Buenos Aires, Jul 17 (EFE) .- Speakers at the Latin American Forum to Combat Antisemitism, which began this Sunday in Buenos Aires to discuss the problem of hate speech, asked governments to take the fight against discrimination “seriously”. as well as improving education and adopting laws and enforcing them.
The United States special envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt, said that governments have to take antisemitism “seriously” and recalled that the Congress of her country does so by raising the rank of her position to ambassador, the highest that can come, and giving it the personnel and the budget to fulfill the responsibility: “Because we see it as a threat to democracy.”
“Don’t be afraid to condemn it,” Lipstadt urged, “because it is not only a threat to the Jews,” but also to the “well-being of your society,” noting that “there has been no government of any kind of political orientation that has tolerated the growth of anti-Semitism and has remained stable.”
The forum, which will end next Monday, brings together hundreds of legislators, judges, officials and leaders from across the region in Buenos Aires to discuss the main challenges posed by anti-Semitism in Latin America and possible strategies to address discrimination.
For the OAS commissioner against anti-Semitism, Fernando Lottenberg, one of the measures to adopt “is about education” so that the new generations know about the holocaust and have better information and quality education and then not post on social networks things that are not real or correct in historical terms.
Lottemberg added that anti-Semitism “does not have to be addressed only from the Jewish community, but is also a problem of society and governments”, while he supported the “implementation of legislation” to combat hate speech `offline` and ` online`.
Meanwhile, the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, reminded deputies and officials that there are measures that can be taken to end hatred of Jews and urged each government, local or national, to “adopt strong laws against the discrimination” and that these laws “must be complied with”, in a speech transmitted electronically.
AGAINST HATE
The two-day event is an initiative of the Latin American Jewish Congress (CJL) and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with the Latino Coalition for Israel, Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and Hatzad Hasheni.
Among the main speakers, it also has the former president of Guatemala Jimmy Morales (2016-2020) and the president of the museum in memory of the victims of the Holocaust “Yad Vashem”, Dani Dayan.
The appointment includes the participation of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Adriana Mira; of the magistrate of the Constitutional Court of Colombia Cristina Pardo; the attorney of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, Fernando da Silva Comim, and the president of the Council for the Prevention of Discrimination of Mexico City, Geraldina González.
The program includes training sessions and working groups on topics such as hate speech on social media, in schools and at sporting events, interfaith leadership against hate speech, and public policy and legislation to combat it.
In addition, during the plenary session, the president of the Boca Juniors soccer teams, Jorge Ameal, and River Plate, Jorge Brito, jointly signed a commitment to combat hate in soccer.
The dates of this edition of the forum against anti-Semitism will coincide with the 28th anniversary this year of the attack on the headquarters of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), the largest terrorist attack in Argentina, which left 85 dead and continues unpunished. , so there will be a tribute to the victims. EFE
