The second Shireen Abu Akhle Memorial Lecture at the University of Johannesburg, June 8, 2024.
Speakers at the event included South African Minister Naledi Pandor and members of the South African legal team at the ICJ, who stated that there should be no need to listen to the call for a GLOBA L RULING as some are promoting. “Do not fall in the trap; the humanitarian and human rights international law is the global rule that has to be respected!”
Palestinian Adv Tembeka Ngcukaitobi of Birzeit University in Gaza collaborating for year with the University of Johannesburg stated that their university has shown resistance despite destruction by starting to teach on line in a volunteer fashion, transformative research and rebuilding institutiobalitynaccording to the times: rename the world.
Palestinian professor Adv Adila Hassim in the West Bank currently teaching on line, said that students show amazing resilience by continuing to study in the context of settler colonialism. “The plight should not be framed as a humanitarian one; it is polítical in its root cause: settler colonialism and apartheid; that is why divestment, boicot and sanctions are what are mostly needed…” as forms of deep solidarity.
Dianna Bhutto, Palestinian and close friend of Shereen took us through what she would be covering if she were alive, strengthening the need for professional integrity in the media and sensitivity.
In the past 6 months, almost 150 journalists have been murdered. The murder of Shireen Abu Akhle – a US Christian Palestinian Journalist – serves as a stark reminder that these past six months are merely a continuation of a long history of oppression and colonization.
In South Africa, the organizers of this event vividly recalled what it means to live under apartheid, to resist a colonial regime, and the importance of international solidarity in their struggle for liberation. The connection is clear. “The University is a critical institution or it is nothing.”
Note: Feminist Elders Against Genocide (FEAG) will meet June, 9, 2024 to discuss how to strengthen solidarity in light of the invasion of Rhafa and the need to deepen solidarity to stop the barbarie.
