Sipho

 

Snapshot from this morning: with the legendary South African jazz musician Sipho Mabuse of the band Hotstix, here at his house, in Soweto, Johannesburg!! 

#southAfrica #musicHistory #fightingapartheidwitharts

Short road trip around Johannesburg's 'CBD'

 

I'm in South Africa, reporting from Johannesburg ahead of the general elections on 29 May, here is a little tour of the city''s 'CBD', Central Business District...

The legacy of Nelson Mandela 30 years after his election as president • RFI English

 My first story from Johannesburg: 

The legacy of Mandela 30 years after his election as president

 An extract from my conversation with Razia Saleh, archivist at the Nelson Mandela Foundation

More from Razia soon in my podcast, Spotlight on Africa.

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Johannesburg!!

Arrived and well.  

I managed to visit the Mandela Foundation on my first day...

 More soon...

Marseille celebrates contemporary artists

 

My latest story : 

Marseille art festival tells migrant stories with an Olympic twist

The Spring Contemporary Art Festival – also known as PAC – showcases emerging and well-known artists around dozens of venues in a three-week festival of creativity across south-east France. This year, with the Olympic Games on the horizon, sport has inspired the program, as well as Marseille's migrant-rich identity.

Read from here: https://www.rfi.fr/en/culture/20240512-marseille-art-festival-tells-migrant-stories-with-an-olympic-twist

Read from here: https://www.rfi.fr/en/culture/20240512-marseille-art-festival-tells-migrant-stories-with-an-olympic-twist

Still demonstrating

 

Protestors attend a demonstration in support of Palestinian people in Paris on May 11, 2024, at Place de la République

Anna KURTH / AFP

South Africa asks ICJ to order Israel's withdrawal from Rafah

 

South Africa asks World Court to order Israel's withdrawal from Rafah

South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah.

The call is part of additional emergency measures over the war in Gaza, the U.N.'s top court said on Friday. 

In the ongoing case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians, the World Court in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians.

Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has previously said it is acting in accordance with international law in Gaza, and has called South Africa's genocide case baseless and accused Pretoria of acting as "the legal arm of Hamas". 

In filings published on Friday, South Africa is seeking additional emergency measures in light of the ongoing military action in Rafah, which it calls the "last refuge" for Palestinians in Gaza.

South Africa asked the court to order that Israel cease the Rafah offensive and allow unimpeded access to Gaza for U.N. officials, organisations providing humanitarian aid, and journalists and investigators.

According to South Africa, Israel's military operation is killing the Palestinians of Gaza while at the same time starving them by denying humanitarian aid to enter. 

"Those who have survived so far are facing imminent death now, and an order from the Court is needed to ensure their survival," South Africa's filing said. 

The war has killed nearly 35,000 people in Hamas-run Gaza, according to health authorities there. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 taken hostage on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched the attack that started the war, according Israeli tallies. 

The ICJ, also known as the World Court, generally rules within a few weeks on requests for emergency measures. It will likely take years before the court will rule on the merits of the case. While the ICJ's rulings are binding and without appeal the court has no way to enforce them.

By Reuters

May 10, 20248:58 PM

Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine in Johannesburg

 

The First Global Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine is held in South Africa this weekend in an historic move that aims to amplify the urgent need to address Israel’s ongoing genocidal actions against Palestinians – especially in Gaza. 

Organised by the South African Anti-Apartheid Steering Committee (SAAASC), the conference is held from 10-12 May to reflect a "collective aspiration to mobilise worldwide action aiming to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people", and "to dismantle Israeli apartheid from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea".

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor opened the event:

The three-day conference started this Friday at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg.

The event consists of a number of panel discussions and workshops. 

Speakers include Declan Kearney, chairperson of Sinn Fein; Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative;  Reverend Munther Isaac from Bethlehem; Ronnie Kasrils, a former South Africa Minister of Intelligence, and others.

“We will not forgive what has happened to Palestinians. The dehumanization of Palestinians. They did not allow Palestinians to bury their loved ones,” Mustafa Barghouti said as the conference began. 

Barghouti added what is happening in Palestine is a global injustice against a people. 

“What we face is not only apartheid, it’s an evil plan by the settler Israeli system to destroy Palestine. 70% of the Palestinian population has been displaced,” he said.

He has demanded that the world asks where international law and human rights are amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and other global conflicts.

He said Palestinians will not leave their land, surrender, or give up. 

Barghouti also thanked South Africa for standing with the oppressed Palestinian people by taking Israel to the International Court of Justice, where Israel stands accused of genocide.

An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in the coastal enclave, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians.

Kearney said the solidarity of ordinary people for Palestine across the world is “unprecedented” and South Africa's ICJ case against Israel is “courageous.” 

He added that Israel will never defeat the Palestinian spirit of resistance, adding: “We are with the Palestinian people on their long walk to freedom and will never abandon them.”

The conference intends to lay the groundwork for intensifying global mobilisation, organisation and coordination against Israeli apartheid and “develop comprehensive political, legal, public diplomacy, and media strategies aimed at isolating Israel’s regime of oppression,” organisers said in a statement.

It also aims to “support the struggle of the Palestinian people for all their rights, including the right to self-determination, and the right to return.” 

“The conference is a testament to the enduring spirit of international solidarity that helped dismantle apartheid in South Africa, and marks the beginning of a renewed, global movement against apartheid in all its forms. We stand at a watershed moment, ready to translate collective indignation into concrete actions for freedom, justice, and equality in Palestine and beyond,” organisers added.

A song for Palestinians

 

MACKLEMORE - 'HIND'S HALL'

"Once it’s up on streaming all proceeds to UNRWA."

HIND'S HALL Written and Produced by Macklemore Sample: "Ana Le Habiby" by Fairouz Video by Macklemore Subtitles by Charles Boonsu Select Video Footage by: Omar - @omaronig Habibi House - @habibihousepodcast Lyrics: The people they won’t leave What is threatening about divesting and wanting peace? The problem isn’t the protests it’s what they’re protesting Cause it goes against what our country is funding Block the barricade until Palestine is free Block the barricade until Palestine is free When I was 7 I learned a lesson from Cube and Eazy E What was it again? oh yea fuck the police Actors in badges protecting property And a system that was designed by white supremacy But the people are in the streets You can pay off meta you can’t pay off me Politicians who serve by any means AIPAC and the interests Of the companies You see puppeteers behind the land of the free But this generation here is about to cut the strings You can ban tik Tok take us out the algothim But it’s too late we’ve seen the truth we bare witness We’ve seen the ruble the buildings the mothers the children And all the men that you murdered and then we see how they spin it Who gets to the right to defend and who gets the right of resistance Has always been about dollars and the color of your pigment But White supremacy is finally on blast Screaming free Palestine until they’re home at last We see the lies in them Claiming it’s anti-semetic to be anti-zionist I’ve seen jewish brothers and sisters out there and riding In solidarity and screaming free Palestine with em Organizing, unlearning and finally cutting ties with a State that’s gotta rely on an apartheid system To uphold an occupying violent History been repeating for the last 75 The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied If some kids in tents, posted on the lawn occupying the quad is really against the law And a reason to call in the police and their squad where does genocide land in your definition huh? destroying every college in Gaza and every mosque pushing everyone into rafah and dropping bombs The blood is on your hands Biden, we can see it all And fuck no I’m not voting for you in the fall Undecided, you can’t twist the truth The people out here united never be defeated when Freedom’s on the horizon Yet the music industry’s quiet complicit in their platform of silence What happened to the artist what do you got to say? If I was on a label, you could drop me today And be fine with it cause the heart fed my page I want a ceasefire fuck a response from drake What you willing to risk? What you willing to give? What if you were Gaza? what if those were your kids? If the west was pretending that you didn’t exist You’d want the world to stand up And the students finally did Let’s get it

Gaza: Hope is not lost...