247 联合国大会将讨论如何消除种族主义

247 联合国大会将讨论如何消除种族主义

UN Conference to Confront¹ Causes of Racism²
Joe de Capua
Washington
26 Jul 2001 20:04 UTC

About 12,000 people are expected to attend the World Conference against 1)Racism, which opens August 31 in Durban, South Africa.
Organizers say the goal of the conference is to help future generations respect one another. To do that, they say, means 2)confronting the causes of racism, including slavery, 3)colonialism and 4)apartheid. The head of the United Nations human rights agency, Mary Robinson, has called racism and 5)xenophobia the 6)wellsprings of many of the world's 7)conflicts.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, who is with a Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says every individual must examine his or her own 8)prejudices. "I think that the issue of prejudice, personal prejudice, is something that's part of the human condition," he stresses. "But it's a long 9)leap, long road, from prejudice to 10)discrimination, racism, and 11)genocide. The question is how well society and individuals within that society are able to deal with their personal prejudices."
Rabbi Cooper hopes the World Conference against Racism will allow people with different 12)viewpoints to meet face to face. "I think that one of the keys to overcoming prejudice and 13)stereotyping and racism is the opportunity to actually meet and talk with individuals who have a different value system - who are coming from a different part of the world - find a commonality and find humanity," he says.
For the chief operating officer of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, Ziad Asali, racism takes many forms. "Color, of course, is one - black, brown, yellow - is one major source of discrimination," he said. "The other is religion. In our view, there has been an 14)emerging trend of discrimination against Muslims and things Islamic."
Mr. Asali notes that although racism has plagued mankind for centuries, efforts must continue to eliminate it. "Well, discrimination has been going around for thousands of years," he said. "So has disease, so has 15)famine, so have disasters 16)inflicted by mankind upon mankind. But that doesn't mean that we 17)succumb to whatever has been going on and accept it as a way of life. We have to improve on this world and we have to adhere³ to basic principles of justice and fair play."
Tebogo Matoane is with the South African apartheid survivor⁴ support group known as Khulumani. Khulumani is a Zulu word meaning "speak out." Ms. Matoane says many black South Africans bear the scars⁵ of racism. "Some of them are in wheel chairs," she says. "Some of them have still got 18)bullets in their bodies. And most of them still have vivid memories of how whites, for example, police officials, used to bang on their doors looking for the so-called comrades and everything. But again, at the same time, we are able through our educational workshops to say, 'You know, that belongs in the past, and how do we move forward?'"
According to Ms. Matoane, much of the battle against racism will be waged by the world's children. "As Khulumani says, I think, the best way would be to start talking about it," she went on to said. "Because when you start talking about it, you are able to deal with it. And, for me, I see it happening with the coming generations because we really talk about racism and what it has done for our country."
Ms. Matoane calls racism an animal that must be killed. Khulumani will run a 19)workshop at the anti-racism conference on proposed reparations for the 20)victims of slavery, colonialism and apartheid.
At the Southern Poverty Law Center in the southern U.S. city of Montgomery, Alabama, Mark Potok is among those who keep track of racist⁶ organizations. He says despite the best intentions for the Durban conference, there are bound to be major disagreements over how racism should be overcome. "I should mention that it's very possible that this conference will kind of come apart at the seams," he said. "There are some very hot issues there, which a lot of conference members would like not to address. For instance, a lot of African countries are interested in the debate about reparations paid to countries that were 21)colonies of some of the European countries. There is talk about describing the entire Indian caste system as racist, which is, of course, something the Indian government very much opposes."
For Mr. Potok, no conference, no matter how well planned or how large, can be expected to 22)eliminate racism in this century. "Racism and similar kinds of attitudes have been with us since the very beginning of the human race," he said. "And I don't know that they will ever go away. I think that everyone who's involved in anti-racist work hopes that these kinds of things can be 23)minimized - that young people in particular can be kept away from these poisonous ideologies⁷. But as for eradicating⁸ racism, I think, given human nature, that's not 24)entirely possible."
The World Conference against Racism runs from August 31 to September 7. Just before the event, hundreds of non-governmental organizations will meet in Durban to hold their own 25)forum on racism.

(1) racism n.种族主义, 人种偏见, 种族歧视
(2) confront[kEn5frQnt]vt.使面临, 对抗
(3) colonialism[kE5lEJnIElIz(E)m]n.殖民主义
(4) apartheid[E5pB:theIt]n.(南非)种族隔离
(5) xenophobia[zenE5fEJbIE]n.仇外, 惧外者
(6) wellspring n.水源, 泉源
(7) conflict[5kRnflIkt]n.斗争, 冲突vi.抵触, 冲突
(8) prejudice[5predVJdIs]n.偏见, 成见, 损害, 侵害v.损害
(9) leap[li:p]v.跳, 跳越, 跳跃n.跳跃, 飞跃
(10) discrimination[dIskrImI5neIF(E)n]n.辨别, 区别, 识别力, 辨别力, 歧视
(11) genocide[5dVenEsaId]n.有计划的灭种和屠杀
(12) viewpoint[5vju:pCInt]n.观点
(13) stereotype[5sterIEJtaIp, 5stIE-]n. 陈腔滥调, 老套vt.套用老套, 使一成不变
(14) emerge[I5m:dV]vi.显现, 浮现, 暴露, 形成, (事实)显现出来
(15) famine[5fAmIn]n.饥荒, <古>饥饿, 严重的缺乏
(16) inflict[In5flIkt]v.造成
(17) succumb to 屈服于
(18) bullet[5bJlIt]n.子弹
(19) workshop[5w:kFRp]n.车间, 工场
(20) victim[5vIktIm]n.受害人, 牺牲者, 牺牲品
(21) colony[5kRlEnI]n.殖民地, 侨民
(22) eliminate[I5lImIneIt]vt.排除, 消除v.除去
(23) minimize[5mInImaIz]vt.将...减到最少v.最小化
(24) entirely[In5taIElI]adv.完全地, 全然地, 一概地
(25) forum[5fC:rEm]n.论坛, 法庭, 讨论会

 

1 confront   

vt.遭遇，勇敢地面对，正视，使对质

参考例句：

• A soldier has to confront danger.士兵须面对危险。
• We must confront future with optimism.我们必须乐观地面对未来。

2 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

3 adhere   

vi.粘附，附着，遵守，坚持，追随，支持

参考例句：

• Most people adhere to the church of their parents.多数人都依附于父母的教会。
• They failed to adhere to our original agreement.他们未能遵守我们原定的协议。

4 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

5 scars   

n.伤痕( scar的名词复数 )；精神上的创伤；有损外观的地方；裸岩

参考例句：

• Slowly the war scars faded. 战争的创伤慢慢地消失了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• I've got scars from head to toe in tribute to my courage. 为了嘉奖我的胆量，我得到浑身的伤疤。 来自辞典例句

6 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

7 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

8 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。