South African labour’s solidarity with Gaza

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 the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) members, a union affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (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 1980s 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 – the 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 US 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 them.
- 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 terrorists, 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.

* The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was founded in 1985.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.