MALAIKA MAHLATSI | SA needs solidarity with oppressed people

Just over a week ago, my colleagues and I, research fellows at a prestigious German institution, had a difficult time convincing African students who dominate our research institute, to participate in the drafting of a statement in support of the Palestinian cause.

On one hand, this difficulty can be attributed to the culture of silence that exists in Germany around the Israeli-Palestine conflict, rooted in the country’s demonisation of anything it deems “anti-Semitic”, which includes genuine criticism of the Zionist apartheid project in occupied Palestine.

It’s extremely difficult to be pro-Palestine in a country with a documented history of punishing anyone who doesn’t tow the pro-Israel line, and so, it stands to reason that many people, and certainly African students, many of whom are provided scholarships and bursaries by German institutions and companies, would opt for silence in the face of an Israeli orchestrated genocide.

On the other hand, the difficulty in garnering support for the issuing of a statement in support of Palestine can be attributed to a legitimate concern from a number of fellows that the injustices happening in Palestine receive disproportionate attention and support to those that occur on the African continent.

These colleagues argue that there is violent conflict and genocides happening in their own home countries in the Sahel region, West Africa and other parts of the continent, which are barely reported about and for which no activities of solidarity are organised.

I have come to appreciate that this argument, while problematic in many ways, is one that Is held by a significant number of people in our country. This was exposed by some of the commentary about the recent protests and demonstrations that have been held by the ANC and the EFF in support of the Palestinian people.

The commentary posits that the focus on Palestine should be turned inwards – that our governing party and opposition should be focused on protesting about domestic issues within the country and the region, rather than a struggle in the Middle East that they incorrectly believe has no bearing on SA’s democratic project.

It is true that very often, the extent of our solidarity does not stretch to the rest of the continent. While donations are being made to provide much-needed aid to Palestinian people, just across the border in Mozambique, a country that made immeasurable sacrifices for us in our struggle for freedom, at least 2-million people are in need of life-sustaining and life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection in the Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa provinces due to armed conflict and violence.

The same is true of countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and many others across the continent whose struggles are not only under-reported or not reported at all, but who don’t enjoy the same degree of solidarity that is extended to the people of Palestine. Furthermore, SA has a serious crisis of xenophobia confronting it.

And so, while on the one hand we stand in solidarity with Palestine, on the other, injustices are perpetrated on other Africans in our country, often to lukewarm condemnation by our own people. This exposes the way in which SA is complicated and layered when it comes to meanings of solidarities against injustice.

While we must engage with the uncomfortable truth that our solidarity is not free from biases and notions of what bodies matter more, we must also not fall into the trap of being inhuman. It is true that our country and the African continent broadly has challenges that require dedicated focus.

However, this does not negate our moral responsibility towards other oppressed people in the world who are experiencing injustices such as those happening in Palestine. We must, if we are to fashion a higher civilisation, transcend the narrow thinking that some struggles have nothing to do with us because they occur in distant lands.

And as we seek to mobilise support for Palestine, we must also not be dismissive of those like my colleagues who feel unseen and disregarded in their own plight. Their arguments may be flawed but their experiences and feelings of being treated as though their own struggles are of insignificance are valid.

We must foster a culture of cementing solidarity to all oppressed people, recognising that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.