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It
has been fourteen years since the historic United Nations World
Conference Against Racism took place in Durban, South Africa. We should
always remember the role the Durban 400 played in impacting the outcome
of this most important event in history.
The Durban 400 was made up of the December 12th Movement International
Secretariat and the National Black United Front (NBUF) that were
leading participants in the United Nations World Conference Against
Racism (WCAR) that was held in Durban, South Africa from August 31st
through September 7, 2001. Because the United States did not agree with
many of the issues being raised at this conference, particularly, the
push by African people worldwide to declare that the Trans Atlantic
Slave Trade and Slavery are a Crime Against Humanity and that
Reparations are owed to African people in the Diaspora and on the
continent of Africa, the United States withdrew their low level
delegation and left only the Ambassador to South Africa to represent
them.
The role of the United States and Western Europe (WEO) to subvert the
agenda “provided the indisputable proof” that the issues we fought for,
to be included in the Durban Declaration, went to the “heart of the
World Conference Against Racism.” For over two years, representatives
from the Durban 400 traveled throughout the world attending the various
preparatory meetings for the WCAR, advocating our agenda that was
simple and focused: 1) Declaration of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade,
Slavery, and Colonialism as Crimes Against Humanity; 2) Reparations for
African people on the continent and in the Diaspora; 3) Recognition of
the Economic Base of Racism.
As the (Non Governmental Organization) International Association
Against Torture pointed out in their intervention at the WCAR,
“From the beginning they were clear (The U.S. and the WEO Group) that a
conference which addressed racism and racial discrimination could only
have one outcome— to subject them to the same human rights standards
which they imperiously demand that the developing world uncomplainingly
submit to and to identify them as perpetrators of history’s greatest
crime against humanity, the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery.”
How mighty can the United States be without acknowledging, apologizing,
and paying reparations to African people for the Greatest Crime Against
Humanity they participated in, the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, Slavery,
and Colonialism?
As researched by the UNESCO Slave Trade Project, the Museum of the
Atlantic Slave Trade, and the Harvard Database on Slave Voyages,
twenty-eight to forty-two million African people were captured and
enslaved between 1441 and 1888… Four to six million Africans, 40% of
all captives and slaves, were murdered or died along the entire “way of
death…”
Just as other people never forget their history and the tragedies and
crimes committed against them, neither should African people.
Therefore, the Durban 400 declared a victory in contributing to the
final outcome of the Durban Declaration that reflects the interests of
African people by citing:
“We acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade, including the
transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history
of humanity not only because of their abhorrent barbarism but
also in terms of their magnitude, organized nature and especially
their negation of the essence of the victims and further acknowledge
that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity and
should always have been so…”
Although the language of the Durban Declaration did not specifically
call for reparations for African people, it is now our duty to
intensify our organizing in demanding the United States Government and
U. S. Corporations pay reparations. We must continue to educate the
African Community of America on the continued need to organize and
revitalize the Reparations Movement.
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BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Conrad W. Worrill, PhD, is the National Chairman Emeritus of the National Black United Front (NBUF). Contact Dr. Worrill and BC.
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 is published every Thursday |
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD |
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA |
Publisher:
Peter Gamble |
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