In March 2014 the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the OPT, Professor Richard Falk, found in his UN Human Rights Council report that Israel's policies bore “unacceptable characteristics of apartheid".  Click here to read the 2014 UN HRC report.

 

JOIN THE 11TH INTERNATIONAL ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK (2 - 8 MARCH 2015)

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events (including rallies, protests, lectures, cultural performances, concerts, films and workshops) held in over 250 cities, communities and campuses across the globe. Its endorsed in South Africa by more than 75 organizations, trade unions, political parties and other groups (see below for full list of IAW endorsers).

The aim of IAW is to raise awareness of Israel's apartheid policies towards the indigenous Palestinians and serves to garner support for the non-violent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign, which seeks to bring an end to Israel's apartheid policies and violations of international law. The 11th International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) will take place in South Africa between the 2nd and 8th of March 2015.

For South Africans and our liberation, people of the world mobilized in their hundreds of thousands - if not millions - during the 1980s: they held protests, rallies, concerts, free Mandela events, lectures, film screenings and a host of other events and campaigns to raise awareness of Apartheid South Africa's racist policies and to build support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Apartheid SA. Today we have the opportunity to "give-back" by joining the international movement in solidarity with the indigenous Palestinian people (and their progressive Israeli allies) who are struggling against Israeli Apartheid - participating in Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is one such form of solidarity. Click here for more information on Israeli Apartheid Week.

10 WAYS TO GET INVOLVED IN ISRAELI APRTHEID WEEK  (IAW)

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) offers ordinary people around the world an opportunity to partake in an extra-ordinary and truly global campaign. There are IAW representatives responsible for organizing events in most major South African cities, towns and universities. Send us an email (iawsouthafrica@apartheidweek.org) and we can put you in contact with the IAW representative in your city/community/university. If there aren’t any IAW representatives in your area then you can get involved by organizing your own IAW event. Below are some ways that you can actively get involved:

 

1. ARRANGE A FILM SCREENING OF A PALESTINE MOVIE OR DOCUMENTARY FILM
The IAW South Africa Team has many full-feature movies and documentary films (including Occupation 101, Roadmap To Apartheid, Village Under the Forest, Gaza Under Fire, Omar, 5 Broken Cameras and more) that we can make available (free of charge) for you to screen as part of IAW. The movie can be screened at your university, school, community center or workplace. Contact us (iawsouthafrica@apartheidweek.org / 0114032097) and we will send a copy of a Palestine movie for you.

 

2. ARRANGE A FILM SCREENING OF A “HAVE YOU HEARD FROM JOHANNESBURG” – THE 7 PART DOCUMENTARY SERIES ON THE BOYCOTT OF APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
The IAW South Africa Team has copies of the 7 part documentary series titled “Have You Heard From Johannesburg” (HYHFJ). The series covers the sports boycott, student boycott, worker boycott and government boycott against Apartheid South Africa during the 1980s. The HYHFJ series is inspiring and offers us an opportunity to learn of the things that our leaders including Oliver Tambo, Desmond Tutu and others did during the 1980s but also what ordinary students and members of the community did in their countries to support the South African struggle against Apartheid. Contact us at iawsouthafrica@apartheidweek.org/0114032097.

 

 

3. HOST A MUSIC EVENT, POETRY EVENING OR SPORTS DAY
Organize a sports day, soccer tournament or music event with local artists or a group of poets with “Israeli Apartheid” as the theme. Consider inviting a Palestinian artist or sports person!

 

 

4. PAINT A WALL, DO GRAFFITI , BE CREATIVE!
Create a painting/mural/graffiti with “Israeli Apartheid” as the theme with local artists, friends and activists. Send us your photos and video footage. Be creative: build a mock Israeli Apartheid Wall or setup an Israeli Checkpoint, organize a flash mob, host a music concert or arrange a poetry reading.

 

 

5. ARRANGE A LECTURE, WORKSHOP, RALLY, SEMINAR OR PROTEST
There are many speakers that we can suggest for you to host at your school, campus or community event. Alternatively, arrange a protest against a store, mall, or company that stocks Israeli products such as Woolworths or against G4S Security (that provides equipment & maintains Israeli prisons). Contact iawsouthafrica@apartheidweek.org / 0114032097 for speakers or materials.

 

6. GET YOUR CHURCH, MOSQUE, SYNAGOGUE OR TEMPLE TO PARTICIPATE
Arrange for the topic of your Church’s Sunday Service (8 March) to be on the plight of Palestinian Christians or for your Mosque’s Friday Prayers (6 March) to be on Israeli Apartheid Week and the Palestinian struggle. Last year the SA Council of Churches called on all churches to devote Sunday Services during IAW to the topic of Palestine while the MJC and Jamiatul Ulama called on all mosques to dedicate Friday sermons to IAW.

 

7. WRITE A POEM, ARTICLE OR SONG FOR YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL RADIO STATION, WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR – RAISE AWARENESS IN THE MEDIA!
For IAW you can write an article or letter on the topic of Israeli Apartheid for a local newspaper, magazine or other publication. Alternatively contact your local radio/TV station and request a discussion on Israel and Palestine. Write and publish your own poem, song etc.

8. ASSIST US FINANCIALLY
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is funded solely by ordinary people like yourselves. Assist us in achieving a successful IAW this year by making a (tax-deductible) donation. Donations (for which you can claim a tax deduction) can be made to BDS South Africa, one of the organizers of IAW (BDS South Africa, FNB, 62273997943, Rosebank, 253305, Reference: IAW2015).

 

ENDORSE ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK (IAW)

- ALREADY BACKED BY OVER 75 SA ORGANIZATIONS!

THE FOLLOWING SOUTH AFRICAN ORGANIZATIONS HAVE ALREADY ENDORSED IAW: African National Congress (ANC), African National Congress Women's League (ANC WL), African National Congress Youth League (ANC YL), Ahlul Bayt Youth Movement of South Africa (ABYMOSA), Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Amandla, Botswana National Front (BNF), Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel in South Africa (BDS South Africa), Caring Women's Forum (CWF), Centre for Civil Society (CCS), Chemical Energy Paper Printing Wood and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU),Communication Workers Union (CWU), Congress of South African Students (COSAS), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA), Embassy of Palestine in South Africa, Faithworks, Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU), Freedom For Palestine PE (FFP-PE), Friends of Cuba (FOCUS), Jamiatul Ulama of South Africa
Kairos Southern Africa, Media Review Network (MRN), Mkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), Muslim Lawyers Association (MLA), Muslim Professional Network (MPN), Muslim Youth Movement (MYM), National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Palestine Solidarity Alliance (Benoni), Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA PE), Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA Port Shepstone), Palestine Solidarity Asscoiation Port Elizabeth (PSA PE), Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cape Town (PSC CT), People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), Pietermaritzburg For Palestine (PMB4PALESTINE), Police and Prison Civil Right Union (POPCRU), Rhodes University Palestine Solidarity Forum (Rhodes PSF), Runners For The Freedom of Palestine, Rustenburg Palestine Solidarity Forum (Rustenburg PSF), South African Artists Against Apartheid (SAAAA), South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU), South African Communist Party (SACP), South African Council of Churches (SACC), South African Council of Churches Youth Forum (SACCYF), South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), South African National Defence Union (SANDU), South African National Women's MuslimForum (SANWMF), South African Students Congress (SASCO), South African Union of Students (SAUS), Stellenbosch Palestine Solidarity Committee (Stellenbosch PSC), Stellenbosch University Palestine Solidarity Society (SU PSS), Stop The JNF, Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), UKZN Theology & Development Programme [UKZN-T&D], Union of Muslim Students Association (MSA), University of Cape Town Palestine Solidarity (UCT PSF), University of Johannesburg Palestine Solidarity Forum (UJ PSF), University of Pretoria PSC, University of Western Cape Palestine Solidarity Association (UWC PSA), Vaal Muslim Womens Forum (MWF), Wits University Palestine Solidarity Committee (Wits PSC), Workers World Media Productions (WWMP), World Federation of Trade Union (WFTU), Young Communist League of South Africa (YCL), Zaytoun South Africa
 
If you would like for your organization, SRC, trade union etc. to endorse this year's Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) campaign, send an email message to iawsouthafrica@apartheidweek.org / 0114922414. You will be listed with the over 65 South African organizations that have already endorsed IAW.