Defining the issue: Important terms you need to know

Aaron Cloete

The recent controversy surrounding the Student Representative Council’s interactions with the South African Union of Jewish Students is a story that continues to unfold. With PDBY’s coverage of the ongoing news, it is important to fully understand the terms that surround the issue. What follows is a list of terms that are associated with PDBY’s coverage of the ongoing story.

SAUJS (South African Union of Jewish Students)

The South African Union of Jewish Students is a voluntary association that caters to the needs of Jewish students across our South African university campuses. Their events and initiatives are aimed at keeping Jewish students active and involved in both South African and Jewish affairs. SAUJS strives to develop and strengthen Jewish identity on campuses as well as to provide a supportive and social network amongst Jewish students.

SAUJS holds as its three pillars the ideas of: Judaism, Zionism, and South Africa.

SASCO (South African Students Congress)

SASCO organizes students in institutions of higher learning striving for the transformation of not just institutions of higher learning but the whole system in order to achieve a non-sexist, non-racial, working class biased, and democratic education system. They seek to ensure the destruction of capitalist relations of production and hasten the ushering in of a socialist society.

SASCO champions the interests of students and seeks to ensure access and success in these institutions, by fighting for: more and better accommodation, more computer labs, more and better-equipped libraries, and lower costs of education. SASCO seeks to achieve these goals by mobilizing the broadest sections of students and rallying them behind the call for free higher education.

PSC (Palestine Solidarity Committee)

The PSC is an organization that revolves around active campaigning for Palestinian rights. The PSC believes that Israel is flouting international law through its continued military occupation of Palestine, and systematic discrimination against Palestinians. The PSC fashions itself as an entirely independent organization that is funded by donations. The PSC aims to campaign for human rights in Palestine and claims to stand against anti-Jewish prejudice and Islamophobia. They specifically stand against Zionism and the Zionist nature of the Israeli state.

BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions)

The Palestinian-led BDS movement is a global campaign initiated in 2005 following a call from Palestinian civil society for the international community to use the tactics of boycott, divestment, and sanctions to oppose Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, military occupation, and apartheid. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the Palestinian BDS call urges nonviolent pressure on Israel, including through pressuring international companies or institutions that are propping up Israel’s purported system of oppression.

IAW (Israeli Apartheid Week)

IAW is defined by the BDS movement as a tool for mobilizing grassroots support on the global level for the Palestinian struggle for justice. It is a grassroots mechanism to raise awareness about Israeli apartheid and to mobilize support for strategic BDS campaigns to help bring an end to this system of oppression. IAW provides an opportunity to network and strengthen the links between the Palestinian liberation struggle and other struggles against racism, oppression, and discrimination.

The Anti-Defamation League Defines IAW as one of the most well-known and virulent anti-Israel programs. In dozens of cities around the world each year, anti-Israel activists plan a weeklong series of events, usually in March, that are marked by allegations that Israel has become an “apartheid state” and that the Israeli government oppresses Palestinians in a manner akin to the repression of the Black majority in apartheid South Africa. Speakers at these events contend that Israeli policy regarding Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel is predicated on racism and discrimination rather than legitimate security concerns.

SRC (Student Representative Council)

The Student Representative Council is the highest student governance structure at the University of Pretoria. They purport to exist to order and serve students to the best of their ability and be there for students as they strive towards academic success. They aim to be a body for the students and seek to work in unison with all students regardless of background, creed, or circumstance.

UP&OUT

UP&Out is a queer* student society that provides a safe space for queer* students on campus. “We provide a place to socialize and form meaningful connections. We’ve played a key role in raising awareness of how to be respectful of people’s identities and educating people on gender and sexuality through workshops and Round Table Talks that are open to all.”

MSA (Muslim Students Association)

A student representative organization focused on aiding Muslim students in universities.

BMF (Black Management Forum)

The BMF identifies as its core issue a prevailing trend towards a lack of representation for black professionals and executives at top management levels. It is for this reason that their strategic focus emphasises the implementation of the Employment Equity and Affirmative Action Acts to rectify this.

Israel/Palestine conflict

A conflict surrounding the rightful ownership of Palestine. An area that includes Jerusalem which is considered sacred by all three of the largest Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The area has been a centre of conflict since 1917 when Britain put forward the Balfour Declaration which announced support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

DISCLAIMER: This definition does not encompass the conflict, nor does it speak to the many lives that have been negatively affected and lost this century spanning-conflict.

Lobbying

Lobbying is any attempt by individuals or private interest groups to influence the decisions of the government. In its original meaning, it referred to efforts to influence the votes of legislators, generally in the lobby outside the legislative chamber.

Zionism

A movement for (originally) the reestablishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel. It was established as a political organization in 1897 under Theodor Herzl, and was later led by Chaim Weizmann.