Durban 2 is coming, and a growing chorus of voices is demanding a boycott.

The UN’s World Conference against Racism, scheduled for April, is a review of Durban 1, which concluded on September 8, 2001, and which was largely forgotten after the terror attacks later the following week.

On the surface, we can all sign on to a statement against racism, but Durban 1 was not just racism in general. In was occasion for so drastically inflating the term “racism,” that it included everything from Zionism to colonialism to global capitalism—and accordingly meant nothing at all.

It was a classic case of mismanagement by a conference director so afraid of excluding anyone’s grievances, that the very serious issue of racism got sidetracked.

Durban leaders were correct in including systemic and economic justice in a discussion of racism—yet failed to retain control.

After several years of behind-the-scenes meetings, a second conference is in the works, and seems to be more of the same. Canada is currently planning on boycotting the meetings, as are several other Western countries, including Denmark, France and others.

The issues are the same as with any boycott: do you remain to influence, or do you leave, so as not to lend legitimacy?