Friday, June 25, 2004
Love that UN
A seminar on anti-Semitism was held at the United Nations this week. Secretary General Kofi Annan opened the program by rebuking "those who . . . continue to spread lies and vile stereotypes about Jews and Judaism." Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel peace laureate, delivered a moving keynote address. Three panels of witnesses spoke about the menace of anti-Semitism and how to combat it. The event was presided over by Shashi Tharoor, the undersecretary general for communications, who also delivered the closing remarks.
All in all, you might think, a typical UN program — one of scores of gatherings the world body hosts each year on a wide array of human rights issues. The anti-Semitic hatred and violence seething in so much of the world are a grave international problem, so it stands to reason that the UN would make it the focus of regular and serious attention.
Except that it doesn't. Monday's conference on anti-Semitism was the first in UN history.
I have a love hate relationship with the UN. One one hand, they hate the Church. On the other hand, the Church loves them. Vertict: Bunch of crooks with some potential? I don't have problems with a level of soverignty above the nation-state, which isn't exactly the most ancient of institutions, but I do have a problem when people use that level of government in an attempt to push throgh agendas that are stupid, such as the international pro-abortion movement or the takeover of the general assembly by the antisemites. Bother.
All in all, you might think, a typical UN program — one of scores of gatherings the world body hosts each year on a wide array of human rights issues. The anti-Semitic hatred and violence seething in so much of the world are a grave international problem, so it stands to reason that the UN would make it the focus of regular and serious attention.
Except that it doesn't. Monday's conference on anti-Semitism was the first in UN history.
I have a love hate relationship with the UN. One one hand, they hate the Church. On the other hand, the Church loves them. Vertict: Bunch of crooks with some potential? I don't have problems with a level of soverignty above the nation-state, which isn't exactly the most ancient of institutions, but I do have a problem when people use that level of government in an attempt to push throgh agendas that are stupid, such as the international pro-abortion movement or the takeover of the general assembly by the antisemites. Bother.
