JOINT STUDENT STATEMENT
04 August 2011
There is no doubt, Israel is an Apartheid state; There is only one word, boycott!
We, students and youth of a post
Apartheid South Africa, who bear the scars of a racist history and who continue
to fight for complete liberation, have a duty and responsibility to stand in
solidarity with those facing oppression worldwide. Israeli apartheid is one
such form of oppression.
Israeli media boast that a mission of
150 Israeli propagandists will be sent to universities in 5 countries to fix
Israel's "serious image problems". The Israeli mission will begin on
South African campuses on the 11th of August, with a delegation that includes
at least two aides from the Israeli parliament. A delegation member was clear
about the intention of their trip: "We have to create some doubt in their
[South African students’] minds."
Don’t patronize us! We lived
apartheid, we suffered apartheid, we know what apartheid is, we recognise
apartheid when we see it. And when we see Israel, we see a regime that
practices apartheid. Israel’s image needs no changing; its policies do! We urge
Israeli students to instead join the growing and inspiring internal resistance
to their regime, particularly the boycott from within movement, rather than
waste time and money on these propaganda trips to deceive us Black students,
South Africans have no need for these Muldergate-like trips.
A "major focus” of the Israeli
trip will be the University of Johannesburg (UJ). On 1st April 2011 UJ's
Senate, with the full backing of UJ's Student Representative Council,
terminated its institutional relationship with Israel's Ben-Gurion University.
Indeed, UJ set an academic boycott of Israel precedent that all other South
African and international universities can follow.
Following UJ’s decision, and in
response to a letter sent to us by Palestinian students, we urge all SRCs,
student groups and other youth structures to strategize and implement a boycott
of Israel and its campaigns. We declare that all SA campuses must be Apartheid-Israel
free zones.
As with the struggle against
apartheid in South Africa, international solidarity is key in overcoming
Israeli Apartheid. In Nelson Mandela’s words: 'It behoves all South Africans,
erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be
counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and
justice….we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of
the Palestinians.'
FOR THE RECORD
A. On Education
1. The Israeli occupation of the
Palestinian territories has had disastrous effects on access to education for
Palestinians. Palestinian students face poverty, harassment and humiliation as
a result of Israeli policy and actions.
2. Israel mounted direct attacks on
Palestinian education, including the complete closures of two Palestinian
universities in 2003 and the targeting and bombing of more than 60 primary and
secondary schools during the Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2009.
3. Israel’s assault on the education
of Palestinians is illegal under international law. The right to education is a
fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and other international instruments.
4. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has
had a detrimental impact on students. Gaza’s electricity supply is controlled
by Israel and shut-down for several hours most days, making it difficult for
students to study. Moreover, the blockade means insufficient quantities of
educational equipment, such as paper, desks and books, reach students.
B. On Israeli Apartheid
5. Several of our senior leaders have
compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa, including Comrades Kgalema
Mothlantle, Blade Nzimande, Zwelinzima Vavi, Rob Davies, Jeremy Cronin, Ahmed
Kathrada, Winnie Mandela, Ronnie Kasrils, Denis Goldberg, the late Kader
Asmal and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
6. Both the former and current United
Nations Special Rapporteurs for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories have requested that Israel be investigated for the crime of
apartheid.
7. In an official report commissioned
by the South African government in 2009, the Human Sciences Research Council
confirmed that Israel, by its policies and practices, is guilty of the crime of
apartheid.
8. In November 2010, South Africa’s
Department of International Relations and Cooperation called upon the Israeli
government “to cease their activities that are reminiscent of apartheid forced
removals…”
C. On Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS)
8. Palestinian civil society,
including student groups, have called for a policy of Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it abides by international law.
9. This call has the endorsement of
the largest and most representative coalition of civil and political society in
Palestine. The call also has the support of a growing number of progressive
Israeli groups.
10. In 2010, the United Nations
Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
Professor Richard Falk, said: “It is politically and morally appropriate, as well
as legally correct, to accord maximum support to the BDS campaign.”
11. COSATU, South Africa’s largest
trade union federation was one of the first unions to endorse the BDS call.
Subsequently, numerous other international trade unions have also adopted a
pro-BDS position.
12. Several international groups have
began to advance the BDS call in the cultural, consumer, sports, economic and
academic spheres. Earlier this year the largest student union in Europe, the
ULU, passed a motion in support of BDS."
ISSUED AT WITS UNIVERSITY ON THURSDAY
THE 4TH OF AUGUST 2011 BY
South African Union of Students,
South African Student Congress and the Young Communist League of South Africa
* The South African Student Congress
(SASCO) is South Africa's oldest and largest student organization.
** The SA Union of Students (SAUS)
comprises all South African university Student Representative Councils and is
the most representative student union in the country.
*** The Young Communist League of South Africa (YCL) has
local branches at all South African universities