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We must be clear that the management of the Waterfront also needs solidarity from pro-Palestinian activists. Work with them. Make agreements with them and adhere to them. They are allies. At the same time, support the Palestinians in their hour of need. To them, we have a debt that we can never repay. They were our allies in the anti-Apartheid struggle. Israel was an ally of the Apartheid regime.
By MOGAMAT REDERWAAN CRAAYENSTEIN
A Zionist councillor, who forgets that he lives in post-Apartheid South Africa – which is just yesterday from the end of white supremacist settler colonial displacement, dispossession and disinheritance and Apartheid – smears the management of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town for not stopping the protests by pro-Palestinian activists at a specific store at the shopping mall.
This Zionist is lucky that we, as an oppressed people who are descendants of Khoi, San, slaves and indentured labourers and numerous other indigenous communities, have chosen not to do to those who benefited for over 300 years what white people did to our ancestors. We kept track of their humanity even though they treated our ancestors worse than animals. This person is just deaf, dumb and blind to the crimes that Israel is visiting upon Palestinians. It might just be that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) never really held to account those whites who were supremely privileged during Apartheid.
There is nothing wrong with the management of the Waterfront regarding the demonstrations at some stores at the mall. The facility’s management is aware of the immense responsibility they bear.
I was in a meeting with others that discussed the significance of the Waterfront to our imperfect experiment in democracy in South Africa. The Waterfront is the place where slaves arrived in the 1650s. Hence, it bears the scars of the inhumanity of man towards others. At the same time, the Waterfront is also the place of departure for the first prisoners on Robben Island, in 1658, Autshumato, Jan Cou and Boubo. Moreover, the Waterfront was also the place of arrival of prisoners from Robben Island. The Waterfront was also integral to the lives of freed slaves who lived just outside Strand Street and above Buitengracht Street. Just beyond Strand Street was a graveyard.
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Cape Town Harbour was also a key transit point for ships coming from Europe to the East. The interaction between white settlers and indigenous Khoi and San, slaves from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, East and West Africa created a creole language which became Afrikaans. The first people to write Afrikaans in Arabic were those who worked at the harbour and lived above Buitengracht and Strand Streets. Despite the Afrikaans language being captured by racist white Afrikaners it is, in fact, a language of resistance against Dutch colonialism. Afrikaans was a decolonial response to the hegemony of the Dutch language. The port was an arena where, in language, another worldview was born in the shadow of Dutch power. This language issue remains an unresolved matter in post-apartheid South Africa. Afrikaans must be rescued from the racists who now tie it to the destiny of an empire in decline.
Historically, the Waterfront has been a complex space of pain, dehumanisation, imprisonment, and freedom, as well as dignity. This management understands its responsibility as custodians of a historically significant space. I can say without fear of contradiction that they bear that responsibility with pride.
There is a store of someone who is a big supporter of Israel. This person has the right to be wrong. However, that right comes with consequences. This person has had opportunities to meet the demands of pro-Palestine demonstrators. There was a moment when this was possible. And I do know that the ball is in his court. That is a moral responsibility to the contribution of the Jewish Bible and prophets to human history. Every person has been created in the image of God. It does not matter if they were Jewish, Arab, Palestinian, African or Asian. Every human being is sacred and ordinary widows, orphans, the homeless, and poor people have an inalienable right to life, dignity and liberty. These ideas were a revolutionary change in the history of mankind from the Greek and Roman civilisations. This person is requested to make a call for peace, an end to the genocidal war by Israel on the Palestinians, and to use the lived experience of a Jewish community that collaborated with and was complicit with Apartheid, yet still largely privileged and facing no retribution in post-Apartheid. He has wavered, if not refused.
However, he refuses to abandon Netanyahu and Israel in the way that Moses and Aron condemned the Golden Calf. He cannot stand by Netanyahu and seek an umbrella of protection from the management of the Waterfront. He can decide differently.
The Management of the Waterfront is under immense pressure to limit our rights to freedoms of conscience, association, movement and assembly. Until now, they have resisted the pressure. This places the pro-Palestine demonstrators in a significant moral space.
Solidarity with Palestinians is unqualified. Our political projects must always be subject to critical scrutiny. It is correct to call for BDS outside those facilities of those who support the genocidal displacement, dispossession, disinheritance, killing, mass detention without trial by the Israeli IDF against Palestinians. Do not lose sight of the humanity of the persons who are targeted. Follow the example of Moses, who addressed the Pharaoh. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. Hate the sin, engage the sinner. Redemption is always possible.
This attack on the Waterfront management is utterly misplaced. If this person had any moral compass, even a broken one, he would have called for an end to the war on Palestinians and used the experiences of Jews in South Africa and white South Africans in general to help bigoted Israeli Jews to see that they have nothing to fear from making peace with their enemies.
We must be clear that the management of the Waterfront also needs solidarity from pro-Palestinian activists. Work with them. Make agreements with them and adhere to them. They are allies.
At the same time, support the Palestinians in their hour of need. To them, we have a debt that we can never repay. They were our allies in the anti-Apartheid struggle. Israel was an ally of the Apartheid regime.
This councillor is essentially conducting a job interview. Disregard his nonsense. Stand with the Palestinians and the Waterfront management.
What we learn as activists is that we have permanent interests, which are to build solidarity with Palestinians who are the subjects of a genocide. For that, we must make allies to maximise our impact and neutralise and minimise the gains of the Zionists. To build allies, one must recognise the interests of the other and find ways towards a mutual interest. I read somewhere that we must invite the way of the oppressed with wisdom, through interactions and engagements that are beautiful. When we debate, we should do so in the best way, that is, we can be proud of how we conduct ourselves in these matters. This means that as activists, we recognise potential allies and our manner of reaching out. How we conduct ourselves, should be the first part of our task of building the movement. We must seek to persuade by our conduct before we even open our mouths. This applies to potential supporters, allies, and even enemies.
When the Management of the Waterfront was approached in this manner, they were already under severe pressure to put an end to the protests. When the arguments were presented to them in the manner outlined herein, they gained a deeper understanding of the ethical responsibility they bear in managing the Waterfront.
This brings me to the four questions posed by W E B du Bois that I believe the management of the Waterfront is facing in this matter. This is much deeper than the typical Corporate Social Responsibility courses taught at the business school at the Waterfront.
How shall integrity meet oppression?
Integrity is about having a consistent moral compass. The life of a Palestinian baby in Gaza must have the same value as that of a Jewish baby in Tel Aviv. There cannot be a hierarchy in the worth of human beings.
How shall honesty meet deception?
We know that during war, it is said that the first casualty is truth. Every claim made by the Israelis about October 7 has been debunked. This is not to say that there were not things that were wrong on October 7, 2023. There have been issues on October 6 and they have persisted for 75 years. The Israeli government and many pro-Israel institutions abroad have institutionalised the deceptions of the Zionist settler occupation, displacement, disinheritance, expulsion, mass imprisonment and house demolitions. Israel has made some brutal gains on the warfront, but its normalised mendacity stands exposed.
How shall decency meet insult?
For 75 years, Israel has routinised and institutionalised insulting the Palestinians. That has been the underlying glue that binds everyday Zionist atrocities. These insults are the precursors and motivators for the genocide that Israel is visiting upon the Palestinians. What is the decent response of bystanders in the face of this mendacity grounded in insult?
How shall virtue meet brute force?
Virtue is about good conduct even in the face of brute force. We are trying to make the world a better place. Israel uses brute force in Palestine, and around the globe, its allies are using extraordinary force to stop activists from bearing witness to a televised genocide, the cremation of international law, covenants, conventions, international humanitarian law and human rights law. We see the dismantling of a rule-based order that was based on making sure that the crimes against humanity, primarily, although not exclusively, against European Jews, would never be repeated. Today, Israel leads the muffling of the cries of ‘Never Again’.
Raul Hilberg, the founder of the discipline of Holocaust Studies, said that there are perpetrators, victims and bystanders. In the solidarity movement, we are bystanders. However, we can choose to be the kind of bystanders that we wish to be. I read somewhere, and the Christians might recognise this better, ‘what you do for the least of thee you do unto Me’. I also read somewhere that ‘the greatest of thee are those who serve the least of thee’.
Somewhere else, I read that if you see something that is wrong, then change it with your hand (take action). If you cannot do that, then speak out against it. If even that cannot be done, then at least share it in your heart, but this is the least that you could do (or words to that effect).
This management of the Waterfront cannot be indifferent to the evils of Zionism and the egregiousness of its supporters. For indifference to evil is even worse than evil. So said Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. William James said that indifference to evil is the one human trait that will make even the angels weep.
In my discussions with them, the management of the Waterfront accepts its moral responsibility that comes with the facility. I am comfortable with their responses to W E B du Bois, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, William James and the prophets of the holy scriptures to which some of us subscribe.
Our task is not to push them to the wall as if they are complicit with the pro-Israel lobby in South Africa. We must hold them to account as allies.
These have been our guiding principles as we have campaigned for Palestine for over 40 years. We remind people that in the days of Apartheid, our pamphlets, stickers, meetings, and marches were banned. Today, it is much easier to organise for justice between the river and the sea. When one’s heart sings ‘Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world…’ then that is as dangerous in a Zionist Apartheid state as it was in Apartheid South Africa. Talking about love, equality, justice, and fairness is radical, if not revolutionary.
