World leaders slam Trump over racism
UN, London, Berlin weigh in
UN secretary general António Guterres has issued a veiled but unmistakable rebuke of President Donald Trump, saying the world must reject intolerance and speak up against “irrationality”.
“Racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or Islamophobia are poisoning our societies,” Guterres said in response to a question about Trump’s remarks on the events in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“It is absolutely essential for us all to stand up against them everywhere and every time,” he said at the UN headquarters in New York.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said there is “no equivalence” between fascists and their opponents, a reference to Trump’s equivocation on who was to blame for racially charged violence at the weekend.
Neither Guterres nor May mentioned Trump by name, although other political figures around the world had more direct critiques.
“It is unbearable how Trump is now glossing over the violence of the right-wing hordes from Charlottesville,” German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said.
“No one should trivialise anti-Semitism and racism by neoNazis,” he said.
Violence erupted in Charlottesville after white supremacist groups gathered for a “Unite the Right” rally and clashed with counter protesters.
After the planned rally was cancelled, a car ploughed into a crowd of counter protesters, killing one person and injuring 19 others.
Police later arrested 20-year-old James Alex Fields jr of Ohio, who was identified by a former teacher as being a Nazi sympathizer.
Trump has sought to spread responsibility for the violence among “many sides”. And he expressed apparent sympathy with some of the marchers and their cause of protesting against the potential removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee.
Trump’s remarks renewed calls by some British politicians and activists for May to rescind her invitation for a state visit by the US president. The visit was pencilled in for autumn but has been pushed to next year, apparently out of concern about protests.
May had been criticised for remarks on Monday in which she condemned racism but would not directly criticise Trump. “What the president says is a matter for him,” she said.
Trump’s combative news conference on Tuesday prompted fierce denunciations from other members of May’s Conservative Party and a stronger statement from her.
“Words matter. Silence matters,” Sam Gyimah, a Tory MP, tweeted. “We must call out hate – unambiguously – to preserve the free & tolerant society many have fought & died for.”
Guterres made clear he sees dangers from the brand of nationalism and populism that fuelled Trump’s election as well as political changes elsewhere.
The Portuguese diplomat said his role means he speaks for the world, but his own European heritage gives him a perspective on what he cast as assaults on civilisation and reason.
“Tolerance, the respect for the other, the importance of recognition of diversity,” Guterres said, listing what he called legacies of the Enlightenment.
“To condemn all forms of irrationality that undermine those values is essential, at the present moment, be it in the US or anywhere else in the world,” he said. “Unfortunately, these demons are appearing a little bit everywhere.”
Guterres spoke several blocks from where Trump had been staying this week at his home in Trump Tower.
The two men are due to meet next month at the UN, when Trump addresses the world body for the first time as president.
Guterres was also asked about Trump’s recent threat that the US could use military force in Venezuela, where an authoritarian leader has expanded his powers. The remark was criticised as risky and historically tone deaf, given the bitter legacy of US involvement in military coups in Latin America.
“Latin America has successfully managed to get rid of both foreign intervention and authoritarianism. This is a lesson to make sure this legacy is safeguarded,” Guterres said.