Signet Terrace Office Park
Block B, Suite 2
19 Guinea-Fowl Street
Lenasia, 1827
South Africa
06 May 2013
Dear Morgan - Friend of Democratic South Africa,
Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Ahmed Kathrada.
I first met you in person when I had the privilege of
guiding you on your visit to Robben Island some years ago. I was sentenced to
life imprisonment together with Madiba and others in the Rivonia Trial,
1963/1964. After 18 years, together with Madiba and 3 others, I was transferred
to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town where I spent the rest of my 26 years
imprisonment.
On Robben Island I reminded you of the film of your prison
escape “Shawshank Redemption” which made a huge impact on many of us.
I also met you in Los Angeles when Samuel Jackson bestowed
on me an award on behalf of Artists for a New South Africa. At the same event,
La Tanya presented an Award on my partner (and former prisoner) Ms. Barbara
Hogan. In my mind, your presence once again confirmed you as a great friend of
the new South Africa.
And this was followed later by Invictus.
What has prompted my letter to you has been the surprise
that you are being given the “Key of Knowledge Award” by the Canadian Friends
of the Hebrew University Jerusalem!
What immediately came to mind were the words of Madiba:
“…But we know too well that our freedom isn’t complete without the freedom of
the Palestinians…”
I would have hoped that before you accept the award, you
would have paid a visit to Palestine. I had heard and read a lot about the
plight of the Palestinian people. The Russell Tribunal of imminent persons from
different parts of the world have condemned Israel as an “Apartheid State.”
Last Friday, I returned from Palestine after spending a week
there. To me, it was confirmation of a people living under worse forms of
colonial rule, under Israel as a Colonial power, ruling under permanent
conditions of Martial Law.
I was born in a South Africa that regarded people who were
not white as lesser human beings. I have seen sign boards outside elevators and
buildings that read “Non Europeans and dogs not allowed,” thus reducing those
of us who were not white to the level of animals.
I have now personally witnessed the plight of the
Palestinian people. They are living under conditions of permanent Martial law.
I came back convinced that Israel is indeed an apartheid state. And in certain
respects it is worse that apartheid.
Under the worst of apartheid times there were no roads
strictly reserved for whites! There were no checkpoints manned by armed
soldiers to ensure that Palestinians don’t break the restrictions. There wasn’t
a 750 kilometer-wall, encroaching on Palestinian land, to separate Israel from
Palestinians. There were no new settlements springing up with impunity on
Palestinian land. I can go on and on about an experience that will forever
remain in my mind.
Finally, I am unable to comprehend how quickly Israel has
forgotten the Holocaust, during which millions of Jews and thousands of
Communists, gypsies, homosexuals, Russians perished. In 1951 I visited
Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and saw what atrocities one set of human beings
could perpetrate on another.
Forgive me for this lengthy email. It’s because my
experience of Palestine is still fresh in my mind.
Warm regards,
A.M.Kathrada
