The Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA) fully supports our comrades, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Cape Town who are facing a SLAPP suit initiated by Cape Union Mart and its Executive Chairman, Philip Krawitz.
Cape Union Mart’s support for Zionism is out in the open and they have now attempted to punish those who dissent, but it will not work. Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, SLAPP Suits, is a weapon used by powerful specific
corporations to silence dissent, distract us from our core mandates and bleed us dry financially.
These intimidatory tactics have been used against social justice activists who are opposed to extractivism, and abuse of the environment and land. More recently they have been unleashed against human rights activists advocating for justice and rights for Palestinians at home and internationally. SLAPPs are
generally frivolous and an abuse of the legal process and is a form of bullying. It will not stop us for speaking out against a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and increasingly in the West Bank, over 56 000
Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct 2023, most of whom are women and children.
Civil disobedience is steeped in our history of struggle from time immemorial to the celebrated boycotts against the tricameral racist parliament and the 1952 Defiance Against Unjust laws. These frivolous attempts to stop us from speaking truth to power will not work and are unconstitutional. We support the efforts of the PSC to find a just and speedy resolution to this test of our courage.
We call on Cape Union Mart to stop its abuse of the law and respect the South African constitution. This means that the company must join us, peace loving South Africans in demanding an immediate ceasefire.
We also ask the corporation to join us in contributing to the relief efforts led locally by Gift of the Givers and internationally by UNRWA.
PSA is a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).
Issued by Palestine Solidarity Alliance.
Ends
25 June 2025
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