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Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual global campaign to raise awareness about the oppressive Israeli system of apartheid and to mobilise grassroots support for the Palestinian struggle for justice.  IAW in Africa will run from 21 March to 6th April with a global on-line rally on Saturday 26 March including musicians from South Africa and our continent.

This year the South African BDS Coalition, its affiliates and partners, have put together an extensive programme of on-line and in-person events across the country [link].  Events range from poetry slams and open mics, outdoor film screenings, pickets, protests, soccer games, fun runs, apartheid walls and mural painting, music, silent protests, faith-based actions and Palestinian flag popularisation.  There will also be discussions and debates on topics such as implementing the Foreign Military Assistance Act against South Africans joining the Israeli occupation forces; the Palestinian One State Campaign; Palestine Solidarity and Workers’ Struggles; and a launch of the Nelson Mandela University Palestine solidarity organisation.

More than two years of pandemic and the current war in Ukraine has revealed and worsened existing global inequalities and destructive forces of racial capitalism, militarism, surveillance and other tools of oppression. It has also revealed the hypocrisy and racism of the international community – within days there were boycotts and sanctions imposed upon Russia – why can this not be the case against apartheid Israel in support of over 70-years of Palestinian resistance to this crime against humanity?  We know well the key role international solidarity played in support of our resistance against apartheid in South Africa through boycotts, divestment and sanctions.  Our post-apartheid government, more than any other, should be heading the call of the Palestinian people for BDS and leading the implementation of boycotts, divestment and international sanctions to isolate apartheid Israel.

Under the theme of United Against Racism, IAW links up the Palestinian anti-apartheid struggle with all those fighting racism, oppression and discrimination across the globe.  IAW 2022 focuses on arts and culture – decolonising our minds against cultural appropriation and oppression and highlighting culture as a weapon of resistance.  In South Africa IAW 2022 will demonstrate the indivisibility of our struggles and our insistence on freedom and dignity for all, building networks of people power and international solidarity across cultures and borders with inspiring creativity. IAW affirms our profound aspiration for emancipation, and joins with Palestinians and communities across the world who continue to resiliently resist oppression and struggle for social, racial, gender, economic and climate justice.  

Issued by The South African BDS Coalition