Palestinians may take lessons from anti-Apartheid struggle

Canadian thinker, Eric Walberg says the lack of concern of the international community for the Gaza ruins reflects “the power that Israel wields through its worldwide Zionist lobby.”

“Western media and governments are helpless to fight the Zionist scourge without the mobilization of mass opinion,” he told the Qods News Agency (Qodsna) in an email interview.

Walberg believed that a comparison of the current Palestinian struggle with the South African experience is instructive as the Anti-Apartheid Movement led to South Africa's expulsion from the Commonwealth in 1961.

Walberg then touched on the 1962 UNGA resolution calling on all member states to impose a trade boycott against South Africa.

“Most nations did not abide by the UN call for sanctions, but nonetheless the UN Special Committee against Apartheid was formed.”

Walberg said though failures appeared in the path, “resistance does not rely on formal government acceptance or betrayal by 'left' political forces.”

“A grassroots academic boycott movement began the same year, and along with the international grassroots economic boycott campaign, continued to chip away at apartheid.”

Walberg touched on the following developments, adding the current struggle in Palestine parallels the South African struggle with an exception.

“The Zionist movement has maintained its strength and learned from its experience, masterfully manipulating the events to suit its agenda,” he noted.