BDS-SA splinters as global body backs new group

TALI FEINBERG

BDS-SA announced in March that it was changing its name to Africa for Palestine (AFP). At first this seemed to be a simple re-branding, but it has now been confirmed by the co-founder of the international BDS movement, Omar Barghouti, that it has been removed from its place in his organisation.

In a video released this week by Barghouti, he endorses a new organisation that he terms “our BDS South African coalition partners”.

Barghouti makes it clear that Africa for Palestine isn’t aligned with the national BDS movement. It appears that this old organisation (with a new name) is headed by Muhammed Desai, after he and his supporters were told they could no longer carry the BDS name.

“Some may ask what about the NGO [nongovernmental organisation] that has existed for some years now under the name ‘BDS South Africa’. This group is no longer part of the BDS movement,” he says on the video. “The BNC, which leads the BDS movement, has informed his group, which led BDS work in South Africa for many years with significant achievements, that it can no longer carry the BDS name.”

Barghouti explains that this is due to two factors. “First, mishandling and failure to properly investigate serious allegations of sexual harassment. Second, an unexpected and quite unfortunate official position by this organisation’s board, ending accountability to the BNC and by extension, to the BDS movement’s guidelines and ethical principles that are set by the BNC.” Both allude to the sexual harassment charges made last year against BDS-SA Director Muhammed Desai.

The allegations go back to the night of 21 March 2019. The Daily Vox reported that visiting American academic and pro-Palestine activist, Professor Sang Hea Kil, alleged that Desai sexually harassed her and two other women while they were visiting Johannesburg. In May last year, Advocate Smanga Sethene cleared Desai of the sexual harassment allegations.

BDS-SA welcomed the findings. However, it was criticised by members of the Palestine Solidarity Movement for its handling of the matter. A statement issued on 8 April on behalf of several solidarity groups called on “organisations with a commitment to Palestinian solidarity and gender justice to actively distance themselves from the position adopted by BDS-SA”. They condemned the lack of a “victim-centred approach”.

This conflict eventually led to the splintering of BDS-SA, as described by Barghouti, “This sudden breach of years of mutual respect and clear-cut accountability came about after the BNC urged BDS-SA to conduct a fair victim-based investigation of the sexual harassment allegations in line with the movement’s principles, and to take the appropriate accountability and educational measures if the allegations were proven.

“This sad development took place after months of private engagements by the BNC with a group of board members about the allegations, and after weeks of diligent and highly appreciated mediation efforts by Chief Mandla Mandela, with indispensable help from Shereen Usdin from South African Jews for a Free Palestine,” he said.

Rowan Polovin, the national chairperson of the South African Zionist Federation, confirmed that “a group calling itself the South African BDS Coalition has formed with allegiance to the international BDS movement”.

Says Barghouti, “The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) is proud to partner with our South African BDS coalition partners. Your coalition will lead BDS work in South Africa in co-ordination with the BNC and our global partners. We officially recognise this coalition as the only entity in South Africa that is affiliated to the global BDS movement and that can carry the BDS name.”

This has fractured the BDS movement in South Africa, dividing it into two groups that are likely to be in conflict with each other. “The [AFP] is weaker, with scandals [like Desai being accused of sexual harassment] besetting it,” said Professor Hussein Solomon in the department of political studies and governance at the University of the Free State.

Says Barghouti, “We are truly inspired, however, by the great efforts of our partners in South Africa, who for months have been working diligently and impressively to form this BDS coalition led by Chief Mandela, Mercia Andrews, Ronnie Kasrils, and representatives of Palestinian solidarity organisations. It will include representation from all major trade unions, social movements, and civil society entities.”

He has called on the coalition to “rise to the challenge of mobilising grassroots pressure on government to implement priority measures”. These include “holding South Africans who have enlisted in the Israeli occupation army accountable to legal prosecution for involvement in war crimes in accordance with South African law”, and “implementing the decision of the 2006 non-aligned movement Durban conference to ban all products of Israeli companies operating in occupied Palestinian territory, and to ban entry of all Israeli settlers into South Africa”.

So what does the future hold for BDS in South Africa? “The South African Jewish community shouldn’t expect anti-Israel sentiment or activity to disappear any time soon, even with the expected new government in Israel. But in the short term, there may be confusion about who speaks for ‘Palestine’ in South Africa, and thus a relative weakening as AFP establishes itself,” says political analyst Steven Gruzd.

Polovin says that the dynamics between the BDS factions and their international masters are constantly shifting. For example, the Palestinian embassy in South Africa recently backed an AFP initiative to make masks, thereby separating itself from the new internationally-backed BDS South Africa coalition.

The groups are personality-driven, with Kasrils playing a leading role in the new coalition. It’s unclear who Mandela has chosen to work with. Either way, Polovin believes that the “BDS groups will continue their radical and anti-Semitic agenda”, with the added dimension of competing with each other.

Polovin believes that BDS’s moment has passed. “The world has moved on from BDS. In the Arab world, there seems to be an acceptance and an embracing of Israel. In the COVID-19 world, too, there are other priorities. Within the African context, single-issue movements like BDS are searching for relevance. Africa’s attitude towards Israel has changed, with [Israeli Prime Minster] Netanyahu visiting his African counterparts. In South Africa, in spite of ANC resolutions, our diplomatic contacts are still in place with Israel. BDS is searching for relevance in this new emerging world order.”