One of the best ways to show solidarity with those who are disempowered is to listen to and provide a platform for them.
This was according to Shaniaé Maharaj, the chair of the Stellenbosch University (SU) Palestinain Solidarity Forum (PSF). This was the main aim of an SU PSF panel discussion on 25 October. The discussion, which featured Palestinian activist Muna El Kurd as a guest speaker, was held on the Rooiplein, according to Maharaj, who hosted the discussion.
A panel discussion, featuring Palestinian activist Muna El Kurd as a guest speaker, was recently held on the Stellenbosch University Rooiplein. Featured from left to right: Abdallah Grifat, a panelist and representative from Friends of Meezan, Muna El Kurd, a Palestinian activist and Aadila Mahomed, a Stellenbosch University student and panelist. “While the struggle should definitely be led by internal resistance, external support plays such an important role in firstly validating the struggle and secondly, signaling the type of society and type of world we want to live in,” said Shaniaé Maharaj, the chair of the Stellenbosch University Palestinian Solidarity Forum, and host of the discussion. PHOTO: Maryam Adams
“[The PSF] really wanted to play a role as a facilitator so that those who know more than us, who have been through more than us, can show us, guide us and teach us,” Maharaj told MatieMedia.
Those who attended the discussion had an opportunity to engage with subject matter around ongoing issues in Palestine, according to Maharaj. The discussion was attended by roughly 70 to 80 people.
“I am actually living, forcefully, with an Israeli settler in half of my house. In 2009, they [forcibly] removed us from our house,” said El Kurd during the panel discussion. She was speaking on her experience in Palestine.
El Kurd and her brother, Mohammed El Kurd, were listed among the TIME magazine “100 Most Influential People of 2021” earlier this year, according to an article published in TIME.
“Charismatic and bold, they became the most recognisable voices of those threatened with losing their homes in Sheikh Jarrah,” said the article.
Muna El Kurd, a Palestinian activist, responds to a question while participating in a panel discussion on the Stellenbosch University Rooiplein on 25 October. “What do you think the end goal of your activism is, and what do you want to see for Palestine?” Shaniaé Maharaj, the chair of the Stellenbosch University Palestinian Solidarity Forum, asked the panel. VIDEO: Maryam Adams
“A space like Stellenbosch”
“It was empowering to see so many students being moved by a cause,” said Aadila Mahomed, a panelist at the event. “I did not think we would ever be able to host an activist like Muna in a space like Stellenbosch.”
El Kurd told MatieMedia that it was wonderful to see the support and interest from students around South Africa, and that it was overwhelming to see how many students knew about the Palestinian struggle.
It was significant to host El Kurd on SU campus, according to Maharaj. “Stellenbosh holds a unique place in upholding and preserving a lot of the privileges that we think we’ve dismantled or overcome after the democratic dispensation. However, the lived experience, the violence and hostility that people of colour, queer people and women face, speaks testiment to the fact that inequality is still rife, and injustice happens on a daily basis,” said Maharaj.
“SU supports freedom of expression and academic freedom,” said Martin Viljoen, spokesperson of SU
A panel discussion, featuring Palestinian activist Muna El Kurd as a guest speaker, was recently held on the Stellenbosch University (SU) Rooiplein. “Muna and the panel made me rethink the value of students and the role they play in actively taking up space…and that student activism plays a pivotal role in creating diversity and ultimately equity,” said Naseegah Samaai, an SU student, who was present at the panel discussion. PHOTO: Maryam Adams