Earlier this month delegates from all over the world got together in Geneva for a conference on xenophobia, racial discrimination and racism.
When the United States and some European nations boycotted the proceedings, Representative Barbara Lee objected:
Those who supported the Obama administration’s attending the conference said their attitude was not altered by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks. “It is unfortunate that the inappropriate and out-of-line remarks of Ahmadinejad would obscure the only international forum to address racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia,†Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, said in a statement by the Congressional Black Caucus.
So the question is, left to their own devices, did the delegates, dedicated to their essential work, look into this at all?
A professor at the American University here recently ordered copies of “The Diary of Anne Frank” for his classes, only to learn that the book is banned. Inquiring further, he discovered a long list of prohibited books, films and music.
This is perplexing — and deeply ironic — because Beirut has been named UNESCO’s 2009 “World Book Capital City.” Just last week “World Book and Copyright Day” was kicked off with a variety of readings and exhibits that honor “conformity to the principles of freedom of expression [and] freedom to publish,” as stated by the UNESCO Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the UNESCO’s “Florence Agreement.” The catch is that Lebanon has not signed the Florence Agreement, which focuses on the free circulation of print and audio-visual material.
Even a partial list of books banned in Lebanon gives pause: William Styron’s “Sophie’s Choice”; Thomas Keneally’s “Schindler’s List”; Thomas Friedman’s “From Beirut to Jerusalem”; books by Philip Roth, Saul Bellow and Isaac Bashevis Singer. In fact, all books that portray Jews, Israel or Zionism favorably are banned.
And you can’t even get a Jane Fonda movie. Why not? Because she visited Israel once in 1982!
Interestingly, Samir Kuntar visited Israel and is quite a celebrity in Lebanon. But that’s different because he went to Israel to kill Jews.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
When Kuntar returned to his home village in Lebanon after the Israelis released him as part of the exchange for the remains of two murdered soldiers, he was greeted by a sign hailing him as the symbol of the Palestinian people.
For once, something from the Arabs I agree with.
Speaking of prisoner exchanges, if Shalit is still alive and the Israelis have to release hundreds of terrorists for one Israeli, will anyone apply “disproportionate” to that?