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IMAM DR ABDUL RASHIED OMAR joins social justice activists in calling for the ‘vibrant energies of the powerful pro-Palestine solidarity movement in this country to re-energise and sustain the myriad of local struggles South Africans have had to face in post-Apartheid South Africa’.
IT has been truly inspirational to witness the huge support and great passion the South African solidarity movement for Palestine has garnered for the Palestine cause in the face of an unfolding genocide perpetrated by the Apartheid State of Israel in Gaza, during the last quarter of 2023.
This unprecedented Palestinian protest movement is not only led by organised movements such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign or the al-Quds Foundation, but is has taken on an organic, localised and spontaneous nature. Ordinary citizens feel compelled to express their solidarity with the Palestinians and to organise creative protest actions within their own communities and sectors against the atrocities of Apartheid Israel.
The fact that high profile and veteran anti-Apartheid political activists of all stripes have played a prominent role in providing leadership to the burgeoning Palestinian solidarity movement has also been uplifting and heartening.
The current protest environment and countrywide momentum that has gathered to cut all diplomatic, social and economic ties with the Zionist state of Israel is reminiscent of the height of the South African anti-Apartheid struggle during the 1980s. The unfolding genocide of the Palestinian people has galvanised ordinary citizens to stand up against this injustice and make their voices heard for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and an end to the occupation of Palestinian land.
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A critical question, however, that has emerged among social justice activists is how the vibrant energies of this powerful pro-Palestine solidarity movement can be moved and prodded to re-energise and sustain the myriad of local struggles South Africans have had to face in post- Apartheid South Africa.
One such struggle is against the endemic crime and gang violence which is crushing wholesome community life on the Cape Flats. Emblematic of this scourge of crime and gang violence in our communities is the tragic murder of a renowned anti-crime activist, and deputy chairperson of the Gugulethu Community police Forum, Lulama ‘Goofy’ Dinginto, on Sunday December 9. She was brutally gunned down by assassins at her home in Gugulethu around 4am. Her murder has sent shock waves across Community Police Forums, neighbourhood watches and anti-crime and gang violence activists across our city.
In response to this local tragedy some of us who are engaged in leadership positions in the Palestine solidarity movement are currently trying hard to direct some of the renewed energy for social justice struggles generated by the Palestine solidarity movement towards also working more robustly in combatting the scourge of crime and gang violence in our local communities.
In a modest attempt to start this linking of our local struggles with that of our solidarity for Palestinians, the Cape Crisis Committee which was set up to mediate the taxi strike in August 2023 convened an interfaith peace service in Elsies River, on the Cape Flats, on Wednesday December 13. The meeting linked the call for a ceasefire in Gaza to a call for a ceasefire on the Cape Flats to end the cycles of crime and violence experienced daily in these communities. While the people of Gaza are under siege by the Israeli Occupation Forces, our people on the Cape Flats are under siege by gangsters and organised crime bosses. The Elsies River interfaith service was a modest attempt to start making these links. The service was relatively successful, and it provided a much-needed opportunity for ordinary people to share their harrowing stories of the crime and gang violence they experience daily on the Cape Flats. These are marginalised communities that need more resources to ensure the safety and security of their communities and community programmes that can empower their youth.
As we seek to find creative ways of sustaining our protest actions in solidarity with Palestinians during this holiday season, I call on all of us to continue to make linkages with our local struggles for peace, reconciliation and justice in our city and country. In this regard, I would like to commend the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) for convening one of their protest actions on Wednesday November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in Blikkiesdorp, one of the most depressed parts of our city. The PSC pointed out the parallels between the open-air prison of Gaza and the conditions of the residents of Blikkiesdorp who are at the mercy of city authorities who refuse to engage or present viable solutions to what was supposed to be a temporary place of shelter. Instead, the people of Blikkiesdorp are left destitute 30 kilometres away from the City Centre and are effectively imprisoned behind a tall concrete fence. We should be mobilising similar solidarity actions and calls for justice for the people of Blikkiesdorp.
In conclusion I would like to make a passionate call in my khutbah today on everyone to help support the building of a strong grassroots and non-racial civil society movement in 2024 which can represent a powerful voice for marginalised people of our City. A strong civil society movement can demand more support and resources from local government to restore the dignity, safety and security of the poor and to bring peace with justice to our people. This is not an easy task, and we need everyone’s advice and support.
This is an abridged version of a khutbah (sermon) that Imam Dr Abdul Rashied Omar delivered at the Claremont Main Road Masjid (CMRM), Cape Town, on Friday December 15, 2023. Dr Omar is the officiating Imam at CMRM and is a Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding at the Joan B Kroc Institute
