03 February 2017
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Join us in making this year’s 13th annual international Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) bigger, better and bolder! IAW is an annual international series of self-organized events (rallies, protests, lectures, cultural performances, concerts, films and workshops) held in over 250 cities, communities and campuses across the globe. IAW raises awareness of Israel’s apartheid policies towards the indigenous Palestinians. Israel’s discriminatory policies are now also affecting Africans (click here for more info on Israel’s “War against Africans”).
IAW is endorsed, in South Africa alone, by more than 85 organizations, trade unions, embassies, youth movements and other groups including South Africa’s governing party, the country’s largest student formation and SA’s largest trade union federation. (Click here for a list of all endorsers or if you would like to endorse the campaign.)
The largest ever IAW campaign took place in 2016. In South Africa, community members, students, government ministers, politicians, ambassadors, trade unions, artists and others all joined the week long awareness raising initiative. One of the highlights of IAW 2016 was the participation, in her official capacity, by the Speaker of the National Assembly in Parliament, Ms. Baleka Mbete (click here).
United in our diversity, South Africans from various racial and religious groups participate in Israeli Apartheid including members of the the Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Tamil and Muslim communities (click here). Last year, a group of Jewish Israelis wrote an open letter urging South Africans in general and members of the South African Jewish community in particular to participate in IAW (click here). The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem also wrote a letter to South African muslims and clergy to participate in #IsraeliApartheidWeek (click here) and, writing from the Holy Town of Bethlehem, Palestinian Christians publicly called on South African Churches to participate and support #IsraeliApartheidWeek (click here).
We invite you to join us in the footsteps of those who came before us who, around the world, mobilized in their hundreds of thousands – if not millions – during the 1980s, to raise awareness of Apartheid SA’s racist policies against the indigenous people of our country and to build support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Apartheid SA. Click here to find out how to get involved.
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Brazil BDS coordinator in South Africa for #IsraeliApartheidWeek
Pedro Ferraracio Charbel, from Brazil, will be on a South African speaking tour as part of Israeli Apartheid Week 2017. Charbel will share victories, successes and current campaigns coming out of Latin America as well as explore ways to strengthen relations between South – South partners and between activists from BRICS countries on the issue of BDS and Palestinian solidarity.
Charbel is the BDS Coordinator for Latin America. He is deployed to South America by the BDS National Committee (BNC) based in Ramallah which is the head office of the international BDS movement. The BNC is the largest Palestinian civil society coalition that leads the BDS movement and has often been compared to the 1980s United Democratic Front.
Pedro Charbel has been involved in various campaigns and struggles for justice, equality and freedom in Brazil and around the world. He holds a degree in International Relations from the University of São Paulo (USP) and was was one of the founder-members of the Palestinian Front of USP and of the Educational Network for Human Rights in Palestine/Israel (FFIPP-Brazil). He has previously served in the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine/Israel (EAPPI) and has presented at several meetings of the United Nations on the issue of Palestine and Israel. Before joining the BNC, Charbel was based at the São Paulo Municipality’s International Relations Secretariat.
For media interviews with the IAW South Africa Team, please contact: Alex Mdakane, National Spokesperson of IAW in South Africa [+27 (0) 785268663] or Nabeela Sujee, National Convener of IAW in South Africa [+27 (0) 726370386].
www.iawsouthafrica.com // www.twitter.com/iawsouthafrica // www.facebook.com/iawsouthafrica // www.instagram.com/iawsouthafrica
