Ranting and Raving at the UN

In the wake of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's racist rant at the United Nations conference against racism, Canada's Prime Minister warned against being "blind to the realities" of The Islamic Republic of Iran's agenda. "We are very concerned that, around the world, anti-Semitism is growing in volume and acceptance, justified ... by opposition to Israel itself", warned Stephen Harper. "Canada will not lend its name to an international conference that promotes these kinds of things."

In fact, Canada, as the first country to declare its non-attendance at Durban II, has seen its concerns - that this conference, like the original in Durban descending to a West- and Israel-bashing free-for all, leading to Canada's boycott - validated by the opening scenario. One where a country known as abusive of human rights, appearing before other human-rights abusers, could open the conference with a scathing denunciation of a human-rights respecting democracy.

Spurring a walk-out by 23 members of the European Union, and an additional other 17 countries in all. Quite aside from the nine Western countries that had decided on the record of the original conference and its current shaping of the same old agenda to reflect the original, that they too would prefer to boycott the proceedings than to attend, effectively granting it a legitimacy it doesn't deserve.

And while Ban Ki-Moon expressed his agitated disappointment at the 'divisiveness' of Iran's Ahmadinejad's speech, no censure was brought forward by the United Nations itself. Yet the United Nations saw fit to remove the credentials of a number of Jewish NGOs, some 46 badges in total. Revoked, ostensibly as a result of the delegates' 'disruptive behaviour'. Disruptive in that they identified the conference, its organizers and Mr. Ahmadinejad specifically as hypocritical racists.

Some of those who lost their credentials, representing EU Jewish student groups, did so on the basis of their having rushed the podium during Ahmadinejad's speech. Others were barred having been found to be in possession of clown paraphernalia, ostensibly planning yet another disruption. The UN is still considering pulling accreditation of entire groups if investigation indicates a co-ordinated disruption of events, though no charges will be filed.

"I don't think that throwing a nose is a criminal offence" remarked one UN official. Two Iranians were expelled for distributing "offensive materials", representing a departure from the original Durban conference, when such offensive materials were treated as authentically useful propaganda proving a world-wide Zionist conspiracy, and supporting delegates' inspired views of Israel as a demonic inhumane entity with an agenda to rule the world and slaughter innocent Arabs.

There was a victory for the UN's Secretary General, however, in that he was successful in persuading Ahmadinejad to tone down his accusatory rhetoric against Israel to a degree. The key phrase: "on the pretext of Jewish sufferings and the abuse of the question of the Holocaust", was merely inferred, when speaking of the Allies' creation of the State of Israel, to assuage world guilt, and disenfranchise the Palestinians.

Hard to swallow, that a seasoned diplomat like Mr. Ban couldn't foresee the outcome of welcoming the bombastic Mr. Ahmadinejad as an 'honoured guest' speaker. But this is the United Nations, a creation that sees itself other than what it actually presents to the world; not a successful moral body, representing fully the interests of all its members equally; campaigning against abusive regimes, but one that clasps them to its bosom.

Israel gained much by that willingness on the part of Mr. Ahmadinejad to forego his usual Holocaust-denial. On this occasion he trod lightly on Israel's reputation, speaking of it only as a "cruel and racist regime". Just a bit of light-hearted, triumphalist slander.