iranian NGO) called for a moment of silence to commemorate the “victims of the genocide in Gaza” – most likely in response to the Simon Wiesenthal Center event. This time, perhaps 20 out of 100 participants stood. The majority, who were attending an event that was supposed to “create a space for multi-cultural and -religious dialogue,” rejected the attempt at politics-in-the-guise-of-human-rights.
Hopefully, Durban II will continue to be marked by civil “civil society,” and the virulent 2001 NGO Forum will not resurface.
