The Red Alert, Volume 01, Number 03, Thursday 9 May 2024
We embrace the UNESCO's recognition of Palestinian media practitioners, call on SA media to engage in introspection |
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By Solly Mapaila, SACP General Secretary
We welcome the decision made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and, as peace-loving South Africans, we unequivocally condemn the colonisation, expropriation and occupation atrocities and genocide committed by the apartheid Israeli settler state against the Palestinian people. We unwaveringly stand with the Palestinian people in their just struggle for national self-determination, freedom of historical Palestine, peace, justice and development.
On Thursday, 2 May 2024, the UNESCO awarded all Palestinian media practitioners the prestigious 2024 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, following the recommendation of an esteemed International Jury comprising media professionals. The award is for the Palestinian media practitioners covering the ongoing genocidal offensive faced by the Palestinian people since October 2023. We warmly embrace the recognition bestowed upon Palestinian media practitioners for their unwavering dedication to disseminating the harsh realities unfolding in Gaza and other parts of Palestine, despite facing relentless bombardment by the apartheid Israeli settler regime.
The death toll of the apartheid Israeli settler state genocide on Palestinian people includes over 110 media personnel. They are part of a larger statistic, comprising approximately 35,000 Palestinian causalities. A staggering 75 per cent of the casualties are innocent civilians, including approximately 15,000 children and 10,000 women. Included in the 75 per cent of the casualties are elderly people.
The total number of casualties includes patients and healthcare professionals and specialists killed in hospitals and other healthcare centres in their line of duty.
The decision by the UNESCO stands in stark contrast to the deafening silence or lack of active solidarity from large parts of the media industry and media-based associations in South Africa regarding the harrowing plight endured by Palestinian journalists at the hands of the apartheid Israeli settler state.
It is important to frankly reflect on the media industry and media-based associations in South Africa, with the aim of advancing, deepening and widening media transformation. The decision by the UNESCO should serve as an opportune moment for the media industry and media-based associations in South Africa to engage in introspection, which must include a critical examination of their deafening silence or absence of sustained active solidarity during pivotal moments of censorship and repression faced by media outlets like Al Jazeera and RT.
The lack of active support in the South African media for Al Jazeera when it encountered censorship manoeuvres and ultimately an outright ban imposed by the apartheid Israeli regime demands scrutiny. Similarly, the muted response to the challenges encountered by RT, including bans and signal blockings by the imperialist regimes of the United States and Western Europe, warrants serious reflection within the South African media landscape.
The introspective process should compel stakeholders in the media to assess their role in upholding freedom of the press without being selective, defending journalistic integrity and standing in solidarity with media organisations facing censorship and repression in other countries and global regions.
The South African media practitioners and media-based associations need to scrutinise the tendency in the media to selectively advocate for media freedom. This tendency aligns with the United States-led imperialist collective-west propaganda. It calls for a re-evaluation of principles guiding media ethics and solidarity to ensure impartiality and inclusivity to uphold genuine press freedom. It is imperative for the South African media community to stand firm to genuine freedom of expression and unwavering support for media outlets operating under repressive conditions and dangerous operating environments.
Mauricio Weibel, Chairperson of the International Jury, aptly captured the significance of this award, stating, "In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists who are covering this crisis in such dramatic circumstances. As humanity, we have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression".
The UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay emphasized the importance of acknowledging the bravery of journalists operating under perilous conditions, stating, "Each year, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Prize pays tribute to the courage of journalists facing difficult and dangerous circumstances. Once again, this year, the Prize reminds us of the importance of collective action to ensure that journalists around the world can continue to carry out their essential work to inform and investigate".
Mapaila is SACP General Secretary
In memory of Abram "Bram" Fischer, let's intensify the struggle to end the exploitative capitalist system and its consequent forms of oppression
By Solly Mapaila
Wednesday, 8 May marked the forty-fifth year since Advocate Abram "Bram" Fischer died on 8 May 1975 while serving a life sentence imposed by the apartheid regime, reacting to his outstanding dedication to the struggle for democracy and freedom. The communist revolutionary believed greater substantive democracy, encompassing the economy, social emancipation and lasting freedom, would for the first time be possible after the working class has overcome the exploitative capitalist system through a revolution and in a socialist transition towards a classless, meaning a communist, society.
In honour of Bram Fischer's memory, let us seize this moment as the working class to intensify the struggle against economic exploitation and retrenchments in the mining and other sectors, while linking the workplace and collective bargaining struggle with the wider class struggle to realise the aspirations of social emancipation and lasting freedom to which he devoted his life.
Let us recall. The apartheid regime impounded his ashes. The oppressors believed that this cruel act would thwart efforts to intensify the struggle against the apartheid regime by preventing the creation of a memorial rallying point to honour and commemorate the efforts of liberation stalwarts like him.
Bram Fischer's journey to a prominent communist revolutionary and lawyer is an affirmation to his courage and commitment to justice. Fischer's life took a significant turn during his time at Oxford from 1931 to 1934 where he embraced communism and began his legal career upon returning to South Africa.
Despite facing challenges and persecution for his political beliefs, Fischer remained steadfast in his dedication to the struggle against apartheid. His marriage to Molly Krige, also a committed communist, marked the beginning of their joint involvement in political activism.
Throughout his legal career, Fischer defended numerous activists of our liberation struggle, including Nelson Mandela, in landmark cases that challenged the apartheid regime's oppressive laws. Despite facing personal tragedy with Molly's death and his own battle with cancer, which eventually took his life, Fischer remained resolute in his fight for justice.
His decision to go underground after the Communist Party faced a ban in 1950 under the Suppression of Communism Act and his subsequent trial and conviction for sabotage against the apartheid regime demonstrated his unwavering commitment to challenge oppression and its laws and to fight for the rights and freedom of the oppressed majority.
Fischer's legacy lives on as a symbol of courage, integrity, and sacrifice not only in the struggle against apartheid but the entire system of capitalist exploitation and its other consequent forms of oppression. His posthumous recognition with the Lenin Peace Prize in 1967 and the efforts to secure his release from prison in the face of terminal illness underscore the profound impact of his life's work on South Africa's history and the global fight against injustice.
- Mapaila is SACP General Secretary
Burning of our national flag in whatever form unjustifiable
SACP statement
The recent flag-burning advertisement orchestrated by the DA serves as a stark reminder of its alarming disregard for the founding democratic principles and national integrity of modern South Africa. The desecration of the South African flag, a symbol of our hard-won democratic breakthrough against the racist apartheid regime, is unjustifiable and cannot be dismissed as a mere symbolic gesture. Rather, it is an integral component of the DA's protracted agenda to undermine our democratic national sovereignty and the collective aspirations of our people.
The DA's latest egregious act adds to a long list of its treacherous deeds. From deplorably labelling indigenous citizens as "refugees" within their own land, to praising the racist, oppressive colonial system as developmental, to advocating for the secession of the Western Cape Province through nefarious initiatives like the "Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill", the DA has consistently demonstrated its disdain for national unity and the imperative to advance towards shared prosperity for our nation.
Also, by aligning itself with imperialist forces, serving as the domestic transmission belt of latter-day interests and practices of neo-colonialism, the DA has unmistakably revealed its true allegiance. The DA's recent solicitation of imperialist interference in our domestic democratic processes, focusing on but not only the forthcoming national and provincial elections, stands as a brazen affront to our hard-won democratic sovereignty of our nation.
It is imperative that we stand resolute against such blatant attempts to erode our hard-won advances and collectively strive towards a future characterised by social emancipation and the realisation of socialist ideals.
As peace-loving democratic South Africans, we unequivocally condemn the DA's reprehensible actions. We urge all sections of our society, particularly the working class, to strengthen unity in pursuit of expanding and deepening democratisation. This must encompass democratic transformation aimed at dismantling the entrenched economic control wielded by the small minority of the capitalist class, the majority of whom remain white, perpetuating the enduring legacy of the colonial-apartheid era over our society's wealth and resources.
As things stand, voting for the ANC on 29 May 2024 is imperative to defend our democracy against apartheid beneficiaries who have no regard for democratic-South Africa's national flag. Similarly, a decisive majority victory for the ANC is imperative to defend our democratic-South Africa's flag against the other beneficiaries of the apartheid regime who recently marched in Groblersdal waving the flags of the apartheid regime. The DA and the FF-plus are in the same WhatsApp group, the so-called multi-party charter.
Issued by the South African Communist Party,
Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.
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