Anti-Austerity Forum Solidarity statement : Apartheid in Palestine and South Africa

D 8 octobre 2024 H 12:00 A C 0 messages

We have come together as a united front of trade union organisations, social movements, civics and other progressive forces to build a campaign against austerity in the Western Cape. As we build this campaign, we reflect on the collective action within the province to contest the ongoing genocide in Palestine prior to and since October 7, 2023. The brutal killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the displacement of millions is a perverse injustice. It is a disgrace that people are left without food, water or medical care. The Israeli state and its allies are destroying Palestinian society through the bombing and destruction of hospitals, mosques, cultural and heritage sites, key infrastructure and education systems. While we acknowledge that it’s not possible to compare the genocide in Palestine to our country, we see many parallels in South African society with Palestine under this government’s enforced austerity.

We recognise that the atrocities going on in Palestine are inextricably linked to our struggles in South Africa. After October 7 and for many generations before, colonial forces have torn through Palestinian lives, stripping them of their most basic dignities – including their land, health, education, and their very lives. While the forms of oppression differ, here in South Africa, we, too, bear the wounds of colonialism and capitalist violence. Our fight against austerity at home is intertwined with our fight against the genocide in Gaza, as both are manifestations of a global system that values profit and power over human dignity and life. When we reflect on how our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians, we recognise the importance of building joint solidarity towards common emancipation.

The South African government has been a critical voice, not only speaking out against the genocide of the Israeli government but also taking decisive action. In comparison, in South Africa, this government has shown complete disregard for the impoverished majority. More than 32 million are living in poverty, the levels of unemployment and inequality are the worst in the world, and the levels of joblessness and inequalities continue to grow. As we watch mothers bury their children in Palestine on a daily basis, it is equally harrowing to read stories of mothers, in our own context, murdering their children and succumbing to death by suicide because they don’t know where their next meal will come from. We share the crisis of hunger with Palestine as in our country, child malnutrition and the number of children and people dying of hunger continue to rise.

As it is challenging for Palestinians to build a society under the conditions of genocide, it is similarly difficult to build a society under the conditions of austerity and budget cuts. Our communities suffer from war-time levels of fatalities due to gang violence and overall crime. Drug and substance abuse remains pervasive without sufficient access to facilities for treatment or care. Yet under these conditions, budget cuts in health and safety continue with a continuously dwindling SAPS to civilian ratio.

Budget cuts in education recently led to the Western Cape Education Department’s announcement that it would eradicate 2407 contract teacher posts by January next year. This is a situation where there is already a shortfall of at least 7,000 teachers in the province. The result will be growing classroom sizes and even poorer learning outcomes. This comes only months after hundreds of people in the health sector signed a petition condemning the devastating impacts the national and provincial government’s budget cuts have on health care, whose budget has also been slashed substantially. More than 5% of the health budget has been cut in 2023 alone. Already, there is a shortfall in health resources and healthcare workers, just like in education. The crises in education and health care have direct consequences for people’s lives. There will be longer waiting lines in clinics and further delays before people get treatment for chronic conditions like cancer, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS and fatal mental health conditions.

In Palestine, long before October 7, Palestinians encountered the closure of educational institutions as a form of “collective punishment” for their resistance. Legacies of displacement, dispossession and neglect of the education system under Israeli occupation has had a great impact on Palestinian access to education. We note that since October 7, access to education has been irreparably disrupted for the people of Palestine due to the genocide and the strategic destruction of educational institutions. We note that under austerity, we are also suffering a “collective punishment” due to the collapse of education systems under the pressure of neglect and underfunding.

As was raised by the South African delegation to the International Court of Justice, the targeted Israeli attack on medical facilities like the Al-Shifa Hospital is a contravention of human rights. This targeted attack has left Palestinians with little to no life-saving health care. In the case of South Africa, austerity in healthcare has led to the collapse of service in critical healthcare facilities like the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. What then of the human rights of those who are denied access to preventative and life-saving health care because of a state that deliberately slashes the budgets to maintain health care systems in the country ?

These cuts form part of this government’s austerity programme, i.e. budget cuts along with privatisation of essential services, ongoing evictions and land dispossession. When coupled with high interest rates, these policies contribute to the growing cost of living in a situation when most already are unable to make ends meet. In the Western Cape, a refusal to unlock key land sites for social housing entrenches existing spatial apartheid, building walls of division based on inequality.

We know that the apartheid and genocide in Palestine have similarities to the conditions of apartheid and violence we face in South Africa. We face a state that does not endorse genocide but rather the systemic destruction of social life and our access to essential services like health, education and safety. As we protest for an end to the destruction of education, healthcare and food systems in Palestine, we must recognise that the consequences of budget cuts cannot be ignored. While we fight for the liberation of Palestinians, we must also fight against the encroaching conditions of a neoliberal state on a mission to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The South African government must match its bold stance against Israel at the ICJ with equal commitment at home. It’s time to walk the talk by properly funding and safeguarding human rights in our own country.

Demands :

– Pass the Apartheid Bill : This bill will domesticate the UN International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid into South African law, to hold entities accountable for human rights violations and will provide the legal framework for South Africa to implement Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

– Fully fund public services : Restore full funding to education, health, safety, and other social sectors to address critical shortages in personnel, infrastructure, and resources to guarantee equitable access for all communities.

– End budget cuts : Reverse planned cuts to education and healthcare, including the elimination of 2407 teaching posts in the Western Cape and the 5% reduction in health funding nationally.

– Stop land dispossession : Redistribute land to reverse the harms of colonialism and apartheid. Unlock key land sites for social housing, end forced evictions and spatial apartheid.

– Address unemployment : Launch large-scale job creation programs, invest in public works, and support industries that can create sustainable employment, particularly for the youth.

– Implement Basic Income Grant : Implement a Universal Basic Income Grant to combat hunger and malnutrition, provide financial security and reduce poverty in South Africa’s most vulnerable populations.

– Reject privatisation : Stop the privatisation of essential services and ensure public services remain fully funded and accessible.