SA BDS Coalition statement, 19 September 2024
The campaign to expose African Global Dialogue as a genocide-washing conference has been successful! This conference has not been able to go ahead as planned at Constitution Hill or any public venue.
Under the guise of a “dialogue”, the goal of the event is to pave over the suffering of Palestinians by weaving new narratives about “the conflict”. As Israel prepares for a full takeover of Palestinian territories, this conference is part of the Zionist propaganda to create a fake narrative to soften the edges of the genocide.
This narrative eliminates the Palestinian cause under the cover of “peace” which excludes the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, most importantly national liberation, self-determination, and the return of the refugees to their homes.
Most of the invitees and participants are not attending. However the organisers are so disingenuous that they have continued to advertise speakers, after they have made it absolutely clear they have no intention of attending, disagree with the aims of the conference or have no knowledge at all of the event.
These people include Minister Ronald Lamola, Siphamandla Zondi, Philani Mthembu, Ismail Vallodia, Adebayo Olukoshi, Kuben Naidoo, Saths Cooper, Achille Membe, Zeblon Vilakazi, Ferial Haffejee and Lieopollo Pheko who condemned “the unethical use of these colleagues, without permission in ways that imply that these individuals sanction Zionism, ethnic cleansing, racism and genocide.
We thank everyone who took action to ensure that this conference couldn’t go ahead as planned at Con Hill. It is unconscionable that an event discrediting South Africa’s case against Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice could possibly take place at Con Hill, a living memorial to our liberation struggle and post-apartheid democracy.
At our protest on the steps of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday we were joined by the ANC Deputy Secretary General, Nomvula Mokanyana, who committed that the Gauteng Premier will make a public statement that Con Hill will not be hosting the conference.
We demand that this public statement is issued immediately and that an explanation is given from the management, trustees and development agency of Constitution Hill as well as the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency. None of these entities have said anything as to why the conference was initially allowed to take place at Con Hill and then passed the buck from one to another with none of them officially informing us that the event had been pulled.
This is particularly pertinent as the UN General Assembly voted in favour for the first time ever on a resolution denouncing Israel as an apartheid state and declaring that all states have the duty to impose military, trade, academic and other sanctions on apartheid Israel, exactly as was done to isolate the apartheid South African regime in solidarity with our liberation struggle.
Given the deafening silence on the genocide-washing conference from the provincial government and institutions involved in managing and running the Constitution Hill site they need reminding of the words of Archbishop Tutu: If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.