Organised academia urged to come out stronger on Gaza crisis

Organised academia in South Africa is coming under fire from members of the country’s broader higher education community for not taking a firm enough stand on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

The continuing “silence” of Universities South Africa (USAf), the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) – as well as most of country’s 26 public universities and their vice-chancellors – about the unfolding “Palestinian genocide and scholasticide” is “shameful”, the drafters of an open letter late last year say in their feedback to signatories this week.

South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 29 December 2023.

On 26 January, the ICJ, in an interim finding, ruled that “at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention”.

On 24 January – International Education Day, which, this year, had a theme of ‘learning for lasting peace’ – the UN said in a statement that learning had been “devastated” under the “catastrophic conditions” of war in the Gaza strip.

‘Solidarity with Palestine’

In November 2023, more than 1,000 individuals connected to higher education in South Africa – including researchers, lecturers, administrators and students at public universities and other structures – signed an open letter “on solidarity with Palestine”.

They “condemn[ed] Israel’s onslaught on the people of Gaza … and the targeting of schools, universities, hospitals and emergency support infrastructure”, calling on USAf, ASSAf and their members to do the same.

Israel launched a war in the 41km-long Gaza Strip after Hamas fighters entered its territory on 7 October and killed hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers, leaving approximately 1,200 dead. They also took roughly 240 hostages.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Wednesday that nearly 30,000 people, most of them women and children, have been killed and almost 70,000 wounded so far in the Israeli military response, involving air strikes and a ground invasion. The war has also created a humanitarian crisis, with most of the territory’s two million people forced to flee their homes.

Both USAf and ASSAf have since responded to the open letter, but their replies have been “disappointing, to say the least”, Nasima Badsha told University World News.

She is one of six individuals who coordinated the open letter, the others being Saleem Badat, Ahmed Bawa, Leigh-Ann Naidoo, Salim Vally and Judy Favish.

Badat is a research professor in the department of history at the University of the Free State (UFS), Professor Ahmed Bawa is the previous CEO of Universities South Africa (USAf), Professor Salim Vally is the director of the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Nasima Badsha is the former CEO of the Cape Higher Education Consortium and deputy director-general of higher education, Leigh-Ann Naidoo is a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Judith Favish is affiliated to the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit at UCT.

Feedback from USAf and ASSAf

They distributed a report with feedback about the response of USAf and ASSAf to the open letter this week. It was e-mailed to all signatories, and also to the two organisations.

The six expressed regret that “neither USAf nor ASSAf have yet joined the universal call for an end to genocide in Gaza, let alone a ceasefire, the opening of channels for humanitarian aid and solidarity with Palestinian universities, scholars and students”.

“We find the positions of both organisations, which are meant to lead universities and science, and, specifically, their silence at this time bewildering,” the feedback reads.

University World News asked both ASSAf and USAf for their responses to the November open letter and the points raised by the drafters this week.

Professor Stephanie Burton, the acting president of ASSAf and the chairperson of its council, said: “We have considered the letter, and are taking it seriously. Following our recent council meeting, we have now started a substantive process for the Academy, which includes establishing a working group to guide us in developing our position. This also requires broad consultation with our membership. We have a timeline for all of this, and we request patience in allowing our process to be followed.”

Mateboho Green, USAf’s corporate communications manager, said the organisation “did not issue a statement at all on the Israel-Gaza matter”. It also needed time to respond.

In their feedback to signatories, the drafters of the open letter say USAf replied to their call by observing that “individual universities were expressing their views independently as they deem appropriate and were not keen on being bound by a collective statement that might misrepresent them or their institutions.”

A few of the 26 public universities in South Africa have taken some kind of position about Gaza.

Universities’ responses

University World News previously reported that the University of the Free State last year issued a statement about Gaza, and that Stellenbosch University communicated internally to staff and students.

Since the open letter, Nelson Mandela University (NMU), as well as UCT, UJ and the University of Fort Hare (UFH) have joined this club.

NMU called for “a permanent ‘pause’ in the conflict and for a commitment to upscaling humanitarian aid interventions”, as well as a “just peace in the Middle East, rooted in the promotion and protection of human rights for all”. Its statement was issued by Ambassador Nozipho January-Bardill, the chairperson of its council.

UJ called for “an immediate ceasefire and cessation of armed conflict” and a “humanitarian corridor” to “enable access to water, food, energy and medical supplies”. The university also affirmed “its commitment to academic freedom, critical inquiry and intellectual dissent”.

At UCT, its senate – in a one-liner – called “for an immediate ceasefire and passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the release of hostages and unlawfully held prisoners”.

The statement by UCT’s council was more extensive. In a careful balancing act, it condemned both the “attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians” and the “Israeli attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure in acts of collective punishment in Gaza”.

The body went on to call for an “immediate ceasefire, enforced by the United Nations”; “the immediate release of all civilian hostages, the immediate release of Palestinians held without trial”; “immediate humanitarian access to all parts of Gaza”; “an international investigation on war crimes by all parties engaged in this conflict and consequent actions against the perpetrators”; “an international conference on seeking a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that seeks to enforce justice and security for Palestinians and Israelis”; and “condemnation of all forms of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism”.

In their feedback to signatories this week, the drafters of the open letter thanked the universities that have issued “principled statements”. They singled out a statement by the UFH council for providing “the kind of moral and political leadership that one hoped USAf and ASSAf would provide”.

Advancing citizenship

“Universities claim to play a key role in advancing critical citizenship. Regrettably, USAf’s silence means that it has failed its responsibility to promote the critical citizenship that is the basis for a vibrant and democratic society,” the drafters added.

The open letter’s drafters say that, after receiving USAf’s response, they asked for an online meeting, but their request was turned down because the organisation’s executive committee deemed “the matter as concluded”.

It seems the Gaza issue will continue to be in the spotlight at South African universities in the foreseeable future. The drafters of the open letter say that, in the weeks to come, there will be “intensified mobilisation on campuses and greater national coordination”.

They end their feedback by calling on students and scholars and human rights and social justice organisations at every public university in South Africa to use the governance structures of their institution to engage with the matter, and to campaign for solidarity and collaboration with Palestinian universities, scholars and students.