OUR COMMUNITY

20 | SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 

O

n Sept. 22, 2021, the 
United Nations is 
holding a one-day 
event to celebrate the 20th 
anniversary of its first World 
Conference 
Against Racism, 
held in Durban, 
South Africa, in 
2001. This is a 
dubious com-
memoration. The 
first Conference, 
Durban I, infa-
mously devolved 
into an antisemitic, anti-Israel 
hate fest. This is well-docu-
mented. 
For a firsthand account of 
the Conference, a few questions 
were posed to Michael Belling, 
a Jewish journalist from South 
Africa, who attended Durban I.
Belling was a foreign corre-

spondent in Israel for a major 
South African newspaper 
group for several years. After 
his return to South Africa, he 
was the local correspondent for 
the Jewish Telegraphic Agency 
(New York) and the Jewish 
Chronicle (London). Belling has 
written extensively on Middle 
Eastern and financial issues. 
He has appeared on TV and 
radio, and he has translated 
several books from Hebrew into 
English. Belling is also a novelist 
in his spare time. He lives in 
Pretoria.

Q: Why were you reporting 
from Durban I in 2001? 
MB: I covered the “anti-rac-
ism” conference in Durban for 
the Jewish Chronicle (London).

Q: What were your expecta-
tions of the Conference before 
you arrived there? 
MB: Not high at all. The pre-
paratory conferences in several 
countries, including Iran, made 
it clear that, as is common in 
many organs of the United 

Nations, Israel was going to be 
singled out disproportionately 
for opprobrium, but nothing 
prepared any of the Jewish del-
egates to the NGO conference 
or the governmental conference, 
or me, for that matter, for what 
occurred. The floodgates of 
overt and blatant Jew-hatred 
on the streets of Durban were 
opened in ways not encoun-
tered since the 1930s. Since 
2001, antisemitism has been the 
only acceptable racism in large 
parts of the world, including the 
USA, France and Britain. 
The impact of Durban I did 
not end in that city. The BDS 
movement is a direct conse-
quence, as is the widely held 
view that Zionism is, in fact, a 
dirty word. 
I am not going into any 
detail here, but ironically, all 
the activities at the Durban I 
conference gave the Soviet KGB 
a posthumous victory — it was 
the brains behind earlier disin-
formation campaigns, using the 
same techniques, that led direct-
ly to the notorious “Zionism is 

Racism” resolution passed by the 
U.N. in 1975 (repealed after the 
fall of the Soviet Union in 1991).

Q: The Conference is now 
known for its vehement pro-
motion of antisemitic and 
anti-Israel sentiments. What was 
your personal experience at the 
Conference? 
MB: The venue was the 
Durban Conference Centre, 
within easy walking distance 
of a major sports stadium and 
the site of the NGO stalls. 
Interestingly, the main Jewish 
venue in Durban, the Jewish 
Club, is also within walking 
distance, and it had to endure a 
few protests. The Club served as 
the center for meetings, discus-
sions, consultations and strate-
gizing for all the Jewish groups 
there — not to mention an end-
less source of food, snacks, tea 
and coffee! All of this created 
a strong sense of camaraderie 
among all of us.
The Protocols of the Elders of 
Zion was freely available at the 
NGO conference, as were sev-

A Jewish journalist looks back on 
the antisemitic hate fest.

Remembering 
Durban

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

A panel at the World Conference 
Against Racism in Durban, South 
Africa, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8, 2001. 

Michael 
Belling

U.N./RON DA SILVA

