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SEDICK CROMBIE writes that when you vote on May 29 ask yourself if you can ‘continue to support a party that thinks very little of the suffering of your fellow brothers and sisters’ in Palestine
THE past weekend has been one of deep thought, immense deep thought, and introspection. I was sitting in the company of some colleagues when the inevitable topic of the upcoming elections on May 29, 2024 was debated.
As we sat around our table having supper at the hotel the million-dollar question of who to vote for came up. One immediate response was that we should be so lucky that we live here in the Western Cape where service delivery is still very much the order of the day. Another chipped in that when entering or leaving the town of George the scenario drastically changes and things quickly go downhill thereafter, with roads beset by potholes.
This seems to be the standard argument or justification to continue voting for the ruling Democratic Alliance (DA) in this province. It was at this point that one colleague turned to me and enquired what I was thinking. After all, my silence was baffling to him, as these are debates which I clearly love to be a part of. My silence was probably due to a sense of shock at the responses. I gathered my thoughts and tried to instill a sense of calm in what was by now a raging volcano bubbling under my breath and ready to explode. My response went along the following lines…
This election and the attempts at winning our votes should be interpreted on two levels. On the one level, we are rightfully aggrieved at the ruling party in the country, the African National Congress (ANC), for squandering the gains we made during our struggle to eradicate the country from the yoke of oppression and racism. On this level we want to show our dissatisfaction by withholding our vote. It would obviously be difficult to fault such a decision for the inconveniences of having to now deal with loadshedding and potholes, impacting negatively on our daily lives.
On another level we cannot distance ourselves from the brutal genocide that is being waged against our fellow brothers and sisters in Gaza and the West Bank. For over seven months we have been shown scenes of unimaginable savagery and cruelty perpetrated against a helpless and unarmed population by a brutal and inhuman Israeli government and its army. It is beyond imagination witnessing scenes of utter devastation, murdered infants, massacred families, mass graves, victims executed with their hands tied behind their backs, murdered doctors, scientists, academics, journalists, ambulance staff, UN staff and aid workers with NGOs, including one who worked for our own Gift of the Givers.
As if this is not enough, the psychopathic leadership in the Israeli government and army have deliberately set out to destroy all infrastructure, homes, schools, hospitals, universities and eventually everything that would contribute and ensure a healthy and educated Palestinian society.
How more evidence is needed to indicate that this is ethnic cleansing and genocide is beyond understanding. Words fail to adequately convey and describe the inhumanity and barbarism visited upon the Gaza population. And all this, while the whole world looks on; perhaps shocked into disbelief by the intense hatred, brutality and heartlessness meted out by the occupation forces and its settler community. The photos and social media clips of soldiers laughing and dancing while killing innocent civilians and bombing buildings are sadistic and of the macabre. How can there be any justification in trying to root out Hamas, but in the process murder over 35 000 Palestinians, of whom 15 000 are children?
Despite all this the ‘civilized’ world – the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, and the rest of the West – continues to supply and replenish the arms to kill and maim in this slaughter of the innocents, while calling on Israel to be more careful in going about the killings. They say hypocrisy is ‘the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble belief than is the case’. Well, the ‘civilised’ West has shown to the rest of the world, with this Gaza genocide, a clear and unmistakable example of hypocrisy in action.
The hypocrisy of the local narrative is even more stark as the DA has been loath to even extend a modicum of empathy towards the killing of so many Palestinians innocents. When the Ukraine invasion broke out the party was quick to jump on the bandwagon of supporting the Western narrative against Russia. The DA leader, John Steenhuisen, rushed to Ukraine to show support and stand alongside the Ukrainian forces. Table Mountain was draped in the Ukrainian flag to demonstrate the DA’s unequivocal support for Ukraine.
Fast forward to October 2024 and thereafter, no word of sympathy, support or commiserations for the embattled Palestinians who are being massacred in their thousands. There was now no Table Mountain draped in the flag of Palestine or any statements in support of the people in Gaza; only feeble and nonsensical missives to deflect from the reality of the ongoing slaughtering.
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Any township community on the Cape Flats who dared to paint a Palestinian flag on a building was immediately visited by several City of Cape Town law enforcement officers with labourers in tow to paint over any Palestinian murals on buildings.
The DA leader took this cold and callous stance of denigrating the Palestinian genocide a step further when he cold-heartedly declared ‘one man’s genocide is another man’s freedom’. He did not stop there and even made gestures, depicting madness, in Parliament when the leader of Al Jama-ah Party, Ganief Hendricks, spoke in the debate on the Palestinian issue. This is the leader of a party who thinks more of people who looks like him, can rush thousands of kilometres to a war zone to show support, but cannot find it in his heart to condemn and show sympathy to people who look like us.
If these subtle but demeaning actions are not a clear indication of what he and his party think of us, then nothing ever will. If such actions do not open one’s eyes to the deep-seated hypocrisy and subtle racism of the DA, then nothing ever will.
So, when you go into the voting booth on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 to make your cross, just think which of the parties really have your best interest, well-being and that of your fellow brother and sisters at heart. Will the inconvenience of having a pothole in the road be of more significance to you then seeing young children, who could easily be yours or your grandchildren, being massacred in their thousands. As you make your mark, think about the thousands who have lost their lives, the innocents, the young, the women, the elderly and those who have been starved of the necessities to live a decent life in Palestine.
Remember, you can cry your eyes out at the killing and maiming, march in your thousands, but if in the end you continue to support a party that thinks very little of the suffering of your fellow brothers and sisters, then you are no better than these self-same hypocrites who show scant respect for the lives of others.
