Send in the Clown Noses! Clown Protester Tosses Red Clown Nose at Iran’s Ahmadinejad, Western Walkout at UN Racism Conference When Israel Accused of Racism
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 20, 2009
By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone
Wild things are happening at the UN Racism Conference in Geneva.
Strangely, so many countries that are in charge of these anti-racism talks aren’t known to be all that supportive of other races and their stances on basic human rights are… well, inhumane, for the most part. Having these dictator nations in key UN positions, discussing how to overcome racism (or exploit, or ignore, or use to their advantage, your call on what it will ultimately be) seems downright clownish.
I've circled and inserted a green arrow to show the red clown nose that was thrown at the Iranian president during his Geneva UN speech. It went whizzing past him and didn't hit him.
Protester with clown wig who threw clown nose is escorted out of conference room at UN meeting in Geneva
Click here to read the entire piece on the WHNT 19 news website in Huntsville, Alabama. Two videos are also posted on the WHNT site.
One is of the protester in a multi-colored clown wig throwing a red clown nose at Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Soon thereafter, when Ahmadinejad starting verbally attacking Israel, there was a 40-person walkout by European diplomats. The bottom video is translated into English.
In the photos shown above, the top is a video capture of the nose toss by the protester. It goes by really quick in the video (it’s in the first second) and doesn’t even come close to hitting Ahmadinejad. The second photo is of UN security guys grabbing the shouting clown and escorting him out of the conference room.
Here’s a big portion of the Associated Press report. From AP news:
GENEVA (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West of using the Holocaust as a “pretext” for aggression against Palestinians, prompting European diplomats to walk out Monday from a speech disrupted by jeering protesters in rainbow wigs tossing red clown noses at the hardline leader.
A U.N. racism conference on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day disintegrated into chaos moments after Ahmadinejad became the first government official to take the floor. Two protesters in wigs tossed the noses at Ahmadinejad as he recited a Muslim prayer to begin his speech.
A Jewish student group from France later took credit for causing the disturbance, saying members were trying to convey “the masquerade that this conference represents.”
Ahmadinejad restarted his talk and delivered a speech that lasted more than a half-hour, saying the United States and Europe had helped establish Israel after World War II at the expense of Palestinians.
“They resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering,” he said.
That prompted a walkout by some 40 diplomats from Britain and France and other European countries that had threatened to leave the conference if it descended into anti-Semitism or other rhetoric harshly critical of Israel, which marred the U.N.’s last racism gathering eight years ago in South Africa.
The United States and eight other Western countries were already boycotting the event because of concerns about its fairness.
Ahmadinejad went on to accuse Israel of being the “most cruel and repressive racist regime.”
Protesters held placards reading “This is a circus. A racist cannot fight racism,” and repeatedly interrupted the speech with shouts of “Shame! shame!” and “Racist! racist!”
Later, about 100 members of mainly pro-Israel and Jewish groups tried to block Ahmadinejad’s entrance to a scheduled news conference.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon met with Ahmadinejad before his speech and said he had counseled the Iranian leader to avoid dividing the conference. Ban later said he was disappointed Ahmadinejad had used his speech “to accuse, divide and even incite,” directly opposing the aim of the meeting.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned Ahmadinejad’s speech and Ban’s meeting with the Iranian leader.
“It is unfortunate that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deemed it appropriate to meet with the greatest Holocaust denier of our time, the head of a U.N. member state who calls for the destruction of another UN member state. This matter is especially severe, as it took place on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day,” Israel said.
Ahmadinejad has been praised by some in the Muslim world for calling for Israel’s destruction and for other anti-Israeli comments. The hard-liner has often used international forums to criticize Israel including at last year’s U.N. General Assembly where he said Israel was on “a definite slope to collapse.”
But his comments Monday could also further strain efforts to improve relations with the United States, Israel’s top ally. Iran has been mostly lukewarm to overtures from President Barack Obama, but last week Ahmadinejad said the Islamic Republic was ready for a new relationship with Washington.
Alejandro Wolff, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, denounced “the Ahmadinejad spectacle” and the Iranian president’s “vile and hateful speech.”
“It’s inaccurate. It shows disregard for the organization to which he is speaking, the United Nations, and does a grave injustice to the Iranian nation and the Iranian people,” Wolff told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
“We call on the Iranian leadership to show much measured, moderate, honest and constructive rhetoric when dealing with issues in the region, and not this type of vile, hateful, inciteful speech that we all saw … this morning,” he said.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman said Britain would return to the talks but “unreservedly condemns his offensive and unacceptable remarks.”
“He ascribed all the problems relating to racism in the modern world to Israel and the Jewish state, and that was enough for me to walk out,” British Ambassador Peter Gooderham said.
How about that red clown nose toss? Is that better or worse than throwing shoes at former President Bush?
UPDATE, January 4, 2009:
Gateway Pundit: AHMADINEJAD’S Website Hacked!
TimesOnline: Walkout at UN conference after Iran president calls Israel ‘racist’
The Weekly Standard Blog: What Did They Think Was Going To Happen in Geneva?
Power Line: Mahmoud Takes His Act to Geneva
Charles Winecoff, Big Hollywood: A-holes and Insects – or Mother Nature Doesn’t Care If You’re a Good Liberal
TheChronicleHerald.ca Metro: UN employee caught with child pornography at airport
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