In Solidarity with the People of Palestine
An RGC Statement
The Centre for the Study of Race, Gender & Class (RGC) stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine, decrying the enduring conditions of settler colonialism, apartheid, and siege on Gaza that have persisted for over seventy-five years. We mourn the devastating loss of Palestinian lives, livelihoods, cultural heritage, and infrastructure wrought by the bombing of Gaza, as well as the summary dislocation of entire neighbourhoods, and the imposed restriction of life necessities such as food, water, fuel, electricity, and medicine into Gaza. We are also grieved by the killing and capture of Israeli civilian hostages on October 7 by Hamas and join international calls for their return.
Dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge in contribution to the quest for justice and universal liberation, our stance of transnational solidarity with the Palestinian people is inherently rooted in the centre’s commitment to Black Feminism, aligning with our dedication to Black, African, postcolonial, feminist, queer, and decolonial emancipatory agendas. Grounded in South Africa in the wake of formal apartheid here, we toil from a radically intersectional Black Feminist framework that sees the restoration and amplification of marginalised voices as imperative to liberation, emphasising solidarity that recognises the interconnectedness of all forms of oppression across diverse contexts.*
As a Black Feminist space, we challenge the notion of a balanced conflict within unequal wars and foreground the pivotal concepts of power and oppression. We advocate for a world free of racism, antisemitism, patriarchy, queerphobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression rooted in difference. We advocate for the rights of all oppressed peoples, including Palestinians. Palestinian intellectual Edward Said explained the Palestinian plight since 1948 as that of “the victims of the victims, the refugees of the refugees”.** For Said, it was imperative that as we fulfil the promise that the vile horror of the Holocaust never happens again, we agitate against the genocidal abuses of the Israeli state on the Palestinian people. In that tradition, we unequivocally condemn the biased Western, liberal global order, which perpetuates the gross inequality in valuing some lives more than others and acknowledging some pain more than others. This is the logic of colonial modernity. It has its genesis in conquest, genocide, racial slavery, and apartheid or so-called separate development. All of which have served as weapons to dehumanise specific communities, relegating them to the status of property, animals, or machines, therein rendering them expendable.
RGC condemns the dire situation in Gaza, characterised by the cruel deprivation of water, food, electricity, fuel, and medical supplies, as well as the relentless bombardment and the daily hardships endured by Palestinians. We bear witness to the routine and extraordinary denials of Palestinians' right to their homeland and the rejection of their humanity in order to affirm the humanity of others. In resolute rejection of the violent ideologies perpetuating these exclusionary conditions, we stand with others in South Africa*** in recognition and support of the Palestinian struggle for life, community, and freedom.
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* On solidarity with Palestine as a radical Black Feminist mandate (a reading list): https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/black-feminist-perspectives-on-palestine-a-reading-list?fbclid=IwAR3Z_tfXJdzYqq-XkNQ3FOFqo2wI-f0L65qmw1tkz8GI0qXnUfvoL2XBCtY
** Said often spoke of the Palestinian situation as “the victims of the victims”, including in his interviews (both video recorded and in print). Here is one reference to him formulating the Palestinian situation this — https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/10/magazine/the-one-state-solution.html
*** A Letter from South Africa, for all who stand in Solidarity with Palestine - we call on educators, artists, cultural workers and organizers in South Africa to support this initiative and sign the letter: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwoiYp-9a_jFHl7ERUsGfk0p7zc1UcXtLkp-HXdihMFbK2Ow/viewform
Samera Esmeir on Palestine and settler colonialism — https://www.madamasr.com/en/2023/10/14/opinion/politics/to-say-and-think-a-life-beyond-what-settler-colonialism-has-made/
Raz Segal, on why “Israel must stop weaponising the Holocaust” and Gaza as “A Textbook Case of Genocide”: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/24/israel-gaza-palestinians-holocaust & https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/16/raz_segal_textbook_case_of_genocide