ALLAN BOESAK

On 22 October, 2023 an estimated 10,000 people marched in solidarity with the people of Palestine and Gaza in Salt River, Cape Town. Allan Boesak was the main speaker.

I

I am so proud to be here with you today, gathered in our thousands in our solidarity with the people of Palestine, especially the people of Gaza. I am proud to be part of a movement of global solidarity and global resistance, as the streets of New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, and every major city of the world are filled with people standing up for Palestine today. Just this week we saw American Jews not only in the streets, but in the halls of the Congress of the United States, shouting loud and clear, “NOT IN MY NAME!!”

What is becoming clear is that the pro-Israeli propaganda is no longer working as they hoped it would. The more they call Palestinians: “cockroaches”, “terrorists”, and “human animals”, the more we feel the bonds of our humanity, of brotherhood and sisterhood.

There is a lot of talk these days about timelines. Of war, of resistance, of land dispossession, of every act of humiliation, since the beginning of the Nakba.

When I hear that, I think of the words in Psalm 13 of the Hebrew Bible: “How long, Lord?” the psalmist asks of God. “How long, Lord, will you forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul?” 

That’s the question we should think about as we march for Palestine today. “How Long?”

It was round about 1890 that the seeds of Zionism were sown to become the evil, murderous, inhuman ideology it is today. It was in 1916 when two white men, Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot, the first from Britain and the other from France, sat down to divide West Asia – what they called the Middle East – among the imperialist powers of the day.

In 1917, Lord Balfour, in the infamous Balfour Declaration, was already busy alienating the native Palestinians from their land, calling them “non-Jewish citizens”, living in a land ‘without people” having to make way for “a people without a land.” The framework of this settler-neo-colonialist project was already set.

The genocidal politics, the ethnic cleansing, the land theft, the dispossession quickly followed: 1938, 1948, 1967 mark those first significant moments. Since then, the world could not keep up with the magnitude of death and destruction inflicted upon the Palestinian people by Israel. “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008 and 2009; “Operation Pillar of Defence” in 2012; “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014, in response to the nonviolent campaign of resistance by the Palestinians. All the while Israel “mowing the lawn” – attack after attack killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories.

How long?

II

How long before the hideous and scandalous hypocrisy of the West ends? For almost eighty years, the West, specifically the US, has been giving diplomatic and political protection to Israel, vetoing every resolution trying to stop Israel from annihilating Palestinians.

How Long?

How long will we see the spectacle of shamelessness from Europe and Britain? European leaders, one after the other in these weeks, flying to Israel to pledge undying and unconditional support for this murderous apartheid state, without a single word of compassion for the suffering people of Gaza.

But Europe knows what we know – that they are punishing the people of Palestine for the centuries-long anti-Semitism of the West. It is the Europeans who have visited pogroms on their Jewish populations; they were responsible for Kristallnacht; they made the Nuremberg laws that singled out and discriminated against Jews; they are the ones who built the concentrations camps; they are responsible for the holocaust; they are the ones with blood on their hands – not the Palestinians. But now they claim to stand in solidarity with Israel, hoping to wash the blood of innocent Jews off their hands with the blood of innocent Palestinians and their children. And this has been going on for 75 years!

How long?

III

How long before the Nakba ends?

I hear some talking about “a second Nakba”. But it isn’t, really. In reality it is the same ongoing, never-ending catastrophe. It was never meant as a singular, tragic moment in history, never to be repeated after the achievement of some once-off, dark goal. It was designed as an ongoing process of dispossession, dehumanisation, and extermination.

The plan never was a momentary attack, over and done with. The plan was always a phase-by-phase destruction of Palestinian land, Palestinian homes, Palestinian sacred places, Palestinian rights, Palestinian hopes, dreams, aspirations, legitimate Palestinian expectations, Palestinian life itself. 

The plan was the complete annihilation of Palestinian identity. Israel has never lost sight of it. And they are far from being done. All this was supposed to have destroyed all Palestinian resistance.

But they failed. That is why we have had a first intifada, a second intifada – wave after wave of resistance. That’s why we had Jenin. Never-ending courage, never-ending fortitude, never-ending determination; this never-ending, death-defying, sacrificial love of land and people. That’s why we had October 7. And now we will have a global intifada.

And that is why we are here.

There is a special, historic relationship between the freedom struggles of South Africa and the freedom struggles of the Palestinians. Nelson Mandela said so, and he was right.

Because of that relationship, we, South Africans, can say what the United States, and Europe cannot, will not, say.

This is not self-defence – it is a war of terror. This is not self-defence – this is an occupation. This is not self-defence – this is genocide. And South Africans must say it!

We saw President Ramaphosa speak at last, surrounded by his National Executive Committee, as president of the African National Congress. But we do not want to hear him speak as the president of the ANC, standing with the NEC of the ANC, mindlessly repeating ANC resolutions the ANC itself has been too cowardly to implement. That NEC is not our NEC. That NEC is not us. It does not represent the people of South Africa, nor does it represent the government of South Africa. The ANC NEC cannot pronounce or act on behalf of the people of South Africa – only the government can. We need him to speak as the President of the Republic of South Africa. Mr Ramaphosa stood there, pronouncing those pious words we have heard so often before. But the time for pious words is over; they are drowning in the blood of Palestinian children. And South Africans must say it!

Mr Ramaphosa and his government cannot stop the war, but he can add South Africa’s voice to the genuine calls for peace and justice for Palestine now beginning to echo around the world.

South Africa cannot stop the war, but we can put pressure on the Israeli apartheid state through the effective implementation of boycotts, disinvestment, and sanctions. We know it worked on apartheid South Africa, why would it not work on apartheid Israel?

South Africa cannot stop the war – but we can shut down the Israeli embassy, send all their people home, close down our own embassy, and recall our ambassador.

South Africa cannot stop the war, but we can, right now, stop all trade with that murderous, genocidal state. 

Mr Ramaphosa, the people of South Africa are standing with the people of Palestine. Dare you not stand with us, and still call yourself president of South Africa?

Nelson Mandela was clear as a bell on this issue. Dare you not stand with Mandela and still call yourself his successor, and our president?

The people of South Africa are saying, solidarity with Palestine is not empty words, solidarity means action – implement BDS, call Israel an apartheid state, shut down the embassy, cut all ties, abandon this meaningless call for a so-called two-state solution, and call for a solution that will make that land an open, inclusive, secular, non-racial democracy with equal rights for all under legitimate law.

IV

So here we are today – all 10,000 of us – standing up for Palestine, over 3,000 dead by now, more than 10,000 wounded, more than 1000 children dead, with who knows how many under the rubble.

Here we are today – schools being bombed, hospitals being bombed, mosques and churches being bombed, because Israelis understand the bond of solidarity between Christians and Muslims, and they fear it. They know we understand the power of our common humanity, and they fear it. They know we know our duty as children of God, and they fear it.

Here we are today – the question hanging in the air: “How Long?”

Here is our answer: “Not long!”

If we remain steadfast – not long!

If we keep our pledges to Palestine – not long!

If we have the courage stand with our Jewish sisters and brothers here with us today, who are standing up against Zionism and murder, crying out, “NOT IN MY NAME!” – not long!

If we share the courage and sumud of the people of Gaza, and sustain the resistance to this evil – not long!  If we truly believe the cry, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” – pray for it, work for it, fight for it, suffer for it, hold it high – say it as we walk, say it as we march; teach it to our children, not allowing the world to forget – then surely, if we do this, our answer is: NOT LONG!

Header photograph courtesy of Ashraf Hendricks / Groundup