In England, Manchester City Council and its councillors
played a prominent role in the anti-apartheid
movement. They enacted sports and cultural boycotts, they actively divested any South Africa
related assets and investments.
When it came, Manchester, along with the rest of the world, celebrated
the end of apartheid.
20 years later, in England 100s of thousands of people
have been moved to march and protest. Shocking scenes of death and injury on
television over the past few months have showed the world the effect of the
Israeli army’s bombing of Palestine. In this latest spike in violence, the
mainly Palestinian victims have numbered
over 2000 dead and 10,000 injured. The vast majority of these have been
civilian.
After a short ceasefire, the bombing of Palestine seems
to have resumed.
When not being bombed, Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza live, in essence, under military occupation. Those Palestinians living in
Israel itself live under an apartheid-like regime.
Amnesty International has long
recorded the human rights violations being committed as part of their call
for the peace and adherence to international law.
Earlier this year, legendary anti-apartheid campaigner
and Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke to this.
"I have witnessed the systemic humiliation of
Palestinian men, women and children by members of the Israeli security
forces," he said in a statement. "Their humiliation is familiar to
all black South Africans who were corralled and harassed and insulted and
assaulted by the security forces of the apartheid government."
A long-time supporter of the BDS (Boycott
Divestment Sanctions) campaign in support of Palestine, he also
said
“In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom
and just peace without the help of people around the world, who through the use
of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their
governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the
Apartheid regime” and
“To those who wrongly allege unfairness or harm done to
them by this call for divestment, I suggest, with humility, that the harm
suffered from being confronted with opinions that challenge one's own pales in
comparison to the harm done by living a life under occupation and daily denial
of basic rights and dignity”.
For Manchester City Council, though it has supported
calls for peace – organising humanitarian
aid for Gaza, it has also set itself against
the pro-Palestine campaigners –
working with police to suppress demonstrations.
In Manchester, the campaign for Palestine has been
powerful and without rancour against the oppression and violence in Israel.
This is a moment of decision for the City Council and its
individual Councillors.
This is its ‘Apartheid moment'.
Again, Desmond Tutu speaking to Haaretz, ''Those
who turn a blind eye to injustice actually perpetuate injustice. If you are
neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor".
Manchester City Council should
- Divest itself of any assets, investments and relations that directly or indirectly supports the Israeli government
-
Support peaceful action in the city in the campaign for Palestine
Councillors should take a lead and say if they are in
support of the campaign for Palestine.
Its easy to look back misty-eyed at the anti-apartheid campaign
in South Africa.
With so many dead and injured in Palestine, now is the time to
act.
