The PSC Strikes Back PSC Reacts to SAUJS partnership with the SRC

Micaela

Liebenberg

On 15 March, The PSC (UP Palestinian Solidarity Committee) protested the new partnership between the SRC and the SAUJS, (South African Union of Jewish Students) in front of the DSA building. The demonstration took part in IAW ( Israeli Apartheid Week) which, according to BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) is a “tool for mobilising grassroots support on the Global level for the Palestinian struggle for justice”. PDBY investigates further.

The peaceful demonstration during IAW

On 26 January 2023, a special meeting was held in which the chairperson of SAUJS, Sasha Said, proposed a partnership between SAUJS and SRC. 11 votes were cast in favour of such a coalition. Since then, the PSC has opposed such a partnership, claiming that SAUJS is an “anti-PSC organisation”. A peaceful demonstration was held during IAW by the PSC to express their dissent. The PSC has joined forces with societies such as SASCO, The Socialist Youth Movement, UP&OUTw, MSA, Tuks For Climate Change, BMF, BDS, and Footnotes Philosophy. “The Purpose of Israeli Apartheid week is to bring awareness to the reality that Israel is conducting apartheid similar to the one we had in South Africa,” said Meara Pillay, chairperson of PSC.

Is Israel an apartheid state?

During the special meeting, a question was brought in about the demographics of Israel and whether it can be deemed an apartheid state, to which Said replied that she does not have the right to define what Apartheid is, but it would not be fair to describe Israel as one since every citizen has the right to vote. “I don’t agree with that statement,” said Pillay, “Palestinians in Gaza are separated from Palestinians in Westbank, similar to the land displacement in KZN.” She continued to state that Palestinians do not have the right to travel, the right to express their heritage, freedom of speech, and no self-determination.

“[Israel Apartheid Week] is there to spread information about what is going on in Palestine,” said Cam Rodrigues, Chairperson of the Socialist Youth Movement at UP, who also participated in the demonstration in solidarity with the PSC. “It’s not to spread any hate. A lot of people don’t know what is going on in Palestine.” She further stated that students in the university should be knowledgeable of this issue since she believes that the Israel-Palestine conflict is a humanitarian crisis. “Injustice somewhere is injustice anywhere.”

SAUJS strikes back.

In response to the demonstration, SAUJS released a statement on 15 March stating that the behaviour exhibited on campus that day was clearly discriminatory and exclusionary. According to the statement, members of the SAUJS were victimised, and that the PSC concealed their anti-zionism with antisemitism.

Another statement released on 26 February called PSC’s attempts to have the SRC break relations with SAUJS “racist and discriminatory”. SAUJS maintains that their partnership was established on democratic grounds through voting. According to their statement, those who are against their partnership are “pushing their own political agenda ahead of the welfare of our students.”

In an article released by the South African Jewish Report, “’ Pure Jewish hatred’ behind protest at Tuks” by Tali Feinberg, Said, commented during an interview that the demonstration was a “blatant exclusion and isolation of Jewish students. They were saying that Zionism doesn’t belong on campus, which is blatant antisemitism.”

Is the PSC antisemitic?

When asking Pillay about SAUJS labelling PSC as antisemitic, she responded that because the mother body of SAUJS is the Zionist federation, they rely heavily on the narrative that the PSC is violent and antisemitic in order to discourage students from supporting them. “We’re not against Judaism as a religion; we’re strictly against Zionism as an ideology. Ultimately our goal is to abolish apartheid, and the only way we can do that is to put enough pressure on the Israeli government to comply with international law, and we have to do that by means of boycotting, divesting, and sanctioning. Apartheid should have no place in our society.”