From its inception in 1974, ROAPE has stood against all forms of colonisation and imperialism, committing itself to the liberation of colonised people. Our historical analysis of Apartheid in South Africa and the persistent post-colonial oppression in Africa enable us to recognize the tactics of the Israeli settler colonial state against Palestinians, both under occupation and within Israel itself.
Nelson Mandela once said, “we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” This statement rings true today more than ever. Israel’s response to the incursion by Hamas on 7 October, and the deaths, hostage taking and political losses that resulted, has become a genocide in the making.
The Israeli army is conducting an indiscriminate bombing campaign and invasion of Gaza, murdering thousands of Palestinians, and forcing over two million people to flee their homes. Meanwhile, it is also conducting raids, imprisoning and killing hundreds of civilians in the Occupied West Bank. These war crimes are committed with the shameful backing of the United States, the UK, and other Western governments, continuing their imperialist warmongering in the Middle East and North Africa. South Africa, well aware of Israel’s past support for the Apartheid regimes, has referred Israel to the International Criminal Court.
From its inception in 1974, ROAPE has stood against all forms of colonisation and imperialism, committing itself to the liberation of colonised people and social justice. Our historical analysis of Apartheid in South Africa and our examination of persistent post-colonial oppression in Africa enable us to recognize the tactics of intimidation, injury, and violence employed by the Israeli settler colonial state against Palestinians, both under occupation and within Israel itself. In light of this, we support the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people and their right to wage armed struggles against the Israeli settler colonial state. There will be no peace for Jewish citizens until there is freedom and justice for Palestinians.
We also stand with the extraordinary global movement of Palestine solidarity that has erupted against the siege on Gaza. In many instances, these movements have developed against the ruling class of nations allied to Israeli settler colonialism. In Western nations, we have seen governments disgracefully ban Palestine demonstrations and criminalise those protesting for freedom for Palestinians.
For years we have opposed state-led initiatives to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Opposed vociferously from the start by many international Jewish groups and currents, Zionism is an ideology that justifies the colonisation and exclusion of Palestinians under the claim that Jewish people should have a state in Palestine, which they would run as the majority people.
Criticising the state of Israel as a racist state does not amount to attacking or discriminating against Jewish people. It is unacceptable to suggest that Jewish people are a single bloc, bonded with the Zionist project which is rooted in European colonialism and social division. It is not antisemitic to oppose Israeli colonialism and support the liberation of Palestine. We consider that no institution is taking decolonisation seriously if it represses the discussion of Zionism as a colonial project.
We encourage our readers and supporters to join the growing demonstrations in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia and participate in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which mobilises for the removal of Israeli goods in stores. We hope to see an intensification of community and student mobilisation and acts of direct action, including sit-ins, occupations and blockades against Israeli interests to bolster the mass movement. We also hope to see a higher deployment of working-class weapons of struggle through work stoppages, strikes, and workplace occupation in support of Palestine.
ROAPE celebrated in 2021 when dockers in Durban, South Africa refused to offload cargo from an Israeli ship in protest at that country’s offensive against the Palestinian Unity Intifada. We hope such examples of resistance will multiply.
We join the many calls around the world for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, for the boycott and disinvestment campaign against the Israeli settler state and its illegal settlements and for the establishment of a free Palestinian state.
ROAPE has a long history supporting Palestinian resistance and solidarity. For some of our blogposts and statements on Africa, Palestine and solidarity please click here.
Editorial Working Group
