Contrasting Efforts, How South Africa Sets an Example While the United States Falls Short

Hamzah Rifaat

Source: Al Mayadeen English

Beyond academia, high-profile figures in South Africa have also been largely unanimous in denouncing "Israel’s" apartheid as have those who have sponsored them.

 

Academic voices anchored in constructive criticism, castigation of genocidal machineries and promotion of a more inclusive, tolerant and pluralistic world order are needed to put an end to prevailing genocide. Such voices became more pronounced and vocal since "Israel’s" genocide took place in the Gaza strip. American universities witnessed strong student lobbies, pro-Palestinian advocacy groups, and anti-Zionist Jewish groups protesting against varsities for having financial ties and academic linkages with the genocidal regime. Known as the ‘Student/ Intellectual Intifada’, these student voices have also pressed for severing ties with Israeli universities such as Ariel, which are built on Palestinian land. Yet at the same time, the Biden administration and its various counterparts in academia have not responded positively to the agitations.  

However, this is not the case everywhere.  

Take the South African government and its academic community. The post-apartheid state was previously governed by a white minority government and had extensive diplomatic, political, military, and economic ties with "Israel". In the post-1994 era, however, it is seen at the forefront of calling out Netanyahu’s genocide by filing cases at the International Court of Justice to penalize "Israel" for its fascist conduct. South African universities and their respective administrations are also setting an example of promoting the Palestinian cause through visionary leadership and historical sensibility. The University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg for example, has publicly condemned "Israel’s" invasion in Gaza and called for a ceasefire after pressure from students and advocacy groups. The University of Cape Town, on the other hand, remains undecided but unlike certain American university officials have not called the protestors vagrants or anti-state elements. At Wits, the Palestine Solidarity Committee successfully pushed the University’s Senate to vote in favor of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Commendable work also dates back to 2011 when the University of Johannesburg voted to end its 25-year relationship with the Ben Gurion University in Beersheba.  While South Africa’s response to "Israel’s" genocide has been marginally better than American varsities, institutions have also resisted calls for a full-blown academic and financial boycott of "Israel". 

There is a caveat, however. Note that unlike the United States government which remains passive over "Israel’s" massacre in Rafah and refrained from pressurizing American universities to clampdown on genocidal support while in many ways endorsing it, the South African government has called on its universities to eschew neutrality on Palestine. It has also urged institutional-focused academic boycotts akin to what was imposed globally in pre-1994, apartheid South Africa. There exists a realization in Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein that any academic support for "Israel" will be equivalent to support for racial segregationist policies that South Africa itself was subjected to. Hence, previous divestments worth $50 million from varsities such as the University of Michigan on apartheid South Africa should also apply to "Israel". This is an important distinction. Universities across the republic are facing pressure from both the government and student groups with the former being virtually absent in the United States. 

Additionally, South Africa’s official stance of linking global divestment in the pre-1994 era with the 2023-24 genocide of "Israel" is anchored in historical sensibility, a need to win vote banks during the 2024 elections, and prevailing historical guilt. The United States government on the other hand has been fairly consistent with its historical disconnect between official priorities and student activism. Note that during the apartheid era, American workers were demanding their pensions be ‘South Africa Free’ and the Committee to Oppose Bank Loans to South Africa was formed by the American Committee on Africa, the Clergy and Laity Concerned, and the American Friends Service Committee. However, for a long time the US government supported the racist, white supremacist National Party in South Africa due to the latter’s ‘anti-communist’ orientation which was crucial to contain the Soviet Union.  

American academics too, have been mixed in their response to the 2023-2024 Israeli genocide. Columbia University’s Minouche Shafik who is of Egyptian origin and is the President of the varsity, is an example of academic apathy towards the Palestinian cause. She called on the New York Police Department to forcibly dismantle more than 100 protestors on campus over bogus criminal charges. In contrast, South African academics have been more measured, vocal, vociferous, and stern in their denunciation of "Israel". Thousands of individuals in the country’s higher educational sector wrote an open letter imploring institutions to do the same. The letter was supported by researchers, administrators, lecturers students, and other structures that condemned the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The latter also called out barbaric attacks on hospitals and blockading water, emergency services and fuel into the enclave. Nowhere in South African academia, however, is there an attempt to equate "Israel’s" barbarity with its so-called ‘right to defend itself’. In America, academics such as law professor Catherine Fisk constantly cited the self-defense argument while gaining notoriety for attacking a pro-Palestinian student, Malak Afaneh. 

Beyond academia, high-profile figures in South Africa have also been largely unanimous in denouncing "Israel’s" apartheid as have those who have sponsored them. From biblical figures such as Desmond Tutu to Cricket South Africa’s decision to sack their Under-19 captain, David Teeger for his pro-occupation forces remarks, South Africa has employed a zero-tolerance policy which is supporting the Palestinian cause. The polarizing views of high-profile figures in the United States, however, have spawned cyber space movements. 

What is clear however, is that officially, academically and principally, South Africa has done and is doing much more for the Palestinian cause than the United States ever has.