Why the struggle for non-racialism in South Africa must continue

Why the struggle for non-racialism must continue in South Africa: a discussion primer

In this week that we commemorated the launch of the UDF in South Africa, and as we move towards the 20^th Anniversary of our democracy, it is important to understand and discuss what we mean by the term “non-racialism” and whether we have achieved non-racialism in South Africa. Or is apartheid in South Africa simply “under new management”, as some have claimed.

These questions are important if we are going to move significantly forward in our national life as South Africans, and if we are going to build some form of positive social cohesion.

It is also important to for South Africans to understand the distinctions between the following terms:

1. Non-racialism (and integration)
2. Multi-racialism (and assimilation)
3. Anti-racism

These three terms are not the same and sometimes people use the one while they actually mean the other.

1. The legal victory:             Apartheid in its legal sense has been defeated. No-one can seriously argue (as some Israelis have tried to do this week) that South Africa is an apartheid state. In terms of our constitution, South Africa is no longer an apartheid state. But is it a non-racial state?
2. In practice, much of what is done in this “new” South Africa is still done in racial categories. Official forms often require that we indicate whether we are white, coloured, Indian or African. This is justified by the slogan “we cannot manage what we cannot measure” and therefore if we want to for example measure how far “blacks” have moved away from poverty in South Africa, we need to be able to have statistics to back it up. From a purely practical perspective, this might then be necessary. But are we willing to put a deadline to this practice or will it be with us forever? Or are we willing to say that when x amount of people have moved out of poverty, we will drop this practice. This is something we as South Africans need to talk about. Trevor Noah is for example correct (since he has a white father and an African mother) to fill in that he is “white”. But equally he could fill in African or Coloured. But hopefully none of this will be necessary in the future.
3. Also, in practice Apartheid is still being practiced by many South Africans: Unfortunately, despite the legal victory against apartheid, some South Africans continue to practice a form of apartheid in public institutions, especially at schools. Many people would want to deny that this is happening, but if we are honest enough with ourselves we will see to what extent Apartheid is being practiced and this must simply stop. This problem is probably as serious as the problem of not delivering textbooks on time.
4. The Jimmy Manyi example:  this young man got into trouble for merely expressing the logic of government thinking, although he over-reached himself (as many politicians do) by saying that the logical thing in South Africa [in terms of government thinking] would be that Coloured people should be more spread out across the country in order to reach the top positions in government. If you therefore take government thinking and processes to its natural conclusion, then Manyi’s comment about how the Western Cape is “overpopulated” with coloured people cannot be faulted since government cannot reach its targets in terms of its own processes and logic. Many “Coloured” people in senior government positions in the Western Cape find a ceiling above their heads because EE (Employment Equity) targets in the Province mean that there should be an “African woman” in the position above them. If the same person however moved to the Eastern Cape, he/she would probably become a DG because there the target is different because of the “spread” of the “population groups” in South Africa. It is of course also ironic that the person who heads up Stats SA (Min Trevor Manuel) was the one who strongly rebuked Manyi, since  that is the Department that insists on measuring South Africans in racial categories.
5. Besides having to fill in forms for statistical reasons, the use of racial and even ethnic terms in the new South Africa can be frustrating. In Apartheid South Africa, those of us who struggled for non-racialism would never have spoken about coloureds, for example. We would have said so-called Coloured or we would write the term coloured in brackets to show that it is not a term we are comfortable with. Having however won the legal battle against apartheid, we now find ourselves in a situation where the term is becoming more and more acceptable and widely used without brackets, not only in social circles but also in political discussions. Some people even use the term “bruin” while others use other terms. Did we really struggle against apartheid to make these terms more acceptable?
6. Some interesting political twists we need to be aware of: The one twist is that some South Africans might think that this is acceptable/normal and therefore actively organise for “bruin” and “white” unity against the black masses, and this might lead or have already led to new alignments in our political life in South Africa. The second twist has to do with the issue of “bruin” people being the indigenous people of this land, but that is perhaps a topic for another article dealing with ethnicity, land, etc.
7. Blacks in general and Africans in particular: Many of us (unless I speak only for myself) who were in the UDF did not struggle for the liberation of “blacks in general and Africans in particular”, but for the liberation of all South Africans, including the oppressors. But this is a term that is extensively used in and by the ANC today. The nett effect of this within the ANC is that it translates into who is in the top leadership of that organisation. This might once again be a mechanism used in a necessary “phase” but once again if this is a phase, it must be identified as such and there must be clarity about when this phase will end.
8. One example to counter this: In 1985, the SACC decided to hand over the role of the General Secretary to Dr Beyers Naude. I was present when this happened, and Bishop Tutu made a very interesting comment that we South Africans are “crazy”. How can we hand this top position over to a white person as it was formerly occupied by a Black person. But this was the spirit of the SACC and the UDF at the time – for us it was not about race and colour, but about whether person x or person y is best suited for that post. This and other examples are in our national memory and we should retrieve it and build on it.
9. The use of the term “minorities”: Some of us should perhaps say “we did not struggle to be part of a minority” but to be part of a South African majority. Just as we did not struggle to use the term “coloured” freely, neither did we struggle against apartheid only to be bundled with a group called “minorities”. This is a term often used by FW de Klerk in his insistence that minorities must be protected, but it becomes worrying when Julius Malema uses the same term when asking the question: “Why must all economic ministries be occupied by people from the minorities?” The one group that we would expect to be forward-looking would be the Youth league, but the use of these terms in their circles should be a warning to us that the struggle for non-racialism is still a long struggle.
10. Attitudes: this is very difficult to counter or even quantify, but negative racial attitudes continue to be part of our national life. To some extent this should be expected since we are less than 20 years into our democracy, but work must be done to continue to counter these attitudinal issues, and the spirit in which it must be challenged should as far as possible not be judgemental, but in a loving way. One example of this is that the investigation of who murdered a black person in a township must be done on the same basis as the murder of a white person in a suburb. If there is any difference in the way these are dealt with, impunity will begin to take root and the violence in our society will continue to grow.

Quo vadis? What is the way forward?

1. South Africans need to talk about this openly and understand the differences between the terms and the practical reasons why some of these terms are still part of our national life. Much of what we are doing is not non-racialism but multi-racialism, mixed salad – where you can take the different parts apart-  rather than potjiekos, where everything is integrated. Ultimately, we should all become anti-racist, where we all agree that there are no races, but that there is only one race, viz the human race.
2. We must strongly express the desire that the use of these racial terms will no longer be necessary and agree together when or under what conditions we will stop using these terms. It should not feature in our national life forever.
3. Systems must be set up to ensure that there is absolutely no discrimination in who are allowed in our schools, and how services are rendered in society (eg murder investigations).
4. We should all learn as much as possible about each others’ cultures and languages as possible and also appreciate the cultural differences.
5. Closing the economic inequality gap, mainly through quality education but also through other means, is probably the quickest way to make the use of these terms unnecessary.

South Africa can become a great nation and we will be a gift to the rest of humanity if we deal with the issues of non-racialism, multi-racialism and anti-racism.

Written by Rev Edwin Arrison on 25 August 2012 (as a discussion primer).

Dr Allan Boesak speaks to MEM during the Russell Tribunal

Reverend Allan Boesak calls Israeli apartheid “more terrifying” than South Africa ever was .

Dr. Hanan Chehata 
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/interviews/3079-reverend-allan-boesak-calls-israeli-apartheid-qmore-terrifyingq-than-south-africa-ever-was

Thursday, 17 November 2011 16:50 .
‘When we built up the sanctions campaign it was not with governments in the West.’

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

The Reverend Allan Aubrey Boesak is a veteran of the South African anti-apartheid struggle. He is the former president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and is a signatory of the South African Christian response to the Kairos Palestine Document. This year he gave expert testimony at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine session in Cape Town, at which he spoke to MEMO’s Hanan Chahata.

Rev. Allan Boesak said of the Israeli policy of apartheid: “It is worse, not in the sense that apartheid was not an absolutely terrifying system in South Africa, but in the ways in which the Israelis have taken the apartheid system and perfected it, so to speak; sharpened it. For instance, we had the Bantustans and we had the Group Areas Act and we had the separate schools and all of that but I don’t think it ever even entered the mind of any apartheid planner to design a town in such a way that there is a physical wall that separates people and that that wall denotes your freedom of movement, your freedom of economic gain, of employment, and at the same time is a tool of intimidation and dehumanisation. We carried passes as the Palestinians have their ID documents but that did not mean that we could not go from one place in the city to another place in the city. The judicial system was absolutely skewed of course, all the judges in their judgements sought to protect white privilege and power and so forth, and we had a series of what they called “hanging judges” in those days, but they did not go far as to openly, blatantly have two separate justice systems as they do for Palestinians [who are tried in Israeli military courts] and Israelis [who are tried in civil, not military courts]. So in many ways the Israeli system is worse.”

Hanan Chahata: You were one of the signatories of the South African Christian response to the Kairos Palestine Document. In this you said that the Palestinian experience of apartheid is “in its practical manifestation even worse than South African apartheid”. Can you explain what you meant by this?

Allan Boesak: It is worse, not in the sense that apartheid was not an absolutely terrifying system in South Africa, but in the ways in which the Israelis have taken the apartheid system and perfected it, so to speak; sharpened it. For instance, we had the Bantustans and we had the Group Areas Act and we had the separate schools and all of that but I don’t think it ever even entered the mind of any apartheid planner to design a town in such a way that there is a physical wall that separates people and that that wall denotes your freedom of movement, your freedom of economic gain, of employment, and at the same time is a tool of intimidation and dehumanisation. We carried passes as the Palestinians have their ID documents but that did not mean that we could not go from one place in the city to another place in the city. The judicial system was absolutely skewed of course, all the judges in their judgements sought to protect white privilege and power and so forth, and we had a series of what they called “hanging judges” in those days, but they did not go far as to openly, blatantly have two separate justice systems as they do for Palestinians [who are tried in Israeli military courts] and Israelis [who are tried in civil, not military courts]. So in many ways the Israeli system is worse.

Another thing that makes it even worse is that when we fought our battles, even if it took us a long time, we could in the end muster and mobilise international solidarity on a scale that enabled us to be more successful in our struggle. The Palestinians cannot do that. The whole international community almost conspires against them. The UN, which played a fairly positive role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, takes the disastrous position of not wanting to offend its strong members like the United States who protect Israel. So even in the UN, where international law ought to be the framework wherein all these things are judged, where international solidarity is not an assumption but is supposed to be the very foundation upon which the UN builds its views on things and its judgements as to which way it goes, the Palestinians don’t even have that.

Palestinians are mocked in a way that South Africans were not. In a sense, the UN tried in our case to follow up on its resolutions to isolate the apartheid regime. Here, now, they make resolutions against Israel one after the other and I don’t detect even a sense of shame that they know there is not going to be any follow up. Under Reagan the United States was pretty blatant in its so called constructive engagement programme and in its support for the white regime in South Africa, but what the United States is doing now in the week that UNESCO took the decision to support the Palestinian bid for a seat in the United Nations, to withdraw all US financial support; to resort immediately to economic blackmail, that is so scandalous. So in all those ways I think we are trying to say that what is happening in Israel today is a system of apartheid that in its perfection of that system is more terrifying in many ways than apartheid in South Africa ever was.

HC: During an event celebrating black history month earlier this year you likened the US Civil Rights Movement to the South African struggle against apartheid. Would you liken both of those struggles to the Palestinian struggle today?

AB: I have just finished a chapter for a book that I hope will be out next year in which I speak of the similarities between the civil rights struggle, the anti-apartheid struggle, and the Arab Spring and the lessons we can draw from them.

I think it is fascinating in so many different ways. It’s almost as if I personally lived through the difficult choices that people have to make in North Africa and in the Middle East every day. As every day goes by my admiration for them grows. I see what is happening in Syria and in Yemen and that there is still relatively little violence on the part of the protesters. You can still see that their basic fundamental goal is to get rid of the tyranny through non-violent protest and it is amazing to watch. I do believe that there is such a thing as historic moments that never disappear from which people learn. South Africa learned so much from Ghandi in India; Martin Luther King learned from Ghandi; we learned from Martin Luther King and we had our own traditions and I’m sure the young Arab people who saw some of these things happening are drawing on that. 1994 (when the first democratic government of South Africa was formed) and the 1980s are not that far behind us. Many of those people who are participating today were sat in front of their televisions watching when we were in the streets day after day after day braving the dogs and the guns and the tear gas, burying our people, funeral after funeral. When I see the funerals taking place in the Arab world I think of the time Archbishop Tutu and I buried 27 people (actually 42 were killed but the police would not release the other bodies); I think of that when I see bodies being carried out to be buried Friday after Friday in the Arab world.

Our struggle had all sorts of political ideologies but it was never completely secularised. The faith, as Archbishop Tutu said this morning, that there is a God of justice who will help us sustain the struggle is an amazing thing. When I see all those thousands of Muslims go down and bow down before Allah I must say, when I saw it for the first time I looked at my wife and I said, I tell you now, if people sustain that, all those tyrants will be quaking in their boots and they know that they will not be able to hold out against that power.

I believe that, just as a few years ago the civil rights struggle in the United States, and then more especially the anti-apartheid struggle, became the moral standard by which the world was judged in terms of its taking sides in terms of right or wrong and getting on the right side of the human revolution for humanity and for justice and for the restoration of dignity and for the future for children; that particular moment in history where the world is invited to participate in this revolution for the sake of the good and for the sake of the future and for the sake of justice; and where that decision hinges upon evil and wrong on the one side and justice and right on the other side and will mark the world in a way that says this is a litmus test for international solidarity and for international law and justice, that test today comes from the Arab Spring.

HC: The Arab Spring or Palestine?

AB: You have the Arab Spring taking place but at the hub of it all is Palestine. I believe that what is happening now would not have happened if it had not been for the perennial struggle of the Palestinian people. They may not be mentioned every time but I can tell you now that if it was not for them, nothing like the Arab Spring would ever have happened in the Middle East.

Just as we thought, when we watched Martin Luther King or when we went through our own struggle, that the face and direction of history and the world, whether they like it in the West or not and whether or not they come to it with hidden agendas for the sake of greed or whatever, it does not really matter; what is happening in the end is that something fundamental is changing in the Middle East and thereby something fundamental is changing in the history of the world. Those people, I believe, who are going through that revolution now will, for instance, never make the same mistakes that their parents and grandparents made, thinking that the West is always good and that the deals we make with the West are always for the good of our people. There is a new critical element that has come in. Never again will people think the same; what I am hoping is that the Arab revolutions will be so sustainable and so successful and morally so strong that they will force the West to think differently about themselves in terms of the viewpoints and stands they take on events.

HC: Christianity is under threat in the Holy Land. People tend to forget that this is not an issue between Jews and Muslims; there are Christian Palestinians too. There has been a disturbing trend over the years, which has seen Christian Palestinians leaving the Holy Land because of the extraordinary difficulties that Israel has placed on their lives. In what ways has the occupation affected Christians?

AB: The Christian community in Palestine has been decimated in many ways. By doing this the Israelis are doing two things: they are simplifying the presentation of the struggle as if it is only between Jews and Arabs, with the result that Christians outside think that there is nothing and nobody for us to be in solidarity with. Hence, the Christian Zionists, those ultra conservative fundamentalists in the United States who have for so long helped to dictate foreign policy under the Bush and Reagan administrations, they can say “it’s not about us; it’s not about Christians and Christian witness, it’s about those Muslims”; that, I think, is the intention. I’m hoping that those of us who are Christians outside the Middle East will keep that fact alive and will find ways and means to inject that argument into every single political situation so that the discourse that goes forward and gives rise to action does not push aside the reality of Christians in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land.

The second thing they are doing is that they are dislodging, not just denying, but dislodging the roots of the Christian faith in the Middle East; that’s where it all started. If you dislodge that it’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face – you are cutting yourself off from the most ancient roots of Christianity and that will set the Christian church adrift, and in the end that will not be good for Israel. So I’m glad to see that the World Council of Churches is rising up again. It is not nearly as radical as it should be, it’s not nearly as clear as it should be nor as hard-nosed as it should be on this issue, but at least it is taking up the Palestinian issue and responding to the situation in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere where Christians are under pressure. In doing so they must remember that this is not just a Christian cause; it’s not important just because of the Christians involved, but also because the future of humanity is at stake.

HC: There are an estimated 50 million Christian Zionists worldwide. How would you counsel them with regards to their support for the state of Israel which is based, they would say, on Biblical reasoning?

AB: It’s like with so many things, it’s the way that people read and interpret the Bible and so we must just make sure that we are as clear and as enthusiastic and as open about our understanding of the Bible and as willing to engage our understanding of the Bible as they seem to be. There must be ways; we have just not been imaginative enough. I think one reason is because we have not, until very recently, realised the very dangerous nature of the views that those people hold, not just for Palestinians and for Muslims in general but also for the Christian Church itself. Now that we begin to see how deadly that kind of logic is, how absolutely anti-Christian and anti-human that logic is, we have no excuses left.

HC: Israel is demanding that Palestinians recognise it as an exclusively “Jewish state”. How would you respond to this demand?

AB: They can’t. There is no such thing as a specifically Jewish state. You can’t proclaim a Jewish state over the heads and the bodies and the memories of the people who are the ancient people who live there. That is Palestinian land we are talking about. Most of the Jews who are there come from Europe and elsewhere and have no claim on that land and we mustn’t allow it to happen to the Palestinians what happened to my ancestors who were the original people in this land (South Africa) but now there are hardly enough of them to be counted in the census. That is Palestinian land and that should be the point of departure in every political discussion.

HC: In the past you urged Western countries to impose economic sanctions on the South African apartheid regime. Would you support a similar call for sanctions against the state of Israel?

AB: Absolutely! Pressure, pressure, pressure from every side and in as many ways as possible: trade sanctions, economic sanctions, financial sanctions, banking sanctions, sports sanctions, cultural sanctions; I’m talking from our own experience. In the beginning we had very broad sanctions and only late in the 1980s did we learn to have targeted sanctions. So you must look to see where the Israelis are most vulnerable; where is the strongest link to the outside community? And you must have strong international solidarity; that’s the only way it will work. You have to remember that for years and years and years when we built up the sanctions campaign it was not with governments in the West. They came on board very, very late.

It was the Indian government and in Europe just Sweden and Denmark to begin with and that was it. Later on, by 1985-86, we could get American support. We never could get Margaret Thatcher on board, never Britain, never Germany, but in Germany the people who made a difference were the women who started boycotting South African goods in their supermarkets. That’s how we built it up. Never despise the day of small beginnings. It was down to civil society. But civil society in the international community could only build up because there was such a strong voice from within and that is now the responsibility of the Palestinians, to keep up that voice and to be as strong and as clear as they possibly can. Think up the arguments, think through the logic of it all but don’t forget the passion because this is for your country.

Click here to read the full South African Response to the Kairos Palestine document:

http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/resources/documents/other-ecumenical-bodies/south-african-response-to-kairos-palestine-document.html

Palestinians to re-enact the Civil Rights movements “Freedom Riders”

Dear friends,

In hours, brave Palestinians will risk attack and arrest to board public buses that are forbidden to Arabs. This could be the beginning of a game-changing, non-violent Palestinian spring – direct action to win  freedom and a new state. Avaaz is webcasting the action LIVE — click to   watch, and provide the global solidarity the activists need to win:

In the next few hours, history could be made in
Palestine. A small number of brave Palestinians will risk
attack and arrest to commit a forbidden act — they will board a public bus.

Lacking their own state, Palestinians are forbidden to use buses and roads
reserved for non-Arabs — part of a host of race-based rules that US President
Jimmy Carter has called “apartheid”. 50 years ago, African-Americans
in the US challenged these rules by simply and non-violently refusing to follow
them. In a few hours, Palestinians will take the same approach, and their
actions will be live webcasted by Avaaz teams at the link below.

As diplomats stall in the fight for a Palestinian state, the Palestinian people
are taking the fight into their own hands, one public service at a time. And
they’re doing it with the simple, elegant and unstoppable moral force of
non-violence in the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The
Palestinian spring begins right now – click below to watch it LIVE, register
support, and give these brave activists the global solidarity and attention
they urgently need to win:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/palestine_freedom_riders/?vl

Non-violence is the game-changing force in this long-standing conflict.
Boarding buses is a symbolic act, but so was Gandhi’s salt march, and Rosa
Park’s own courageous ride on a segregated bus in the US. Just as non-violent
protest was able to topple dictators in Egypt and Tunisia, so can it finally
free the Palestinian people from 40 years of crippling military oppression by a
foreign power.

There are many dangers. Israel has been arming the extremist settler population,
a tactic which is likely, if not intended, to provoke awful violence that will
draw the news cameras away from the brave acts of non-violence. Even the
Palestinian authorities are pushing back on the action which they fear will
start a democratic protest movement that they cannot control. But these few
brave Palestinians have had enough, and if we stand with them now, we can
help them ignite a flame that will burn its way all the way to a free and
peaceful Palestinian state:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/palestine_freedom_riders/?vl

We have no idea what will happen in the next 24 hours. Maybe the authorities
will crush this brave action. Maybe it will spark into a massive conflagration.
Maybe it will sow the first seed of an unstoppable movement with tremendous
integrity. But we can watch it live, and lend our voices to the effort. And
maybe one day, we can tell our grandchildren that we were there when
Palestinians boarded the buses that would ultimately take them to freedom.

With hope and determination,

Ricken, Emma, Alice, Raluca, Pascal, Diego and the rest of the Avaaz team

Sources:

I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Set on Freedom

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clarence-b-jones/i-woke-up-this-morning-wi_b_1087407.html

Freedom Riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/books/review/19foner.html

Palestinian Freedom Rides echo the Civil Rights Movement

http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3888-freedom-rides

‘Freedom Rides’ to Resume in Palestine

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17242

Switzerland and apartheid – Fr Albert Nolan OP

This paper was delivered on 9 August 2011

FROM COLONIALISM TO PARTNERSHIP:

 

Learning From Our Past

 

A Theological Response to the
Report on the Approach of the Swiss Catholic Church to Apartheid in South Africa (1970-1990)

 

Albert Nolan
OP

 

 I can hardly find words to express how delighted I was to read this
record of the Swiss Catholic Church’s struggle against Switzerland’s support of the apartheid regime in
South Africa.
In the first place because the Church’s role in the struggle is so seldom
recorded and remembered anywhere even in South Africa itself. And in the
second place because of the unique role played by Swiss banks and Swiss industries.
More than any other country in the world Switzerland
propped up the apartheid regime by continuously rolling over South Africa’s bank loans, by continuing to
trade with South Africa and by being a centre for South   Africa’s gold and diamond trade. When most
other countries in the world agreed to boycotts and sanctions against South Africa, Switzerland politely refused to do
so. Hence the crucial importance of the Swiss Church’s struggle to change this injustice.

The report was very informative and the details of your struggle as it developed over the
years were impressive and encouraging. Our response is first and foremost one
of gratitude to all those who were involved, individuals and groups.
Theologically and spiritually it was a magnificent example of courage,
perseverance and hopefulness.

At first sight it might appear as if, in the end, you failed. Neither the banks nor the
industries nor the gold and diamond traders changed their stance. But the
internal and external pressure on the apartheid regime from around the world
and the growing pressure of the Churches worldwide especially on the Swiss
banks and industries forced the apartheid regime to opt for a negotiated
settlement before it was too late.     

 However, what we are dealing with here is unfinished
business. In South   Africa the struggle continues. “A Luta
Continua” , we say. And in Switzerland the struggle also continues. Because the bottom line in this struggle was, and
still is, money.

In 1988 in his famous sermon in the Jesuit Church in Lausanne, I
think it was, Bishop Mvemve pointed out that the common interest of apartheid South Africa and corporate Switzerland was
money. As I remember it he called the banks on the Hauptbahnstrasse  temples
dedicated to the worship of money.  Apartheid in the final analysis was also a system
founded on the worship of money. Apartheid was more than just racism and a
denial of human rights. Whites wanted to hold onto their power and privileges
in order to hold onto their money and wealth. The importance of boycotts and
sanctions was that these measures began to make it impossible for apartheid to
continue to be profitable for whites.

The internal struggle of demonstrations, protest marches, strikes and the attempts to make
the country ungovernable as well as the condemnation of apartheid by the Church
in South Africa all contributed to making the racial division unprofitable. The result was a
negotiated settlement, the dismantling of the racial system, and an enormous
improvement in the lives of very many people.

But there are also many millions of poor people who are still unemployed or are still expected to
live on starvation wages and still don’t have houses and other benefits. And
now they burn tyres to protest the never-ending lack of service delivery by the
present government.

The struggle against apartheid was the first step in the long struggle for liberation in South Africa. This
first step was a struggle against racial injustice and oppression. What we are
up against now is more obviously economic injustice and oppression. While more
and more black people have now become rich and the powerful, those who remain
poor feel that for them nothing much has changed. They are still poor. They are
still struggling.

Theologically speaking the Reign of Mammon continues – in South
Africa and in Switzerland, albeit in very different ways and with widely divergent results. We see the worship of money
not only in the activities of banks and big corporations but also in the
bribery and corruption, the fraud and the violent crime that is now so rampant
in South Africa. We are all part of one economic system in which Mammon reigns supreme.

But as Christians we believe that another world is possible, a non-racial, non-sexist world, a
more just and equitable world. A world in which God’s will is done on earth as
it is in heaven. We call it the Kingdom or Reign of God.

Yes, we need a post-colonial partnership. And as Church, as Christians, we need a new theology
– a theology that will condemn the worship of money and plot the way forward
towards a more equitable and just world, a theology that really challenges all
of us to co-operate and share with one another. The new partnership between the
Church in South Africa and in Switzerland
will have this very important theological dimension of condemning the worship
of Mammon and challenging us to listen to the cry of the poor in this day and
age.

Russell Tribunal press conference in Cape Town 19/7/2011

Please see the following video on youtube: 

 

Message from SACC to Kairos Palestine Youth gathering

Message of Support from the Central Committee of the South African Council of Churches.

Gathered at its meeting of the Central Committee of South African Council of churhes held from the 7th – 8th June 2011, and taking cognisance of the conference of the Palestinian Kairos Youth currently under way in Bethlehem, Palestine, issue heartfelt ecumenical and solidarity greetings.

This greeting is brought to you on behalf of millions of Christians in South Africa, who know what it means to suffer unjust rule and, with a deep faith in the God of justice, know the inevitability of the triumph of good over evil. Your struggle against what is in many ways a struggle against an Apartheid state, is a struggle about which we feel deeply, and with which we offer our unhesitating support and solidarity.

During its deliberations, the SACC Central committee further resolved as follows:

CALL FOR PEACE IN PALESTINE and ISRAEL

 The SACC Central Committee

a) Re-affirms the work of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel addressing the human rights violation suffered by Palestinian people through repeated attacks by Israel forces and the illegitimate occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel.

b) Acknowledge with appreciation the initiative of reconciliation between Hamas and FATAH and call on them to work together in finding peaceful resolutions

c) Deplores all round use of violence as a solution in addressing these problems.

d) Affirms the work of the EAPPI Programme and recommends that it be used as a vehicle for convening the Church Leaders visit.

We join you in spirit in your deliberations, and wish you Godspeed in your efforts.

Never give up.

A just peace is possible in Palestine .

We look forward to the day when we will celebrate freedom and security for Palestinians and Israelis, a peace without the walls of apartheid.

God bless you.

Central Committee, The South Africa Council of Churches. Johannesburg.

Recent Kairos SA Update

KAIROS SA UPDATE NO 4: This was sent on 17 April 2011

 Dear Kairos Friends

 Greetings to you! The Palestine Kairos group has now returned to Palestine after a very successful visit in South Africa and we can now report the following to you:

 FOLLOW UPS AFTER THE VISIT:

 The SACC has decided to hold a symposium on Kairos Palestine from 31 May – 1 June, and Kairos Southern Africa will support this initiative. As soon as more details of this event becomes available, we will let you know. 

1. The people of Palestine deserve a strong and united Solidarity movement, especially in South Africa. We have been asked to assist with this and have given our support to ensure that this happens.
2. The WCC Week of Prayer for Peace in Palestine and Israel is scheduled from 29 May – 4 May June. You are encouraged to focus on this in your local congregation and of course in your private prayers. Please let me know if your local congregation will be planning something special for this week. For resources about this week, you can go to www.worldweekforpeace.org
3. The Beyers Naude centre at Stellenbosch university has assisted us to launch the Palestine Kairos document in Afrikaans. Please see
   http://www.kairospalestine.ps/?q=content/document
   . We have now asked for quotes to also translate the Palestine Kairos document into other South African languages. Watch this space….
4. The Russell Tribunal on Palestine will happen in Cape Town on 6 – 7 November 2011. You can read more about this on
   http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/
    but we will also use this as an opportunity to have a global Kairos meeting either before or after the Tribunal. The question that the Russell Tribunal in Cape Town will deal with is: IS ISRAEL AN APARTHEID STATE?
5. We have decided to send at least three young people to the SABEEL Young adult conference in July.

 KAIROS SOUTHERN AFRICA MATTERS

 There has been a request from some of those who attended the JHB conference and who visited Cape Town, for Kairos SA to begin to do some global co-ordination of Kairos work. This we will approach carefully and some things have already started in this regard. There is a major WCC conference happening in May in Jamaica and we will send at least one representative to this conference.

1. Please continue to keep our sisters and brothers in Swaziland and Zimbabwe in our prayers. The news we are getting from Zimbabwe is truly shocking – just yesterday a Roman Catholic priest, Fr Marko Mkandla, was arrested for addressing a memorial service for victims of the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland and Midlands regions.
2. People are continuously joining Kairos Southern Africa and are paying their membership fees, and others are also giving us donations. This is very exciting but we do not have the liberty to let people know who are joining but certainly we are very excited that most of the major theological figures in South Africa have either joined or given us their full support. If you wish to join, please see the attached membership form.
3. Kairos members and supporters are encouraged to meet in Provinces with people close to you. It is hoped that people will set priorities locally and focus on these. I am co-ordinating nationally so I ask people to please keep in contact with me.
4. Kairos Southern Africa is therefore moving forward, and we have adopted the logo below as our official logo.

  Other issues:

•  The deaths this week of a Maths teacher in Meqheleng outside Ficksburg, Andries Tatane as well as an Italian activist in Gaza, Vittorio Arrigoni, is deeply disturbing. Those who are responsible for these acts must be brought to book as soon as possible. Please keep their families in your prayers.
• We welcome the appointment of Rev Mautji Pataki as the new General Secretary of the SACC. We are here to strengthen his hand. Please keep him in your prayers.
• We also wish Bishop Ivan Abrahams well on his appointment as the new General Secretary of the World Methodist Council. Well done!
• Fr Michael Weeder has been appointed as Dean of St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town and will be installed on 4 May. We wish him strength in his new ministry.
• Please keep Rev Basil Manning in your prayers. We wish him strength after the passing away of his wife.
• Congratulations to Dirkie Smit and Piet Naude on winning the Andrew Murray/Desmond Tutu book prize award for their writings on Public theology and the Belhar confession.
• Congratulation to UJ for deciding to send a strong message to Israel by allowing their agreement with Ben Gurion University to lapse.
• We have received disturbing news about a medical doctor (Dr Kian) who is being held in Iran and are working with others to ensure his release. Please keep him in your prayers. Archbishop Tutu has also intervened in Gaza to ensure the release of prisoners there and we will watch these developments closely.

 Much to pray about, and also much to celebrate. A blessed Holy Week to you all.

Edwin

BONHOEFFER AND THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL CONFLICT

BONHOEFFER AND THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL CONFLICT

South African Reflections

 

John W. de Gruchy

Emeritus Professor  

University of Cape Town

 

 Politicians seldom quote theologians to support their policies, but in recent times some have elicited the support of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who died at the hands of the Gestapo in Hitler’sGermany.  Most notoriously, George W. Bush claimed Bonhoeffer’s support for going to war againstIraq.  From what I hear, Bonhoeffer’s name has also been exploited in Australian politics in recent times, though I confess that my knowledge of what goes on “down under” is somewhat limited to rugby and cricket.  But I pricked up my ears when I heard that he had been elicited in the Australian response to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. 

 I have been reflecting for virtually a life-time on Bonhoeffer’s legacy and find that he continues to speak to us today, and I am not adverse to drawing on his testimony within the political arena, quite the contrary.  We did that in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.  Bonhoeffer was a serious challenge to those of us who are white because though he too was privileged by background, he took the side of the victims of racism and injustice.  I suspect it was for such reasons that I was asked to reflect on how Bonhoeffer might have responded to the present-day Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and especially the plight of the Palestinians. This is certainly a thought-provoking question because in his life-time Bonhoeffer was one of a handful of Protestant theologians in Nazi Germany who spoke out on behalf of the Jews.  In his context, they were the victims, so it was the “Jewish question,” as it was called, not the Palestinian one that demanded his attention. 

 Although murdered by the regime because of his involvement in the 20^th July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer was initially arrested because he was suspected of helping Jews escape the clutches of the Gestapo.  Whatever his somewhat traditional views about Judaism in relation to Christianity, there can be no doubt about his concern for the plight of the Jews.  Unsurprisingly Bonhoeffer’s legacy played a significant role after the Second World War in re-shaping of Christian theology in the light of the Holocaust or Shoah.  His critique of the idolatries of Christendom and his affirmation of the suffering of God in solidarity with humanity and especially the victims of injustice, challenged Christians to radically re-think their faith and role in the world.   As a young theologian I was nurtured in those discussions.  Only much later, after a visit toIsrael in 1970, did I also become aware of the “Palestinian question,” and began to ponder how Bonhoeffer might have responded given the way in which he responded to the victimization of the Jews in his own day.  And, of course, I could not avoid relating it all to what was happening in apartheid South Africa at the same time.

 Having visited Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Flossenburg (where Bonhoeffer died) concentration camps; having spent many hours in several Holocaust museums from Jerusalem to Washington, from Berlin and Prague to Cape Town; and having been involved in lengthy discussions with Jewish scholars about the Holocaust, I am only too aware of the horrors unleashed by Christian anti-Semitism in the course of history.  And I am disturbed by the rabid anti-Semitic rhetoric of militant Muslims whether on the air waves broadcast from Scandinavia or from the current President of Iran, as I am horrified by suicide bombers.  I am also aware that there is sometimes a thin dividing line between anti-Semitism, anti-Judaism, and anti-Zionism, and that given the legacy of Christendom fromConstantineto the Holocaust, Christians, especially those in the West, need to be cautious in casting stones or pointing fingers. 

 In view of this history, it was with a heavy heart that Desmond Tutu likened the treatment of Palestinians to the way in which blacks were treated in apartheid South Africa.  He is not alone in holding this view; it is one shared by Nelson Mandela and others who have, at the same time, shown deep respect for the Jewish community inSouth Africa.  It is also shared, from my knowledge, by many Jews whose sense of justice and commitment to human rights has also been violated by the way in which Palestinians have been and are being treated, and who see their compatriots becoming psychologically damaged, if not brutalized and killed, by the ongoing strife.  I have listened to the testimonies of Palestinian Christians who, with great sadness mixed with anger, have told of the ways in which they have suffered as a result of Israeli policies and actions, and I have seen young Israelis treat aged Palestinians with a disdain and contempt that reminds me of my own South African past.

 Towards the end of his life, I raised the “Palestinian question” with Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer’s close confidant and biographer who, during the nineteen-seventies and eighties took a leading role in redefining Christian thinking and action in the light of the Shoah.  Bethge remained committed to his views on Christian-Jewish relations, which called for a decisive re-think on the part of Christians.  But as his life drew to a close in the nineteen-nineties, he was becoming increasingly concerned about the situation in theMiddle East.  I believe that he, along with Bonhoeffer, would be even more deeply disturbed by the recent developments resulting from the Israeli continued occupation of the West Bank and the recent war on Gaza. This would not have meant any lessening of their commitment to the victims of the Holocaust and their descendants, but it posed a very serious question: who is now the victim?

 It is not too difficult to surmise what Bonhoeffer’s answer would be if we take his legacy seriously.  Bonhoeffer’s solidarity with the victims of injustice whoever they might be, and his preparedness to speak out and act where possible on their behalf, is unequivocal. Listen to what he wrote shortly before his arrest:

 … we have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short from the perspective of the suffering.

 In his day, this described the plight of the Jews; in our day, within theMiddle Eastit chiefly, if not only, describes the plight of the Palestinians. 

 No one can deny the complexity of the situation in theMiddle East, which has defied political resolution for so long.   There are many sides to the story, and even if we are inclined to do so, it is unhelpful to place the blame on any one side to the exclusion of others, as if this will resolve the problem.  But does this mean that we, especially if we claim to be inspired by Bonhoeffer, should remain silent about the current suffering of the Palestinian people, and the injustices and indignities that they daily face?  This would surely not have been condoned by the ancient Hebrew prophets for whom justice and mercy, not least for the “stranger,” were essential to the well-being ofIsraelitself.  Like his favourite prophet Jeremiah, I think Bonhoeffer would have wept as many others do over the tragedy that keeps unfolding in theHoly Land.  

 There were many reasons why apartheid was defeated.  But two are particularly worth recalling by way of conclusion.  In the end, apartheid collapsed when it became clear to those whites in power that it was not in their own self-interest to perpetuate by force what was clearly an unjust system of oppression, and when black leaders took extended the hand of reconciliation to their former oppressors, recognizing that without this there could be no lasting peace but only increasing hostility and violence.  The pathway from those heady days of transition which began with the release of Mandela has not always been easy, and there is no guarantee in this life of eternal peace, but the alternative was, as one South African president declared, “too ghastly to contemplate.”  Whatever the faults of the Palestinians, or the justified fears of the Israelis, it should surely be obvious to all but the most stubborn and blind, that as the Hebrew prophet Hosea told ancient Israel that if “you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.” 

April 2011 Letter of greeting from Arch-emeritus Tutu

March 2011

Dear friends, our Palestinian sisters and brothers in the faith

Welcome home! As you know, South Africa is the cradle of all humanity and we are therefore all Africans, and I welcome you back home to Africa. I apologise that I cannot be at your conference in Johannesburg.

We honour the fact that a new humanity was born in a cradle in Bethlehem and therefore the encounter between Kairos Southern Africa and Kairos Palestine has a very special significance, not least because this is also the place where Kairos theology was born and where a line was drawn in the sand when Christians declared: “Enough is enough. No longer will God’s name be misused to justify an evil ideology”. Through your Kairos document, you have now done the same, and we know that your motivation is not political, but because the very essence of the Gospel is at stake. You are not only concerned about your own humanity, but also about the humanity of the oppressor, for whose redemption we will continue to pray and work. You have now re-inspired us as I know you were inspired by the role that many Christians played in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and for this we thank you. Because we are one body, we are now in complete solidarity with you and we look forward to rejoicing with you when your freedom comes.

This is our faith: Just as the wall of Apartheid came tumbling down, the wall of Israeli apartheid will also come tumbling down. About that we have no doubt. Those with guns and dogs and bullets could not crush our quest for freedom, and the rest of humanity now joins you in your struggle and encourage you in your non-violent struggle as Israel now arrogantly struts around with their weapons of violence, sadly supported by some Christians in the West. Our Bible however tells us that violence will never have the last word; the message of faith, hope and love, which you have proclaimed, will have the last word. This is what we are assured of and this is what we will keep on working and praying for.

May your conference be blessed and may the seeds of this conference fall on rich ground, and nourish your faith as you gather together. Our God neither slumbers nor sleeps, and therefore he hears the cry of your hearts and he will, in his risen Body, once again overcome the forces of death, just as he did outside the gates of Jerusalem.

God bless you.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

A Christian initiative for Palestine

Can Palestinian Christians achieve what Palestinian Muslims failed to do?

(translated by Nora Carmi from Arabic)

Muhammad al-Sammak

A strange question this maybe when Palestinian Christians whose numbers are dwindling into extinction are only 2% of the total Arab population in Palestine/Israel. T he number of Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem, the holy city, is a mere 0.02 per cent, and yet, they too endure all forms of Israeli religious and ethnic  persecution, reasons enough for  Christians to have been involved in the resistance against the Israeli Occupation in both  the first and second uprisings  (intifadas). Because of that (involvement), they still suffer the same fate as the Muslims at the hand of the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Christians have long been awaiting, along with their Muslim brethrens, the supportive responses of the Arab and Muslim world,  as they have been waiting for international initiatives to political solutions- all of which   have so far lead to – nothing-

Face to this impasse/blocked wall, Palestinian Christians relive the similar tragedy of the indigenous native people of South Africa under the racial discrimination regime, Apartheid. They also discovered the secret clues for the fall of that regime. Countries around the world boycotted the racist regime until the oppressive rulers had to kneel down and were forced to give the undermined legal owners their rights.

In revising this great historical change, the Palestinian Christians faced a second reality, that all Christian Churches, regardless of variety and differences, stood together and declared the apartheid system an unforgivable  ‘sin’ against Christian beliefs, values and ethics. Hence the call to believers all around the world for boycott came out of their faith.

Inspired and encouraged (by kairos ‘change’) Palestinian Christian leaders issue a paper entitled  “ A moment of truth, a word of faith hope and love from the heart of the Palestinian suffering”  which was launched from Bethlehem.

Kairos, as it is known in Christianity, starts by confirming the painful truth that the Palestinian tragedy has reached a deadlock since decision makers are satisfied in managing the crisis instead of seriously working to find a solution. This fills the hearts of the faithful with despair and questions. What is the international family doing? What are the political leaders in Palestine, Israel and the Arab World doing? And what is the CHURCH doing?

The (Palestinian) cause is not only a political issue. A policy that destroys human beings IS a concern of the Church. The church initiatives along with a series of other initiatives of human particularities undertaken by the world movement were all measures that brought striking economic and moral blows on the head of a racist system until it was totally hit by a  deadly blow.

In this background, Palestinian Christian leaders wondered why a universal Christian position against the Israeli occupation should not be issued. The leaders brought the matter to the WCC in Geneva, the body that comprises of 365 evangelical and orthodox churches and it was met with wide and  positive response.

The paper/document notes that everybody speaks of peace and the peace process in the Middle East, but it is only talk while the reality on the ground is Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and deprivation of our freedom in all its forms:

 *The separation wall constructed on Palestinian Land confiscating large parts of it. (The wall) It has transformed our towns and villages into prisons, separating them into cantons and fragmented tethers. Gaza , after the savage assault /war waged by Israel in December 2008 and January 2009 is still living under inhuman conditions in continuous siege. Gaza and its people are geographically severed from all Palestinian areas.

*The Israeli colonies (settlements) that pillage our land in the name of God and power imposing control on all natural resources, water and agricultural land deprive hundred thousands of Palestinians of their use.  Settlements have become an obstacle with no practical solution…

*The humiliation that we are subjugated to at military checkpoints which  we have to cross daily to go to work, school or hospitals

*The separation of members of the same family renders normal family life an almost impossible matter for thousands of Palestinians, when one of the spouses does not carry an Israeli ID (identity card)

*Religious freedom and free access to holy sites is limited and sporadic under the guise of ‘security’. The sacred sites are tabooed to Christians and Muslims from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, even to Jerusalemites on Feast days. The Arab Clergy are regularly refused entry to Jerusalem.

*Refugees are part of the reality. The majority still live in refugee camps under difficult conditions unfit for her human beings. Generation after the other, these refugees await their return. What is their fate and future?

*Prisoners. Thousands of them in Israeli prisons are another reality. Israel moves the world in order to free one prisoner while thousands of Palestinians stagnate and rot in Israeli jails. When will they be liberated?

*Jerusalem , the heart of the reality is both a symbol of peace and a sign of strife. After the separation wall isolated Palestinian neighborhoods, the depopulation of its Palestinian and Muslim inhabitants continues. Identity cards are revoked, homes demolished or expropriated. Jerusalem the city of reconciliation has become a city of division and dissent, a place of fighting instead of peace.

*The paper also mentions the suffering of Palestinians within Israeli, that of refugees and internally displaced and the policy of collective punishment practiced by Israel.

The document declares that

• The present situation does not announce /predict any solution in the near future nor the end of the Israeli occupation, Yes, initiatives, conferences, visits and negotiations are numerous, but none of them have resulted in any change of our condition and suffering.Even the recent position declared by President Obama and his obvious intention to put an end to the tragedy did not effectively change the reality on the ground. Israeli boldly refuses any solution or opening for hope.

The paper then speaks of the injustice against the Palestinian people saying: The Israeli occupation is an evil we need to resist. It is an evil and a sin that needs to be resisted and removed. This responsibility first and foremost falls upon the Palestinians living under occupation.   Christian Love calls for resistance because love will reduce and limit evil if we walk the path of justice. Then the responsibility is that of the international family since international law is what dictates and rules relations between peoples. Finally, the oppressor liberates himself from evil by rectifying the injustice imposed on the oppressed.

Next come the calls to

*The Muslims saying; our message is one of love and shared living. It is a call against fanaticism and extremism. It is also a call to the world to see Muslims as a goal to peace and an address to dialogue instead of a targe to kill or the address to terrorism.

* The call to the Christian World, and this is the heart of the matter, is imploring the World churches not to give a theological justification /cover to the injustice which we live in or the sin of the occupation. Our question today to our brethren is:

Can you help us regain our freedom and help both peoples attain justice, peace, security and love?

We condemn all forms of racism and discrimination, religious or ethnic including Anti Semitism and Islamophobia. We invite you to stand firm against and condemn all these forms. We call upon you to speak the truth, to have a just stand against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Boycott and divestment are non-violent means to achieve justice, peace and security for all.

The challenging question posed now is: Will the churches in the world respond to this plea of the Palestinian Christians as they responded to the cry of the South African Christians?

Will the Church consider the Israeli Occupation a sin as it considered  racial discrimination/ apartheid?