UK bans Mandela, blocks UK tour in support of Palestine

Revenge for calling Lammy a genocide apologist – or just general subservience to Israel’s interests and payback for South Africa’s ICJ case?

Zwelivelile Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has been forced to cancel a tour of the UK to address a series of pro-Palestine events, after he was refused an entry visa – which South African citizens generally don’t need in any case, for visits of ninety days or less. Mandela also has a diplomatic passport and visa, which should allow free passage, but it has not been honoured.

As well as reflecting the Starmer government’s drive to suppress pro-Palestinian speech and reporting on the reality of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the ban might well contain an element of payback. In May, Mandela condemned then-Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy – now Foreign Secretary – as an ‘apologist for genocide’, after Lammy claimed ridiculously that Nelson Mandela would have condemned the global campus protest movement by students against Israel’s slaughter and maiming of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza. Mandela Sr was an unapologetic supporter of Palestinian human rights, freedom and self-determination.

Mandela said at the time:

We call on students all over the world to emulate the student protest encampments on USA University Campuses.

[Friday, 10th May 2024] marks 30 years since the inauguration of President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela on the 10th May 1994. I dedicate the memory of this day to the students protesting on USA University campuses calling for an immediate ceasefire of the genocide of Gaza and supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom.

We recall Madiba’s [Mandela’s] historic words on this day when he said: “We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.”

Contrary to what David Lammy, the Labour MP in the UK would like us to believe, Madiba acknowledged the heroes in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA and campuses all over the world who regularly protested for our freedom.

He himself was of that generation of South African youth who called for the armed struggle in the face of increasing state brutality in dealing with peaceful protest against Apartheid.

The youth on USA campuses are emulating and following in the brave footsteps of the youth of 1968 who came out openly protesting against the war in Vietnam.

On countless occasions acknowledged the role of the student protests of 1976 Soweto Uprising for playing a seminal role in our march to freedom.

From his prison cell he echoed the call to the students of the 1980s to make South Africa ungovernable.

David Lammy mustn’t be an apologist for Apartheid Israel and for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He must echo President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s commitment to the Palestinian struggle which he affirmed during his visit to Gaza in 1995 when he said: ” Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.”

We call on David Lammy to stop being an apologist for genocide and instead encourage all students on UK and European university campuses to emulate their fellow students in the USA in their call for a ceasefire in Gaza and support the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom.

Youth are the conscience of our world and their voices are the moral compass that guide us to a better future. Rather than brutalize them and criminalize their protest actions, we must encourage them to continue to stand for justice, human rights and dignity for all humanity. You are our heroes, we salute you.

Lammy continues to be, alongside Keir Starmer, an appalling genocide apologists. The UK continues to equip and assist Israel’s murderous war on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, where Israel’s far-right establishment has said it will carry out ‘Gaza 2’ and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu this week told the Lebanese, in an English-language broadcast, that if they did not start a civil war in Israel’s favour, Israel would slaughter them.

Neither Lammy nor his boss have ever condemned Israel’s terrorist campaign that killed and maimed thousands of Palestinians using indiscriminately-detonated pagers and radios – or its mass bombing of residential areas in Lebanon, in some cases using radioactive ‘spent uranium’ warheads. Both were quick to condemn Iran’s ‘aggression’ when it retaliated for Israel’s actions, without killing a single Israeli civilian.

The ban may also be payback for South Africa’s steadfastness in pursuing Israel, in the UN’s International Court of Justice, for genocide and war crimes, which it has refused to abandon despite pressure from Israel, the US and its other supporters. Around a dozen other countries have now joined the case against Israel and South Africa is now also preparing a prosecution against the UK and US governments for their complicity in Israel’s war crimes.

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