The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance will involve delegations from governments, inter-governmental organizations, and other groups approved by the UN's Economic and Social Council. A nongovernmental organization (NGO) forum and Youth Summit will coincide with the August 31–September 7 gathering.

The U.S. government boycotted two previous UN conferences on racism, held in 1979 and 1983, over the fact that discussion on Israel was on the agenda. The final declarations issued at those two conferences included points condemning Tel Aviv's racism toward the Palestinian people and the Israeli government's well-publicized links to the apartheid regime then in place in South Africa.

The imperialist powers organized in the European Union (EU) have joined Washington in demanding that any reference to Zionism be taken off the agenda of the Durban conference. Several governments in the Mideast and other predominately Arab countries insist that the debate be included.

The EU governments are also in agreement with the U.S. rulers in opposing any discussion of reparations for centuries of slavery and colonialism, claiming this is just dredging up the past. British officials took the occasion of a visit in June by South African president Thabo Mbeki to warn that African governments should not use the conference to press for any financial compensation. "The African group [at the UN] has put forward a position which makes extensive reference to the historical slave trade," said a spokesperson for the British foreign office, according to the Independent Online, published in South Africa. "But no one wants a retrospective conference.... We are looking to address contemporary issues."

An early draft of the proposed themes to discuss at the conference listed, "Provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress, [compensatory]* and other measures at the national, regional and international levels." A footnote explained that the word "compensatory" was in brackets at the insistence of the Group of Western European and Other States, indicating further discussion was requested. The Israeli government backed this position. The Group of African States and the governments of Cuba and Syria were noted as supporting the inclusion of language on compensation.

Coverage in the U.S. big-business press on the question of compensation has stressed worries that a declaration from the UN conference will encourage African-Americans to demand reparations for chattel slavery in the Americas. While this is one reason for Washington's position, the imperialists' worries in America and Europe are broader. Most semicolonial countries have supported the discussion, not simply to review past abuses but as a way of addressing devastating conditions that are a product of imperialist domination today. In early July Abdul Minty, South Africa's deputy director-general of foreign affairs, suggested that compensation could include measures "such as debt relief, development, and support for fighting AIDS."

In response to the U.S. government's boycott threat, Mary Robinson, the UN high commissioner on human rights, called on the Arab countries to back down, accusing those who wanted discussion of the Palestinian question of "putting the Durban conference at risk." UN secretary general Kofi Annan also gave tacit support to the Bush administration's demands, speaking before a conference of the National Urban League in Washington July 30. "If this conference [on racism] is to succeed, there is an acute need for common ground," he said.

Responding to the controversy, South African foreign affairs director-general Sipho Pityana said, "It is not for us as South Africa to persuade anyone to come." What delegation if any to send is a decision for each government, he said. "If they don't come, people will presumably read into it that they don't see the issues as important."  
 
 
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