So hopefully by now, you’re getting the gist of the Israeli government’s campaign. They work closely with various NGOs that make up the pro-occupation/pro-Israel lobby. The Israel Project, for example, functions as a PR arm. There’s also NGO Monitor and UN Watch here in Geneva. The strategy is to discredit Durban, discredit the UN, discredit human rights organizations by actually using–but only in the most shallow way- the language of human rights. It’s brilliant and amoral. I talk to some racial justice activists from the United States (more later) who talk about how the anti-Semitism charge against Durban makes it almost impossible for them to even talk about their work on it. I realize I am witnessing a massive, coordinated re-branding campaign.

Example A, photos above and below: delegates encountered dozens of well-dressed young people standing in line formation for the cameras in front of the accreditations entrance at the UN today. I stopped and spoke to one of them. “What group are you with?” I asked. “We’re just a bunch of students from all over the world.” He struggles with English. “Are you working on Darfur?” I ask. Uncomfortable silence..”about the behavior of the United Nations with some problems with human rights. We protest, because it’s not normal….that nobody cares about that.”

I move on and there are dozens more. None of the signs mention the name of any sponsoring group. They’re just kids who have been told to stand there with these signs and duct tape on their mouths. It’s pretty clear they aren’t actually women’s and gay rights and Darfur activists. I wonder if they even know what the signs say, though they did get some sort of basic message training. It’s a good photo op, so the organizers have my admiration.

Still, it seems like a form of child abuse. Plus, of course, by weakening the conference and the UN, they are directly sabotaging the work of all the racial justice groups that have come here to work on substantive issues. It’s beyond cynical.

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