BDS Coalition, Saftu to protest outside Agoa Summit amidst Israel-Palestine war

BDS and Saftu are expected to protest in Nasrec where the Agoa summit is taking place. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Newspapers.

BDS and Saftu are expected to protest in Nasrec where the Agoa summit is taking place. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Newspapers.

Published Nov 4, 2023

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The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Coalition, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), activists, and other trade unions are expected to protest on Saturday at the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) Summit in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

This comes as the war escalates in Palestine where thousands of people have been killed in the last three weeks.

The protesters are expected to gather opposite Sasol garage in Ormonde on Saturday at 10am.

BDS coalition has accused the US of funding and supporting Israel in the conflict. The US has pumped military aid to Israel since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October.

“The assaults and genocidal strategy of the Israeli government would be impossible if it did not have the support of its biggest sponsor. Put bluntly if the money that has been spent arming Israel to kill and imprison Palestinians were put to socially useful purposes instead of war, it would expose Agoa as a miserable drop in the ocean for Africa,” said BDS.

It said the Agoa summit presented an opportunity for all those concerned with human and worker rights to call out the US.

“We cannot allow our government to do business as usual with the US as we watch US munitions and apartheid Israeli weapons paid for by the US unleash a barbaric genocide against the Palestinian people,” said BDS.

Saftu has called for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli government, stating that silence will mean consent to the murder of the people of Palestine.

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