ANNOUNCEMENT – PRESS CONFERENCE
Deutsche Version Boycott Durban II!
Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 11am in Berlin
Location:
Presse- und Besucherzentrum, Room 4, in Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung - Entrance Reichstagufer 14, 10117 Berlin
In 2001, the “UN World Conference against Racism” took place in Durban, South Africa. This event turned into a platform of hateful agitation against Israel and the jews while the world’s dictatorships attested each other clean records.
The “Durban Review Conference”, announced for April 2009, will do justice to its name. This time we shall not only witness the usual demonization of Israel (“apartheid”) but also more and more attacks on the freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of expression. Human rights are twisted step by step to work as a means of oppression in the name of religion.
Democratic states are seriously challenged by these dangerous reinterpretations. The foundations of an open society must not be put up for negotiations! In the light of this new push, an unambiguous reaction is more than necessary. The initiators and the subscribers of the petition call Germay and other states of the European Union to boycott the “Durban 2” conference and to push forward a comprehensive reform of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council.
The initiative “Boycott Durban II”
Last year, French novelist and essayist Pascal Bruckner with his call to boycott “Durban II” gave the idea to this initiative. More than 30 journalists, authors, scientists and artists, In Europe, the United States and the Middle East have joined Bruckner’s petition, among them Lars Gustafsson, Jeffrey Herf, Benny Morris, Peter Schneider, Seyran Ates, Necla Kelek, Matthias Küntzel, Sharon Adler, Prof. Arno Lustiger and Ralph Giordano. More than 1,000 people signed the petition which will be handed over to the German Federal Government and to other EU member state governments.
To mark the end of the campaign, a press conference will be held at with Caroline Fourest and other speakers will reaffirm the necessity of a boycott.
Participants of the press conference:
- Caroline Fourest, Author/Publisher, Paris (requested)
- Nasrin Amirsedghi; Publisher, Mainz
- Alex Feuerherdt; Journalist, Bonn
- Klaus Faber; Secretary of State (ret.), Lawyer, chair of the Wissenschaftsforum, Koordinierungsrat, Potsdam
- Anetta Kahane; Chair of the Amadeu-Antonio-Stiftung, Berlin (requested)
Moderation: Thierry Chervel; Chief Editor of the online cultural magazine „Perlentaucher“, Berlin
Cooperation partners:
Group of 25th of November u. Föderation unabh. NGOs, Suleymaniya, Kurdistan/Nordirak; Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin e.V. (MFFB);
Coordination Council of German NGO’s against anti-Semitism; Koordinierungsrat deutscher Nicht-Regierungsorganisationen gegen Antisemitismus:
Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien an der Universität Potsdam, Prof. Dr. Julius H. Schoeps,
Prof. Dr. Lars Rensmann, MMZ-Fellow, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Amadeu-Antonio-Stiftung, Stiftungsvorstandsvorsitzende: Anetta Kahane, Berlin
Claudia Korenke, Vizepräsidentin der Deutsch-Israelischen Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main
Daniel Kilpert M.A., Stellvertretender Bundesvorsitzender des Deutsch-Israelischen Jugendforums, Berlin
Honestly Concerned e.V., Chefredakteur: Sacha Stawski, Frankfurt am Main
Wissenschaftsforum der Sozialdemokratie in Berlin, Brandenburg und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Geschäftsführender Vorsitzender: Staatssekretär a.D. Klaus Faber, RA, Potsdam
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, SPME-Germany, e.V., Berlin, Sprecher des Vorstandes: Prof. Dr. Diethard Pallaschke,
Erste Stellvertreterin des Sprechers des Vorstandes: Dr. Elvira Grözinger
Initiative 9. November 1938, Abraham Dzialowski, Frankfurt am Main
Demokratie & Courage, Till Meyer, M.A., Potsdam
Mohammed Schams, Berlin, Senior Advisor IFI (Iranian Freedom Institute), Washington D.C.
Rosemarie Matuschek, Erik-Verlag, Berlin
Robin Stoller, Internationales Institut für Bildung, Sozial- und Antisemitismusforschung (IIBSA), London/Berlin
Peter Wirkner, Wissenschaftlicher Direktor, M.A., Mitarbeiter von MdB Prof. Gert Weisskirchen, Mannheim
Alexander Arndt, M.A., Editor-in-Chief /Online-Redakteur, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Berlin
Interessengemeinschaft Gehörloser Jüdischer Abstammung in Deutschland e.V. (IGJAD), Hamburg, Vorsitzender: Mark Zaurov, M.A.
Jüdisches Berlin/Jewish Berlin Online, Herausgeber: Dr. Rafael Korenzecher, Berlin
Yad Achat e.V., Vorstand: Andreas Koch, Berlin
Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Berlin und Potsdam, Vorsitzender: Jochen Feilcke, Berlin
Pro-Israel-Initiative "neveragain", Vorsitzender: Roger Bückert, Wilnsdorf
Contact: Arvid Vormann | Tel. 030-50595388 | EMai: