Tadamon! letter to Nadine Gordimer
- An open letter to Nadine Gordimer from Tadamon!
- Dear Nadine Gordimer.
It is with great shock and dismay that we have learned of your intention to participate in the Israeli Writers’ Festival this May, in conjunction with the “Israel at 60” festivities (largely supported by the Israeli Foreign Ministry). The function of cultural events such as this one in the international public relations campaigns of apartheid regimes is strongly reminiscent of the same maneuverings by the South African apartheid government. Have you forgotten the morally unconscionable historical ties between apartheid Israel and apartheid South Africa during the years of sanctions, when millions of dollars of weapons were supplied by Israel to the apartheid regime?
The friendships that you have shared with the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said, or John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Rights in the Occupied Territories, have offered you ample insight into the depths of the violence inflicted daily on Palestinians by the Israeli state. The 2001 World Conference Against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa, labeled Israel as a “racist, apartheid state” and denounced its policies as “crimes against humanity.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu has even asserted that the situation in Palestine is worse than apartheid South Africa.
