History of an anti-imperialist struggle

Following are excerpts from a talk presented in Detroit Jan. 31 at a Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice forum entitled “African-Americans Speak Out for Palestine.” Go to panafricannews.blogspot.com to read Azikiwe’s entire talk.

Beginning with the conclusion of the 19th century, the world Zionist movement has been allied with the system of Western imperialism. This phenomenon did coincide with the consolidation of colonial rule in Africa and institutionalized segregation in the United States. Consequently, the struggle against Jim Crow and apartheid and for genuine national liberation of oppressed peoples in Africa and the United States would inevitably clash with efforts geared toward the building of support for the State of Israel as well as Zionist political aims and objectives.

According to Ismael Zayid in his 1980 study entitled “Zionism: The Myth and the Reality,” “Zionism, as a modern political creed, emanated in Europe, as a recognizable political ideology, at the end of the nineteenth century with three main inherent and fundamental qualities. They are namely settler colonialism, racism and expansion.”

The most well-known connection between the world Zionist movement and European colonialism and apartheid took place in the former colonies of Rhodesia and South Africa. According to Zayid, “From its inception, the Zionist movement saw a natural systematic alliance with European imperialism. The rapid advances of aggressive and chauvinist nationalism in Europe stressed that the superior racial qualities were the basis for the exploitation and ‘civilizational mission,’ under the notion of the ‘white man’s burden.’”

Throughout the negotiations involving the Zionist proposals for white penetration into Africa and Asia, [Theodore] Herzl, in the manner of 19th century imperialist thinkers, spoke of imperialism and colonization as a “noble activity destined to bring civilization to the ‘backward races.’” Viewing the Jewish state with occidental white binoculars, he asserted that this state is designed to “form a part of a wall of defense for Europe in Asia, an outpost of civilization against barbarism.”

African territories were strongly considered as a “homeland” for the Zionist state. This contradicts the proclaimed scriptural basis for the colonization of Palestine. Zayid states that “In their search for a location for the Zionist enclave, to be created, a variety of options were explored including Uganda (east Africa), Tripolitania in Libya (north Africa), Cyprus (Mediterranean), Madagascar (off the southeast African coast), Congo (in central Africa) and Palestine.”

Joseph Chamberlain, the British racist theoretician, told Herzl that “I have seen a land for you on my recent travels, and that is Uganda. It is not on the coast but the climate of the interior is excellent for Europeans.” Though Herzl strongly favored Uganda as the location for the Jewish state, the committee appointed by the World Zionist Congress to explore the area found it unsuitable.

During the period of World War I, Lord Balfour issued his declaration on Nov. 2, 1917, which was utilized as the legal basis for Zionist settlement and the eventual creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Zayid wrote also that “Herzl’s efforts in England included soliciting the backing of major colonialist figures, foremost amongst whom was Cecil Rhodes, the founder of the British colonial outpost in Rhodesia during the late 19th century.”

By 1948, with the creation of the State of Israel and despite the virulent anti-Semitic ideology of the Afrikaner Nationalist Party, which came to power in the Union of South Africa that same year, the party shifted its position strongly in favor of Israel. It also changed its views in support of Jewish community interests in South Africa.

According to Richard P. Stevens in his study on the Afrikaner-Israel link, as it related to the apartheid system, “Not only did it perceive the necessity of white solidarity if a minority racial regime were to be maintained. Also Dr. Edwin S. Munger, a long-time observer of the South African scene, saw the post-war Jewish-Afrikaners rapprochement was also due to the feeling of highly influential Afrikaners that ‘the elimination of Jews from South Africa would shake the country to its foundation since it would lead to the withdrawal by wealthy Jews of sufficient capital to precipitate an economic slump.’”

All during the period of apartheid in South Africa, the State of Israel was a staunch supporter of the racist state. Consequently, and particularly after the 1967 so-called six-day war, the African National Congress, the liberation movement in South Africa, and the Southwest African Peoples’ Organization, in addition to other liberation movements in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, as well as independent Algeria, were staunch supporters of the Palestinian national liberation struggle.

This alliance between the national liberation struggle in Africa and the Palestinian and other struggles for independence and self-determination in the Arab world continues today in the aftermath of apartheid and the independence of the former colonial nations of Africa. One of the strongest Palestinian support movements exists today in South Africa.

During the World Conference against Racism in 2001 in Durban, South Africa, the United States government, under the Bush administration, attempted to sabotage the international gathering because it allowed the Palestinians equal rights of expression and participation. Other issues as well, including reparations for slavery and the right of self-determination for Indigenous peoples, drew the ire of the United States administration.