Johannesburg - Africa’s solidarity with Palestine will take centre stage this week in Kenya and South Africa, as both countries gear up to host Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW).
Under the theme ‘Afro-Palestinian solidarity’ this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week will focus on both Israel’s apartheid policies against the Palestinians, as well as highlighting the Israel's discriminatory policies against African asylum seekers.
IAW 2018 will also celebrate the historic support and solidarity that African liberation struggles and countries received from the PLO and the Palestinian people during the 1970's and 1980's.
“Israel’s warming diplomatic relations with Rwanda, Uganda, and particularly Kenya make it all the more urgent to get our citizens informed of the complicity of our governments in the African human rights crisis taking place as we speak in Israel, which mirrors in many ways the discriminatory practices towards Palestinians,” said Kenya Palestine Solidarity Movement (KPSM).
Venues across the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, will host film screenings, discussions and cultural performances between March 13 and 27.
Films shown will highlight the struggles, discrimination and violence Palestinians endure but also show their creativity, hope and resilience as they struggle under occupation.
The aim of IAW is to raise awareness about Israel’s military occupation and apartheid policies towards Palestinians, as well as to build support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign – a Palestinian-led global, non-violent, resistance movement modelled on the successful boycott of Apartheid South Africa.