As progressive Indigenous Khoi and San councils and revivalist entities of Africa, we stand in unwavering solidarity with the people of Gaza, for we intimately understand the pain of colonialism and the relentless struggle for justice. What is transpiring in Gaza and the West Bank is nothing short of a genocide at the hands of the Apartheid Zionist state of Israel, an ongoing tragedy that we, as First Nations people, cannot ignore.
We must raise our voices to demand an immediate ceasefire, an end to the indiscriminate killing of women, children, and civilians. It is a grim fact that nearly half of Gaza's population is innocent children who deserve to live in peace and security.
Israel, founded as a colonial project with deep-rooted ties to the US empire and Western hegemony, has forcibly taken the land of Indigenous Palestinians and subjected them to oppressive conditions, best characterized as a brutal occupation Apartheid dispensation. The world must not turn a blind eye to this injustice.
The role of corporations in this mass slaughter of civilians cannot be ignored.
To date over 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza including 15,000 children, have been killed by the Israeli Military, with over 86,000 injured and 10,000 missing or trapped under the rubble.
This violence is backed by the cloud-computing technology from giant tech companies such as Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Here in South Africa, Amazon is similarly complicit in aiding and abetting colonialism and insensitive intrusion and destruction of an environmentally and culturally sensitive terrain at the 'River Club', where our sacred site is being buried under thousands of square metres of concrete bulk for the AWS headquarters without our consent. This is just one of countless examples of how our struggles are explicitly bound together. Our struggles are one, our solidarity is a living one.
It is with profound sadness and a sense of history's bitter irony that we acknowledge the legacy of corporations in the oppression of indigenous peoples, particularly in Africa and the global South. The Dutch East India Company, one of the largest corporations in history, facilitated the genocide of the Khoi and San in our own lands, a testament to the boundless greed and inhumanity of such entities.
Our way of life, as First Nations people, is built on love and mutual respect. We call on all First Nations worldwide to unite with us in urging an immediate ceasefire, the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, the return of ancient lands to their rightful owners, and the pursuit of peace and unity. Together, we can be a voice for justice and a force for change in the face of oppression.
This call is embodied in the spirit of Pan African and Pan Global solidarity. Kai gangans!
Sign now to demand:
1. An immediate permanent ceasefire
2. Opening of a humanitarian corridor to allow in humanitarian aid
3. A permanent end to the colonial occupation, apartheid and genocide
