Nakba Day Rally

The highs and lows

Today was the third Nakba Day Rally I have participated in, at the Castle of Good Hope. The first was seven months into the genocide, it was pre-elections and so it was well attended by political party representatives and members, who jockeyed for relevance and votes (none of whom were seen there today, even in their personal capacities). I made one of my first speeches at that rally, and I remember being terrified and emotional - coming out as an anti-Zionist Jew to an enormous crowd of strangers. Last year’s Nakba Day Rally was a different kettle of fish, with a long list of speakers, including keynote speaker Ronnie Kasrils, and music and poetry in between the speeches.

Today’s format was similar, with workshops and activities from 12 to 2, and then a concert style programme from 2 to 4. A new activist friend of mine and I ran a poetry workshop, attended by a handful of people. It was a beautiful, safe and incredibly productive space, and two workshop attendees agreed to read one of the poems they had written as part of the performance programme.

Photographer and artist Nawawie Matthews is in charge of the visual transformation of the Castle and he always does an exceptional job.

There was amazing live music, an opening address by Zwelenzima Vavi, a deeply moving speech by Palestinian creative and social media expert Sharif Mosa, and an utterly embarrassing and deeply offensive sketch written by Mike van Graan and performed by Bob Baigrie and David Muller. Now, I know how challenging it is to perform anything in an environment that is totally unconducive to listening and narrative and theatre. But this is no excuse for presenting under rehearsed, insulting stereotypes that do nothing but ridicule the people they are meant to represent. Two white men, one performing a paranoid privileged Jewish Zionist and the other an Afrikaner racist with a Leon Schuster accent and hairstyle. A conversation between these two men while waiting in an airport queue. I am not sure if it was because they couldn’t remember their words, or if the script was particularly repetitive and went round in circles, but it was awful. It was achingly cringeworthy. What was even more disappointing than the awfulness of the work was that no other actors were even there. The performing arts sector of Cape Town is entirely disinterested in issues of Palestine, the genocide, the Nakba, or even the relationship Palestine has to local politics. It is a shame.

I cannot believe we are commemorating the third Nakba Day during the genocide. The fantasy, hope, desperate prayer is that next year Palestine will be free, but I am definitely not holding my breath.