Israeli Apartheid Week at Rhodes University 2013

Report by:Minette van der Walt & Debbie Potgieter

Israeli Apartheid Week is a worldwide campaign that links Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of non-whites in Apartheid South Africa. Rhodes University Palestinian Solidarity Forum (RUPSF) joined hands with 250 others across the globe and voiced their protest at the parallels . An concert by Israeli pianist Yossi Reshef protest became a focus of the week.

We speak to part-time Fine Arts lecturer Rachel Baasch (MFA Rhodes) who presented a lecture as part of IAW at Rhodes. Baasch feels that more could be done to educate students about the situation in Israel. Not just during IAW, but in general. The boycott is now an ANC policy, yet many students on Rhodes Campus as well as people in broader South Africa, seem uninformed.