The build up to the United Nations world conference on racism and xenophobia has been dominated by the question of American attendance. The United States Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, will not be there because of what he regards as offensive language against Israel in the draft text for discussion at the conference. The US has also been reluctant on the issue of payments in reparation for slavery.
Mr Powell's absence may serve to diminish the importance of the conference, but racism concerns a much broader range of issues than the type of language used by Israel's opponents. It has been, and remains, one of the strongest forces for evil on the planet. It is a very welcome development, therefore, that this conference is taking place in South Africa, which has suffered from decades of the most vicious institutionalised racism.
In that country people were classified strictly according to the colour of their skin. A person's complexion and racial origin determined where he or she could live, whether ownership of property was permitted, what schools and colleges could be attended, what area of a beach could be frequented, right down to the public toilet a person was permitted to use. A recently published and reliable survey shows that, despite a past dominated by government-imposed racism, South Africa has developed an extremely healthy and tolerant attitude to race in the seven years since the apartheid regime was brought to an end.
There are few better examples than this of how racism can be overcome. All the countries attending the Durban conference, including this State, would do well to attempt to learn from the South African experience. It is understandable, if unfortunate, that the current extremely fraught situation in the Middle East should cause problems for the United States. But the organisers have made strong efforts to change texts in order to ensure the US attends.
Mr Powell's absence may cause a slight dent in the conference's image. It may, however, do much more damage to the reputation of President Bush's administration. Vice-President Cheney's vote against a motion calling for the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1986 has been frequently cited. This might have been excused at the time by lack of information on the true situation in South Africa. But Mr Cheney has attempted in recent weeks to defend and reiterate his stance of 15 years ago. Judged by their current isolationist and unilateralist attitudes the political leaders of the United States have a long way to go before achieving the international status and respect attained by Mr Mandela.