Speaking before 1,400 representatives at the B’nai B’rith District 20 (South America) convention, Argentina’s President Raul Alfonsin electrified the audience when he pledged that his government would introduce legislation to strengthen the law against “racial, religious, ethnic and sexual discrimination.” He noted that the battle against discrimination was a “preoccupation of his government.”
After participating in a menorah lighting ceremony at the opening of a convention of international leadership of B’nai B’rith and delegates from seven Latin American countries, as well as diplomats and a broad spectrum of Argentine political dignitaries, Alfonsin described in detail the significance and contributions of the Jewish community.
Calling for the total involvement of all sectors of the society to assure the development and the continuation of the democratic systems, he declared:
“While in a substantial part of South America the winds of democracy are sweeping away the remnants of authoritarianism, we must reaffirm the validity of solidarity and equality among all men. The worst enemy of democracy is the persistence within society of individual or group selfishness, of prejudice and dogmatism. In our country, that terrible social illness, anti-Semitism, never took hold of the people.”
CALLS FOR ACTION IN THREE ARENAS
Noting that democracy is a difficult system requiring a great deal of self-sacrifice and discipline, B’nai B’rith International president Gerald Kraft said:
“We believe that developed democracies have a special responsibility to enhance the development of new democratic governments that re-emerge. In a world threatened by totalitarian regimes, we believe well-established democracies must find significant ways to support and strengthen new democracies with the same vigor as they oppose totalitarianism.”
Kraft called on re-emerging democracies to exhibit their solidarity with the struggle against those who are intent on the destruction of democratic values by acting in the following three arenas: the United Nations, Soviet Jewry and relations with Israel.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
