South Africa: Labor Solidarity with the People of Gaza

South Africa: Labor Solidarity with the People of Gaz

 

Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)

February 9, 2009

 

http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/2009/feb/press19.htm

 

COSATU General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi's, address to

Cape Town rally in solidarity with the people of Gaza,

February 8, 2009

 

In a historic development this week, South African

dockworkers refused to unload a ship from Israel that

docked in Durban on 4 February 2009. The action by

SATAWU members, a union affiliated to COSATU, in Durban

reflects the commitment by South African workers to

refuse to support oppression and exploitation across

the globe. They were following the decision by COSATU

to strengthen the campaign in South Africa for

boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel.

 

Last year, the same Durban dockworkers refused to

unload a shipment of arms from China destined for

Zimbabwe to prop up the Mugabe regime and to intensify

the repression against the Zimbabwean people.

 

Western Australian members of the Maritime Union of

Australia have also resolved to support the campaign

for BDS, and have called for a boycott of all Israeli

vessels and all vessels bearing goods arriving from or

going to Israel. It was the same union that in the

1980's used to refuse to touch any thing from the

apartheid South Africa.

 

We salute the principled position taken by these

workers. We also take this opportunity to salute the

millions of workers all over the world who have openly

condemned and taken decisive steps to isolate apartheid

Israel, a step that should send shockwaves to its

arrogant patrons in the United States who foot the bill

for Israel's killing machine.

 

COSATU also calls on workers in the rest of the world

to follow the lead of our members in SATAWU who have

vowed not to unload any Israeli goods, and our members

who are planning a campaign not to handle any Israeli

goods in supermarkets, and other stores.

 

Workers of the world united to isolate the Apartheid

South African state in 1970s and 1980s. Workers need to

stretch our hands across the seas and our continents to

join together, now, to isolate the Apartheid Israeli

state and to Free Palestine.

 

From our own experience, we know how painful and

dehumanising is the apartheid system of segregation. It

was a system based on the assumption that one group or

race is superior to others and therefore has a right to

all the privileges and virtues associated with that

particular status. It has a right to run and determine

the lives of others, excluding them from certain

privileges, merely because they do not belong to the

'chosen' group.

 

What other definition would so fittingly define a

system based on different rights and privileges for

Jews and Arabs in the Middle East? The bantustanisation

of Palestine into pieces or strips - West Bank,

Ramallah, Gaza strip and so on - run by Israel and with

no rights whatsoever for the Palestinians - is

definitely an apartheid system.

 

Israel occupied the land of the Palestinian people and

created settler communities of Jews who enjoy a

different lifestyle and privileges than those

experienced by Palestinians, who are packed like

Sardines in a tin throughout the Bantustans, with Gaza

being acknowledged as the world's biggest open-air prison.

 

In the same way that the ANC-led liberation movement

here in South Africa refused to submit to the most

extreme form of invasion and subjugation, but fought

with all means at our disposal, why should the

Palestinian people be denied that right?

 

The hypocritical `equal apportionment of condemnation

to both the aggressor and victim' is dishonest and

unfair. There is no neutrality in a struggle; the

occupying and oppressive force is immoral and the

resisting force has the moral responsibility to fight

for freedom. The Palestinian people have been left with

no option but to resist the occupation of their land

and the denial of their rights.

 

We are deeply troubled by the immoral position adopted

by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, the

South African Zionist Federation and the Chief Rabbi,

Warren Goldstein, on the current atrocities in Gaza.

They continue to justify the aggression in all sorts of

jargon, masking the true character of the human crisis

and suffering inflicted daily on the people of Palestine.

 

On the other hand we salute statements by various South

African Jews of conscience who have dissociated

themselves from the attack on Gaza and spoken out

boldly against the genocide carried out in the name of

the Israeli people by a few warmongers and their US allies.

 

We ask the newly elected US President, Barack Obama to

be true to his promise for real change. We call on him

to stop U.S aid to Israel.

 

The utter disregard for international law by Israel and

its contempt for UN resolutions further confirm the

need for the restructuring and transformation of this

super global governance institution to meet the

challenges of the 21st century.

 

We are putting forward the following appeals to the

people of South Africa and the world:

 

- All trade unions, social movements, NGOs, religious

organisations and academics should support and actively

participate in the BDS campaign against Israel,

refusing to handle anything that comes from and that

goes to Israel in order to isolate it until it submits

to international law and withdraws from all the

occupied territories

 

- All companies and all shipping companies must refuse

to carry any shipment of arms to Israel. Any shipping

company who carries these weapons has the blood of the

people of Gaza on its hands!

 

- All governments should enforce international law by

refusing to recognise a country that makes a mockery of

international law and the pursuit of human dignity.

They must expel Israeli ambassadors and representatives

in order to ensure that we isolate it throughout the

world until it subscribes to the ideals of human

dignity! In this case, we salute the bold examples of

Venezuela and Bolivia and call upon all countries to emulate it.

 

- The international media must expose the real truth

behind the war and not hide the real issues in the name

of objectivity, by projecting an image of Israel as a

state under siege by terrorist, thus discrediting the

legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people.

Balanced reporting does not mean, massaging issues and

diluting the truth even in the face of insurmountable

evidence against the wrong side.

 

- The international trade union movement should emulate

the heroic example of SATAWU in Durban and the

Norwegian Locomotive Drivers Union, who on 8 January

ensured that all trains in the whole of Norway, and all

trams and subways in Oslo, stood still for two minutes

in protest against Israeli invasion.

 

- We call for particular focus on targeting the

conservative US and British foreign policies, which

requires that we work with our counterpart unions and

progressive organisations in these countries to effect

radical foreign policy changes in relation to the

Middle East. This should include exposing the complicit

role of these two states in perpetuating the violence

and arming Israel, while rhetorically positioning

themselves as anti-terrorists.

 

- We acknowledge the progressive role of our government

in relation to the situation in the Middle East,

including its humanitarian support for the suffering

people of Gaza, but believe that there is a lot more we

can do working together. In this instance, we call for

the cessation of all trade relations with Israel.

 

- The Arab League must be brought under pressure to act

in solidarity with the Palestinian people and limit the

chances of some states openly collaborating with

Israel, but to lead the global offensive for the

isolation of Israel, owing to their strategic proximity in that area.

 

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