[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 12, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E838-E839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




ADDRESS OF SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL AT THE BERLIN CONFERENCE ON 
                             ANTI-SEMITISM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 12, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, at the Conference on Anti-Semitism of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held in 
Berlin on April 28th, our very distinguished Secretary of State Colin 
Powell headed the United States delegation. It was my advice that the 
Secretary personally lead the American delegation to this conference 
because his presence would give the issue of European anti-Semitism the 
high-level attention it needs and deserves.
  Today, Europe faces a disturbing rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric and 
anti-Semitic violence. I recently attended the inauguration of a new 
Holocaust museum in my native Hungary. Two days earlier, Hungarian 
police arrested a man plotting to blow it up. The decision to target a 
Holocaust memorial reveals the profound connection between the great 
nightmare of the mid-twentieth century and the racist threats that Jews 
around the world continue to face today.
  Because of this intolerance, I co-founded the Congressional Task 
Force Against Anti-Semitism with a bipartisan number of Members of 
Congress. This organization is devoted to raising awareness and 
fighting the sickness of anti-Semitism wherever and whenever it occurs. 
On behalf of the Task Force, I would like to thank and commend 
Secretary Powell for his efforts at the Berlin Conference.
  Mr. Speaker, as usual, Secretary Powell's remarks are eloquent and 
powerful, and they contain the wisdom of a man who has fought bigotry 
and racism himself during a lifetime of service to our nation. His 
emphatic reminder that ``political disagreements do not justify 
physical assaults against Jews in our streets'' is particularly 
welcome.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the full text of Secretary 
Powell's address to the Berlin Conference against anti-Semitism be 
placed in the Record, and I urge all of our colleagues to give the 
Secretary's excellent speech their thoughtful attention.

  Remarks at the Conference on Anti-Semitism of the Organization for 
                   Security and Cooperation in Europe

       Thank you very much, Mr. Moderator, Chairman Passy, 
     Minister Fischer, Fellow

[[Page E839]]

     Ministers and Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great 
     pleasure for me to be here representing President Bush and 
     the people of the United States.
       Chairman Passy, let me thank you for your leadership in 
     planning and organizing this important conference on anti-
     Semitism. I also wish to extend my sincere appreciation to 
     the German Government and to my good friend Joschka Fischer 
     for hosting our gathering and for taking a strong stand 
     against this age-old yet active and evolving form of 
     intolerance. And let me take this occasion to honor President 
     Rau, not just for opening the conference, but also for his 
     leadership against anti-Semitism and on so many other 
     compelling moral issues during his 52 years of distinguished 
     public service to Germany and to the world.
       Berlin is a fitting backdrop for our meeting. The firestorm 
     of anti-Semitic hatred that was the Holocaust was set here in 
     Berlin. The Holocaust was no ordinary conflagration, but a 
     colossal act of arson, unprecedented in scale with the 
     annihilation of a people as its purpose. Six million Jews and 
     millions of other men, women and children perished in the 
     flames of fascism. European civilization as we thought we 
     knew it was rent asunder.
       Yet, it was also here in Berlin that a new, democratic 
     Germany rose from the ashes of the Second World War. And in 
     this city, a new Europe, whole and free, was born after the 
     fall of that other great tyranny of the 20th century: 
     communism.
       Now, in the opening decade of the 21st century, we, 55 
     democratic nations of Europe, Eurasia and America, have come 
     to Berlin to stamp out the new fires of anti-Semitism within 
     our societies, and to kindle lights of tolerance so that 
     future generations will never know the unspeakable horrors 
     that hatred can unleash.
       When President Bush visited the Auschwitz death camp last 
     year he renewed the United States' commitment to oppose anti-
     Semitism with these words: ``This site is a sobering reminder 
     that when we find anti-Semitism, whether it be in Europe, in 
     America or anywhere else, mankind must come together to fight 
     such dark impulses.''
       Today, we confront the ugly reality that anti-Semitism is 
     not just a fact of history, but a current event.
       At a planning session for this conference, Benjamin Meed, 
     the President of the American Gathering of Holocaust 
     Survivors, said ``Sixty years after the Holocaust I never 
     thought that I would be invited to a meeting on anti-Semitism 
     in Europe.''; Indeed.
       We are appalled that in recent years the incidence of anti-
     Semitic hate crimes has been on the increase within our 
     community of democratic nations. All of us recognize that we 
     must take decisive measures to reverse this disturbing trend.
       Our states must work together with non-governmental 
     organizations, religious leaders and other respected figures 
     within our societies to combat anti-Semitism by word and 
     deed. We need to work in close partnership to create a 
     culture of social tolerance and civic courage, in which anti-
     Semitism and other forms of racial and religious hatred are 
     met with the active resistance of our citizens, authorities 
     and political leaders.
       We must send the clear message far and wide that anti-
     Semitism is always wrong and it is always dangerous.
       We must send the clear message that anti-Semitic hate 
     crimes are exactly that: crimes, and that these crimes will 
     be aggressively prosecuted.
       We must not permit anti-Semitic crimes to be shrugged off 
     as inevitable side effects of inter-ethnic conflicts. 
     Political disagreements do not justify physical assaults 
     against Jews in our streets, the destruction of Jewish 
     schools, or the desecration of synagogues and cemeteries. 
     There is no justification for anti-Semitism.
       It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the policies of the 
     state of Israel. But the line is crossed when Israel or its 
     leaders are demonized or vilified, for example by the use of 
     Nazi symbols and racist caricatures.
       We must send the clear message to extremists of the 
     political right and the political left alike that all those 
     who use hate as a rallying cry dishonor themselves and 
     dishonor their cause in the process.
       Regrettably, my country has its share of anti-Semites and 
     skinheads and other assorted racists, bigots and extremists, 
     who feed on fear and ignorance and prey on the vulnerable.
       As a nation of many united as one, we are determined to 
     speak out and take action at home and abroad against anti-
     Semitism and other forms of intolerance and to promote the 
     rights of persons belonging to minorities. As President Bush 
     has said: ``America stands for the non-negotiable demands of 
     human dignity.''
       Fortunately the overwhelming majority of Americans are 
     repelled by these hate-mongers and reject their vicious ways, 
     their vicious views, their vicious attitudes. Overwhelmingly 
     the American people embrace diversity as a national asset and 
     tolerance is embraced as a civic virtue. Our laws and our 
     leaders reflect those enlightened sentiments.
       Not only do we believe that combating hatred is the right 
     thing to do, we think that promoting tolerance is essential 
     to building a democratic, prosperous and peaceful world. 
     Hatred is a destroyer, not a builder. People consumed by hate 
     cannot construct a better future for themselves or for their 
     children.
       So much of the misery and instability around the world 
     today is caused or exacerbated by ethnic and religious 
     intolerance, whether it's central Africa or the Middle East, 
     Northern Ireland or Cyprus, Kosovo or Darfur. The distance 
     from prejudice to violence, intolerance to atrocity, can be 
     perilously short. The lessons of the Holocaust are timeless 
     and urgent. In this new century, it is more important than 
     ever for our leaders and citizens to counter anti-Semitism 
     and other forms of hatred whenever and wherever they meet 
     them.
       It is especially important that we instill in our children 
     values and behaviors that can avert new calamities. The 
     sixteen-nation Task Force for International Cooperation on 
     Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research has done a 
     great deal already to increase understanding among young 
     people of the Holocaust and its enduring lessons. And we 
     welcome the growing interest on the part of other countries 
     to join that Task Force.
       Tolerance, like hatred, is a learned behavior passed from 
     one generation to the next unless the new generation is 
     educated differently. Let tolerance be our legacy. May future 
     generations of schoolchildren read that in the early decades 
     of the 21st century, mankind finally consigned anti-Semitism 
     to history, never to darken the world again.
       The United States delegation, led by former New York City 
     Mayor Ed Koch, is here to listen. They're here to learn and 
     to share best practices against anti-Semitism. We will have 
     the benefit of Mayor Koch's direct experience dealing with 
     hate crimes in the world's most ethnically diverse metropolis 
     in my hometown, New York City. Our delegation also draws 
     expertise from Members of our Congress and from close 
     partnership with non-governmental leaders doing pioneering 
     work in the tolerance field.
       The exchange of insights and ideas among our delegations 
     here in Berlin should form a solid basis for practical action 
     by each of our nations. There is much yet that we can do in 
     key areas of law enforcement, legislation and education to 
     follow up on the decisions we took last December in 
     Maastricht.
       That's why I'm pleased that last week the Permanent Council 
     of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
     committed all of our 55 states to take further concrete 
     actions against anti-Semitism. The OSCE's Office for 
     Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw will play 
     a central role. This office now has a clear mandate to work 
     with member states to collect hate crimes statistics, to 
     track anti-Semitic incidents and to report publicly on these 
     matters. The office also will help states develop national 
     legislation against hate crimes and promote tolerance through 
     education. And I know that in the course of your 
     deliberations here other ideas will arise as to how we can 
     put action behind our words, and whether we have 
     institutionalized these actions in a proper way.
       So, my friends, here in Berlin, the 55 democratic nations 
     of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
     have come together and will stand together and we will 
     declare with one voice: ``Anti-Semitism shall have no place 
     among us. Hate shall find no home within a Europe whole, free 
     and at peace.'' Thank you, Mr. Moderator.

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