An activist stages a vivid demonstration outside the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre to mark the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. Picture: Henk Kruger/Independent Newspapers
Cape Town - Across the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre and outside the Samson Centre on Monday, around 80 people gathered for a peaceful protest in commemoration of International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, condemning the institutions’ silence on Gaza, Palestine.
The protest, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), was largely silent to allow for the names of some of the over 40000 known Palestinians to have been killed in Gaza to be read aloud.
Armed private security stood at the doors and gates of the buildings, while law enforcement, including police and a Casspir vehicle, were present.
Two artists in all-white garb walked in silence along a white red-stained path, stopping to perform prayer while also drenched in the red stain, evoking imagery of bloody massacres.
Several flags were raised by protesters, expressing solidarity with victims of genocides, namely that of Congo, Palestine, Namibia, Rwanda, and Sudan.
PSC convenor, Professor Usuf Chikte, said: “They want a unique apartheid form of commemorating a genocide because they believe in Herrenvolkism.
They believe that the lives of Jews are more than the lives of Palestinians. That is their racism that they’re exercising and similarly, and that's why we decided to do it outside.”
The protest comes days after Amnesty International released its 296-page report, “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman”: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, stating that researchers found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The report documents violations of the Genocide Convention, with the “specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza”.
At least 42 000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, including 13300 children.
According to Amnesty International, over 97000 people have been injured, many of them “in direct and deliberately discriminate attacks, wiping out entire multigenerational families”.
Chikte said these institutions were not only silent on the genocide in Gaza, but supporting it. He added that their presence was to show that all human lives have equal value.
“That there is no superiority in life or in death or in commemoration. What we want for the Jews, we want for the Palestinians as well.”
Present with his two children aged 11 and 16, Zaahied Sallie from Goodwood said it was duty to be present with his family.
“This is an institution, its an institution to showcase the plight of those that are victims of genocide so its paradoxical and ironic that those who portray and educate on genocide are the same people currently in denial of a genocide that is being perpetrated.
In fact, they are not just in denial, the Zionist Federation of South Africa and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies are complicit in the genocide because they full heartedly support it, financially, politically, in every shape and form they are backing it and so its important that our resistance is done in front of this institution.”
The Samson Centre houses the offices of the Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies and South African Zionist Federation – Cape Council, and a number of pro-Israel Jewish organisations.
Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies executive director, Daniel Bloch, said: “We reject with utter contempt the baseless allegations of genocide or any support thereof. A war which was started by Hamas on October 7, 2023, when they invaded Israel, is taking place in the Middle East, not a genocide. However, we continue to deplore the loss of all life, we call for the release of all hostages and an end to the war.”
Bloch said an Improvised Explosive Device was thrown into the complex building on Friday. Police confirmed the DPCI is investigating the matter further.
Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre director, Jakub Nowakowski, said: “At the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre, we are deeply concerned and heartbroken by the violence taking place in Israel and Gaza, as well as in Ukraine, Sudan and other regions affected by conflict.”
He added that they were aware of the Amnesty International report.
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za
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