OPINION: As South Africans no matter where we go we will continue to advocate for the equal treatment of all people and fight every day.
By Mohamed Kajee
On the morning of 28 January 2023, I woke up to the news of 10 Palestinians being brutally murdered by the Israeli armed forces during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp. This only a day after hearing about the killing of Fulla Rasmi Abdelazeez Masalmeh, a 15-year-old boy murdered by the Israeli army.
The internet is sporadic here in the Antarctic, but one cannot escape the heart-breaking reminder that the people of Palestine are still forced to deal with daily acts of violence committed by the Israeli government.
As I packed my bag in preparation for my helicopter flight from our ship to the base camp, I came across a Palestinian flag – gifted to me by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Cape Town. I decided to pack it into my backpack today, replacing my emergency thermal fleece with the thin satin material of red, white, green, and black.
I paused for a moment to consider what this decision may mean if the weather took a turn for the worse. But today, honouring the struggles of Palestinians didn’t just feel like the right thing to do, it felt necessary!
Having spent a few days settling into our new icy home, one of the last true wild places on Earth, where temperatures can reach as low as -60 degrees Celsius, I spend some time pondering how my circumstances differ from the people of Palestine. I come from South Africa, an ex-apartheid state, where my freedoms –and the freedoms of every South African – are protected by our constitution and a promise by Nelson Mandela that “never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”.
On this barren continent I think about how my freedoms are protected. Protected by an international treaty, built upon mutual trust, international cooperation, and peace.
And I compare my circumstances with those experienced by the people of Palestine.
My heart breaks at the rudeness of this juxtaposition. Why do the lives and freedom of the Palestinians not matter? I take a tiny moment in between shovelling snow, running experiments, and trying to stay alive to honour and remember the plight of our Palestinian comrades. Native people of colour who, similar to our ancestors, are having to fight against the oppression of an apartheid state.
As I sit here writing this article from the warmth of our base camp, overlooking Antarctic cliffs and an iceshelf that extends all the way to the Southern Ocean (a sight so beautiful that I feel ill-equipped to describe), I think again of the famous words of Nelson Mandela: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
As South Africans, no matter where we go, we will continue to advocate for the equal treatment of all peoples and fight every day to make sure that apartheid will never exist anywhere on our planet.
In honour of the 39 adults and 11 children murdered by the Israeli armed forces this year in the West Bank thus far in 2023, your deaths have made waves that we feel all the way at the South Pole. We mourn the unnecessary loss of innocent lives. We pray for your souls and for the liberation of your people. From the Antarctic continent: Free, Free Palestine.
* Mohammed Kajee is a PhD student at UCT. His research focusses on the impacts of climate change in freshwater systems across South Africa.