NEC statement SASCO Condemns Professor Dire Tladi of Pretoria University for Participating in Event Promoting Israeli War Crimes The South African Students Congress notes with disgust the participation of Professor Dire Tladi in an event at the University of Oxford titled ‘Forcible Alternatives to War in Israel/Gaza’ which aims to discuss which Israeli war crimes can produce better outcomes. The event explains its purpose be to discussing whether, and to what extent forcible alternatives to large- scale military operations, such as targeted killings, can bring better results”. We are appalled that Professor Tladi would agree to participate in an event which seeks to frame Israeli actions in terms of what can best advance Israeli military objectives. The event does not make reference to international law, the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination or even a basic indication of the immorality and illegality of Israel brutality. We also note that the Israeli speaker at the event comes from the most racist Israeli institution which openly supports Israeli Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. Having fought against the barbarity of Apartheid and colonialism ourselves, we know better than most the true meaning of struggle and the obligations of those standing in solidarity with oppressed peoples. We therefore join with our Palestinian friends at the University of Oxford and around the world in calling for a boycott of this event and its murderous agenda. We also call on Professor Tladi to immediately withdraw from the event and on the University of Pretoria to take action against him until he ends his participation in this event and all future ones which positively frame Israeli warmongering and murder. We further call on all South African academics and institutions to remember our own history of anti- Apartheid struggle and be careful not to support Israel or to breach the boycott called for by the Palestinian people. We also condemn in the strongest terms the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC), the academics organising this event and the agenda they represent. As university students ourselves we believe that places of study must hope to improve the state of humanity, increase knowledge and move towards greater understanding of justice, equality and freedom. We oppose all attempts to use universities to legitimise an agenda of war, death and destruction - which is precisely the role that ELAC has given itself in running this event. We insist that ELAC cancel this event and change direction in order to play a positive role in the world. Finally, SASCO reaffirms its position that Israel is a murderous apartheid state with no regard for the indigenous Palestinian people who have been colonised and oppressed. Moreover, we will defend - in whatever way we can - the Palestinian right to self- determination and the right to resist oppression and subjugation. We call for an immediate end to Israeli aggression in all its forms and call on all to stand together in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We further call on all SASCO members to boycott all Israeli products in South Africa.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 10:49:41 +0000
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