DURBAN, South Africa (FinalCall.com)�The Aug. 31-Sept. 7 UN Conference Against Racism got off to an antagonistic start with the voices of the oppressed calling for reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade and a strong effort mostly on the part of Arab nations to officially label Zionism as racism.

Even before the conference, the United States had decided not to send Secretary of State Colin Powell, a descendant of African slaves, to the conference because of the Zionism issue, and, at Final Call press time, withdrew even its low-level delegation.

In his remarks to the conference, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned what he called Israel�s racist practices but declined to label Israel a racist state, an apparent compromise in how Palestinians would criticize Israel at the World Conference Against Racism.

The Palestinian leader�s main speech to the conference came a day after the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced that Mr. Arafat had agreed to lobby to have language removed from a draft Non Governmental Organization (NGO) declaration that called Israel a racist state and condemned Zionism as racism. The NGO document was drafted prior to the conference and is not included in official declarations.

Mr. Arafat avoided the word Zionism during his remarks, but he did say the Israeli occupation "embodies racial discrimination in its ugliest forms."

"Israeli occupation ... represents a dangerous and flagrant violation of (the U.N.) charter, international human rights and human law. The Israeli occupation is a new and advanced type of apartheid," Mr. Arafat said. "Israel, the occupation authority, has pursued policies of racial discrimination."

It is an issue that host President Thabo Mbeki keyed in on at the outset of the conference. He accused the West of not taking the conference seriously, adding that the United States actually started the debate over Israel.

By aggressively lobbying for the Jewish state prior to the conference, the U.S. had forced the delegates "to make statements in order to assert which side they are on in this particular debate."

He said the U.S. and Europe�s former colonial powers had sent the wrong message by dispatching only junior delegations to the conference.

In his official welcome to the conference, Pres. Mbeki further did not mince his words.

"We meet here because we are determined to ensure that nobody anywhere should he subjected to the insult and offense of being despised by another or others because of his or her race, color, nationality or origin," he declared.

"Together we are committed to the realization of the objective that every human being should enjoy rights as equals with other human beings, with every right and possibility to determine both their future and the destiny of their countries," he said.

Continuing, the South African President said: "It became necessary that we convene in Durban because, together, we recognized the fact there are many in our common world who suffer indignity and humiliation because they are not white. Their cultures and traditions are despised as savage and primitive and their identities denied. They are not white and are deeply immersed in poverty.

"Of them, it is said that they are human but Black, whereas others are described as human and white. To those who have to bear the pain of this real world, it seems the blues singers were right when they decried the world in which it was said�if you�re white, you�re alright; if you are brown, stick around; if you are Black, oh brother! Get back, get back, get back!"

Cuban President Fidel Castro�s message to the conference backed those who called for an apology and, more specifically, compensation from industrialized nations for slavery and colonialism. He also labeled Israeli treatment of Palestinians as "genocide."

"The developed countries ... have been the main beneficiaries of the conquest and colonization, of slavery, of ruthless exploitation ... of countries that constitute the Third World," he said. "[Nobody] has the right to set preconditions to the conference or urge it to avoid the discussion ... [of] the way we decide to rate the dreadful genocide perpetrated, at this very moment, against our Palestinian brothers," he added, alluding to what at that time was a U.S. threat to pull out of the conference.

In a more conciliatory tone, former South African President Nelson Mandela, who served more than two decades in prison under apartheid, told delegates, "Racism is an ailment of the mind and the soul. It kills many more than any contagion. It dehumanizes anyone it touches. The tragedy is that a cure is within our reach, yet we have not seized it. To conquer racism, we must administer a treatment that is comprehensive and holistic."

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson, in a statement representing herself and Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich), Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Barbara Lee (D-Ca.), and Diane Watson (D-Ca.), who attended the conference, said:

"The Congressional Black Caucus is exasperated with the stance of the administration and the contempt implied by its lack of commitment to the U.N. World Conference Against Racism. We believe that there is no legitimate way to pretend that racism was not, and is not, real. The refusal of the government to send the highest-ranking African-American in its history [Colin Powell] to engage the world in a discussion of racism is disrespectful of the sacrifices of all that have suffered to get him where he is."