The 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban is remembered for the walkout of the United States and Israeli delegations. The 2010 opening paragraph said the delegations called the conference itself a pretext for the airing of virulent anti-semitism. Today the opening attributes the walkout only to objections to a single draft document equating Zionism with racism, and antisemitism appears nowhere in it, though the word survives 10 times in the body. A reader today learns the delegations objected to one document, not that they described the conference itself as a venue for antisemitism.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “antisemitism” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 10.
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The opening as it read in 2010
World Conference against Racism (WCAR) , also known as Durban I , was held at the Durban International Convention Centre in Durban , South Africa , under UN auspices, from 31 August to 8 September 2001.1The conference dealt with several controversial issues, including compensation for slavery and the actions of Israel.2 The language of the final Declaration and Programme of Action produced by the conference was strongly disputed in these areas, both in the preparatory meetings in the months that preceded the conference and during the conference itself. Two delegations, the United States and Israel, withdrew from the conference claiming the conference was merely a pretext for the airing of virulent anti-semitism.3 The final Declaration and Programme of Action did not contain the text that the U.S. and Israel had objected to, that text having been voted out by delegates in the days after the U.S. and Israel withdrew. In parallel to the Conference, a separately held NGO Forum also produced a Declaration and Programme of its own, that was not an official Conference document, which contained language relating to Israel that the WCAR had voted to exclude from its Declaration, and which was criticized by then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and many others. The NGO Forum ended in discord. Mary Robinson lost the support of the United States in her office of High Commissioner, and many of the potential political aftereffects of the Conference were annulled by the September 11, 2001 attacks . The attacks took place just three days after the Conference ended, entirely eclipsing the Conference in the news, and significantly affecting international relations and politics.
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The opening as it stood in 2015
The 2001 World Conference against Racism (WCAR) , also known as Durban I , was held at the Durban International Convention Centre in Durban , South Africa, under UN auspices, from 31 August to 8 September 2001. The conference dealt with several controversial issues, including compensation for slavery and the actions of Israel. The language of the final Declaration and Programme of Action produced by the conference was strongly disputed in these areas, both in the preparatory meetings in the months that preceded the conference and during the conference itself. Two delegations, the United States and Israel, withdrew from the conference over objections to a draft document equating Zionism with racism. The final Declaration and Programme of Action did not contain the text that the U.S. and Israel had objected to, that text having been voted out by delegates in the days after the U.S. and Israel withdrew. In parallel to the conference, a separately held NGO Forum also produced a Declaration and Programme of its own, that was not an official Conference document, which contained language relating to Israel that the WCAR had voted to exclude from its Declaration, and which was criticized by then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and many others. The NGO Forum ended in discord. Mary Robinson lost the support of the United States in her office of High Commissioner, and many of the potential political aftereffects of the conference were annulled by the September 11, 2001 attacks . The attacks took place just three days after the conference ended, entirely eclipsing it in the news, and significantly affecting international relations and politics. The conference was followed by the 2009 Durban II conference in Geneva , which was boycotted by ten western countries.A commemorative Durban III conference scheduled to take place in 2011 in New York has also drawn significant criticism and will be boycotted by the UK, US, Canada and Israel.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 639371678.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The 2001 World Conference against Racism (WCAR) , also known as Durban I , was held at the Durban International Convention Centre in Durban , South Africa, under UN auspices, from 31 August to 8 September 2001. The conference covered several controversial issues, including redress for transatlantic slavery and the Second-class citizenry issue in Palestine-Israel. The language of the final Declaration and Programme of Action produced by the conference was strongly disputed in these areas, both in the preparatory meetings in the months that preceded the conference and during the conference itself. Two delegations, the United States and Israel, withdrew from the conference over objections to a draft document equating Zionism with racism . The final Declaration and Programme of Action did not contain the text that the U.S. and Israel had objected to, that text having been voted out by delegates in the days after the U.S. and Israel withdrew. In parallel to the conference, a separately held NGO Forum also produced a Declaration and Programme of its own, that was not an official Conference document, which contained language relating to Israel that the WCAR had voted to exclude from its Declaration, and which was criticized by then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and many others. The NGO Forum ended in discord. Mary Robinson lost the support of the United States in her office of High Commissioner, and many of the potential political aftereffects of the conference were annulled by the September 11, 2001 attacks . The attacks took place just three days after the conference ended, entirely eclipsing it in the news, and significantly affecting international relations and politics. The conference was followed by the 2009 Durban II conference in Geneva , which was boycotted by ten western countries.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962025630.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The conference covered several controversial issues, including redress for transatlantic slavery and the second-class citizenry issue in Palestine-Israel. The language of the final Declaration and Programme of Action produced by the conference was strongly disputed in these areas, both in the preparatory meetings in the months that preceded the conference and during the conference itself. Two delegations, the United States and Israel, withdrew from the conference over objections to a draft document equating Zionism with racism . The final Declaration and Programme of Action did not contain the text that the U.S. and Israel had objected to, that text having been voted out by delegates in the days after the U.S. and Israel withdrew. In parallel to the conference, a separately held NGO Forum also produced a Declaration and Programme of its own, that was not an official Conference document, which contained language relating to Israel that the WCAR had voted to exclude from its Declaration, and which was criticized by then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and many others. The NGO Forum ended in discord. Mary Robinson lost the support of the United States in her office of High Commissioner, and many of the potential political aftereffects of the conference were annulled by the September 11, 2001 attacks . The attacks took place just three days after the conference ended, entirely eclipsing it in the news, and significantly affecting international relations and politics. The conference was followed by the 2009 Durban II conference in Geneva , which was boycotted by ten Western countries. A commemorative Durban III conference in September 2011 in New York has also drawn significant criticism and was boycotted by 14 Western countries."The Israel/Palestine Racial Contract and the challenge of anti-Racism: a case study of the United Nations World Conference Against Racism" .
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Today
“antisemitism” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 10. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
antisemitism
1
0
0
0
0
disputed
1
1
1
1
1
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
