‘Boycott, divest, and sanctions against Israel’ – Nehawu

The campaign this year began on 2 March and ends on 8 March. The IAW seeks to raise awareness about Israel`s apartheid policies towards the Palestinians and to build support for the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The IAW campaign in South Africa was endorsed by over 65 organisations including the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the South African Students Congress, the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and the South African Council of Churches (SACC). Organisers expect the number of organisations, churches, unions and others groups endorsing and participating in IAW to hit the 100 mark this year.

Sizwe Pamla, Nehawu spokesperson said, “We are also calling on other organisations and businesses to show their rejection of Israel`s military and political aggression by joining the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. We also call on members and workers in general to rally behind the cause of the freedom of the Palestinians. We are encouraged by the growing awareness and subsequent opposition by the workers and young people of the crimes that are committed daily by the Israeli Zionist regime.” Pamla said they call on all activists and progressives to denounce the pockets of racism and xenophobia in South Africa, and also for the sanctions campaign which is directed to the businesses and organisations that are ‘propping up the apartheid Israeli regime’.

He said South Africans of all stripes have a moral responsibility to condemn the apartheid practices and policies of the Israeli government and to join efforts to force it to uphold the international law that condemns racial oppression. “Let us all embrace and stand by the courageous principles of this country’s founding stalwarts, who left us a legacy of tolerance and the unambiguous denunciation of oppression and injustice. We call on our government to continue speaking out against the oppression of Palestinians and to express its disapproval of the barbaric and backward actions of the Zionist state and its defenders,” Pamla said.

He added that South Africans had been victims of State-sponsored injustices for hundreds of years and have a moral obligation to always side with those who are fighting for tolerance, justice and fairness around the world.

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