It has the potential to galvanize racial justice activists and create momentum for change. The AFSC recognizes the conference's potential impact and the need for those most affected by racism and xenophobia to have a voice in Durban. That's why, for the past year, AFSC coordinated the Global Voices Project as one way to guarantee grassroots input at the conference. The project's centerpiece was a series of more than 100 Listening Projects in the United States, South America, and Africa. The results and analyses of the Listening Projects are being assembled into a document on racial justice that will be submitted to the UN and distributed to all government and nongovernmental organization delegates at the conference.
Some initial results hint at the complexity of the problems.
The Listening Projects are just one facet of AFSC's activities leading up to the conference. The Peacebuilding Unit's Africa Program supported the participation of eight antislavery activists from Mauritania to the Africa preparatory meeting, one of four worldwide preparatory meetings leading up to the conference. While all these activities are important, it's the long-term projects developed during and after the conference that will matter most. We want to continue talking about these issues even after the conference. Likewise, AFSC plans to continue this critical work long after the delegates have left Durban for home.