First Global Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine to be held in South Africa

A banner reads ‘Against apartheid, Boycott of Israel’. Thousands of people demonstrate in support of Gazans, in Toulouse France on November 18th 2023 [Alain Pitton/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

The First Global Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine will be held in South Africa later this month 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 will be held from 10-12 May and reflects 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.

The conference will 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,” they added.

The conference will consist of a number of panel discussions and workshops. Speakers include Declan Kearney, chairperson of Sinn Fein; Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative; and Reverend Munther Isaac from Bethlehem.