By Kabelo Mollo
“The United Nations took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system…but we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
Nelson R. Mandela Nobel laureate and acclaimed freedom fighter. These were his views on Palestine by all accounts till his dying day. This is a sensitive subject that requires some nuance and considerable calm. Not so much the frenzy and vigour that social media has insisted on this last week. It is the most treacherous territory and all commentators ought to have their heads screwed on right for the discussion.
With that disclaimer out of the way, allow me to ventilate my quite simplistic views on the matter. When we grew up as kids, we used to play baddies vs goodies. The good guys would catch the bad guys and exact some sort of retribution on them. The good guys would take the moral high ground condemning the bad guys as the skunks of history.
Hollywood films would reinforce the notion of bad guys vs good guys forever framing the Caucasian, male as the (super) hero while the antagonist ranged from Russian to Cuban to non-descript middle eastern depending on the era, we were in. The good guys always triumphed like we did on the playground. The indoctrination happened ever so overtly and yet we still lapped it up.
I watched Schindlers list when I was 11 and remember thinking what an absolute travesty the holocaust was. I’ll never forget wondering what would inform such hatred from the Nazis and those who actively sought to exterminate a whole race based solely on their religious belief. It was ironic because I grew up in Apartheid South Africa.
While I lived in a very sheltered cocoon, I still saw the news daily and recognised the abnormality of the situation. I grew up hating Apartheid and those who enacted it. It didn’t make any kind of sense to me.
So, come to the impossible situation in Gaza. Without going in to too much history and detail and fuzzing over grey area I don’t have strong enough knowledge on, I know an Apartheid state when I see one, and I know a radical far right mercenary when I see one too.
Bibi Netanyahu is exactly that, and Israel for all its good things is such a state. The continued occupation of Gaza is brutal and the violence that accompanies it downright inhumane. The constant and consistent western backed aggression by Israel flies in the face of the narrative I spoke of earlier with the hero/superhero being on the right side of history.
I find it incredibly sad that support for Palestine is viewed as anti-Semitic. I cannot believe the number of mainstream media outlets reporting with one specific narrative. The conflation of militant terror group Hamas and Palestine is both mischievous and reckless. It is the kind of disinformation peddled by folks who will expect us to take them seriously thereafter.
This week I watched a BBC anchor badger the Palestinian representative to the court of St James, almost demanding he condemn the attack by a rebel group he doesn’t claim to represent. It was actually bizarre television. However, the whole interview was exactly in line with the British narrative on the matter.
In this instance, the good guys are actually the bad guys and the bad guys are a luckless, stateless group that must rescued from the atrocities enacted upon them literally daily. If it seems like I have strong single-minded views on the matter, it’s because I do… I don’t think I’m anti-Semitic but I can’t guarantee that I’m not anti-Zionist and if I am it’s only in response to the treatment of the Palestinian people.
I really hope one day that crisis will find peaceful resolution. In the meantime, I hope Palestine will be freed from its shackles and the two nations can exist somewhat harmoniously.
