The Deputy Secretary General of South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress, Cde. Jessie Duarte will speak at this year's #IsraeliApartheidWeek (IAW).

 

Duarte will give a public lecture on Tuesday 7 March at 17h00 in Klerksdorp in the North West (Auditorium Hall, Cnr. Oliver Tambo & Lock Street, Klerksdorp, 0716803093). The event is co-hosted by BDS SA, the Embassy of the State of Palestine and the ANC "Kenneth Kaunda" region together with the support of the ANC North West Province.
 

The ANC and the Alliance's relationship with the Palestinian people dates back to the struggle against Apartheid. During the 70s and 80s, while Israel was in collusion with the Apartheid Government, it was the Palestinians who provided the South African liberation struggle with financial support, military training and other forms of solidarity.

 

Last month the Embassy of Israel and the Israeli Ambassador attacked the ANC in a public statement because of the party’s support for the Palestinian struggle and the ANC’s travel boycott to Israel (click here). The Israeli Embassy falsely claimed that the party is anti-semitic. In the 1980s it was wrong to accuse someone of being anti-White when they condemned the Apartheid Government and its policies. Likewise, today, it is simply untrue that being critical of the Israeli regime and its policies of apartheid means that you are anti-Jewish or anti-semitic. Click here for ANC’s positions and policies on Palestine.

 

IAW is an annual international series of self-organized events (rallies, protests, lectures, cultural performances, concerts, films and workshops) held in over 250 cities, communities and campuses across the globe. IAW raises awareness of Israel's apartheid policies towards the indigenous Palestinians. Israel's discriminatory policies are also increasingly affecting Africans (click here for more info on Israel's "War against Africans").

 

IAW is endorsed, in South Africa alone, by more than 95 organizations, trade unions, embassies, youth movements and other groups including South Africa's governing party, the country's largest student formation and SA's largest trade union federation. South African community members, students, government ministers, politicians, ambassadors, trade unions, artists and others all join the week long awareness raising initiative. One of the highlights of IAW 2016 was the participation of the Speaker of the National Assembly in Parliament, Ms. Baleka Mbete (click here). United in our diversity, South Africans from various racial and religious groups participate in the annual IAW campaign including members of the Jewish, Hindu, Tamil, Muslim and Christian communities - writing from the Holy Town of Bethlehem, Palestinian Christians have publicly called on South African Churches to participate and support #IsraeliApartheidWeek (click here).