Israel vs. South Africa

By Omar Barghouti


In 1965, the American Committee on Africa,
following the lead of prominent British arts
associations, sponsored a historic
declaration against South African
apartheid, signed by more than 60
cultural personalities. It read: "We
say no to apartheid. We take this
pledge in solemn resolve to refuse
any encouragement of, or indeed,
any professional association with the present Republic of South
Africa, this until the day when all its people shall equally enjoy
the educational and cultural advantages of that rich and beautiful land."

If one were to replace "Republic of South Africa" with the
"State of Israel," the rest should apply just as strongly.
Israel today -- 60 years after its establishment through a
deliberate and systemic process of ethnic cleansing of a
large majority of the indigenous Palestinian population

(for an authoritative historical account of the "birth" of Israel,
refer to Ilan Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine) --

still practices racial discrimination against its own "non-Jewish" citizens;
it still maintains the longest military occupation in modern history;
it still denies Palestinian refugees -- uprooted, dispossessed
and expelled by Zionists over the last six decades -- their
internationally-recognized right to return to their homes and
properties; and it still commits war crimes and violates basic
human rights and tenets of international humanitarian law
with utter impunity.

Israel at 60 is a more sophisticated, evolved and brutal form
of apartheid than its South African predecessor, according to
authoritative statements by South African anti-apartheid leaders,
like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the country's current
government minister Ronnie Kasrils, who is Jewish. It therefore
deserves from all people of conscience around the world,
particularly those who opposed South African apartheid,
the same measures of solidarity and human compassion,
through an effective application of boycott, divestment
and sanctions against Israel until it abides by international law
and respects basic human rights.

However, some may argue that, to them, art should transcend
political division, unifying people in their common humanity.
They forget, it seems, that masters and slaves do not quite
share anything in common, least of all any notion of humanity.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I recall the wise words
of Enuga S. Reddy, director of the United Nations Center
Against Apartheid, who in 1984 responded to criticism that
the cultural boycott of South Africa infringed the freedom of
expression, saying: "It is rather strange, to say the least, that
the South African regime which denies all freedoms ... to the
African majority ... should become a defender of the freedom
of artists and sportsmen of the world. We have a list of people
who have performed in South Africa because of ignorance of
the situation or the lure of money or unconcern over racism.
They need to be persuaded to stop entertaining apartheid,
to stop profiting from apartheid money and to stop serving the
propaganda purposes of the apartheid regime."

It is worth noting that the United Nations General Assembly
adopted a special resolution on the cultural boycott of South
Africa in December 1980, almost two decades after civil society
unions and associations in Britain and, later, in the US, adopted
such a boycott. That decision also heeded consistent appeals by
black organizations in South Africa which effectively censured
several foreign entertainers who violated the boycott. Accusing
those who defy the boycott of complicity in apartheid, Reddy
stated: "There is no parallel to this in history, except to some
extent under Nazism. The issue in Germany then was not segregation
of audiences, but inhumanity and genocide and that is the issue in
South Africa today." Despite all the obvious differences, so is the
situation in occupied Palestine today as well.


Omar Barghouti is a freelance choreographer and founding member
of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott
of Israel (www.PACBI.org). This essay was first published as part
of a file compiled by Randy Gener, titled:
"12 Positions on Cultural Sanctions --
Theatre practitioners offer their views on a call to boycott Israel,"
in American Theater Magazine, May-June 2008 issue.