Israeli Apartheid Week

The DTCRSJ held a joint event with the Palestine Solidarity Association (PSA) at the University of the Western Cape to observe the Israeli Apartheid Week and show solidarity with the Palestinians in their struggle against the apartheid state of Israel. This two-day event took place at the UWC premises. On the first day (10 April 2019), the Centre and the PSA showcased a painting symbolising the Israeli Apartheid wall in front of the main hall as a symbol of protest against the injustices in Israel – different students came to paint the wall to create an awareness and show solidarity throughout the day. On the following day, the DTCRSJ and the PSA hosted a workshop. Rhine Phillip Tsobotsi Koloti addressed the workshop on behalf of the DTCRSJ on the indivisibility of justice and the importance of international solidarity against human rights violations. This was followed by a moving presentation by Badee Dwaik, Palestinian activist and Human Rights Defenders founder, who experienced the brutal violence by the Israeli government in his own home.

Extract from Mr Koloti’s Address

“Why support Israeli Apartheid Week?
As South Africans, given our struggle history, we can easily be enticed to read reconciliation and fairness as meaning parity between justice and injustice. Having achieved our own ‘political’ freedom, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands when referring to the difficulties and struggles that others face. Yet we would be less than human if we did so. Therefore, in our efforts to embrace our full humanity and the Centre’s mission of challenging contextually, theoretically and methodologically asymmetrical systems of power, we became fully obligated to host these two events with the Palestine Solidarity Association. This obligation is envisioned in the words of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu: ‘True peace must be anchored in justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute’.“