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5 Mar, 2013

Popular Resistance: Rethinking South Africa by Dr Mazin Qumsiyeh

We were given tours of places like the Apartheid Museum, the Voortrekker monument, the Freedom Park, the Diepsoot Township/settlement, and Mandela’s house. At the Apartheid Museum we were painfully reminded of all the suffering and indignity of the era. The killings, economic injustice, and human rights violations were then rampant as they are today in Palestine (the apartheid state of Israel). But we are also reminded of the struggling human spirit that seeks justice and freedom. The compromises that Mandela made with the white leadership and his attempts to be inclusive and forgiving is prominently displayed. But his earlier statements are also visible as at the entrance “For to be free is not merey to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” This is line with Mandela’s statement that freedom in South Africa will not be complete unless Palestine is also free.

Read the rest: Popular Resistance: Rethinking South Africa.