Liberation movements, universal citizenship and the resolution of ethno-national conflict: anc non-racialism and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Abstract

How does a national liberation movement address the security fears of the Other to promote a democratic transition? We consider South Africa and Israel–Palestine apt cases for comparison as the intractability of each conflict derives in large part from a colonial settlement process that led to the creation of ethno-nationalist states. Similarly the manner in which the liberation movements have defined themselves and the Other accounts in part for the successful transition in South Africa and the lack thereof in Israel–Palestine. In the Palestinian case collective intra-movement struggles framing the post-liberation state in exclusive terms have reinforced a predilection by Israelis to fight, leading to an ongoing stalemate and violence; in the South African case framing the post-liberation state in inclusive terms initiated a cycle of movement–Other concessions and democratisation. Our study suggests that universalistic democratic principles codified in public charter will function as a ‘master frame’ applicable to divided society struggles.

Keywords:

• social movements
• framing
• Israel–South Africa
• violence–non-violence
• ethno-nationalism
• Palestinian state

Acknowledgement and disclaimer

Research was conducted at California State University Fullerton and Chapman University. The authors of this paper have no financial interest or benefit arising from this research.

Notes

1. Burg, “Struggling Towards Peace.” Burg is a former speaker of the Israeli Knesset and author of The Holocaust is Over.

2. Snow et al., “Frame Alignment Process”; and Snow, “Framing and Social Movements,” 1780–1784.

3. For more about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, see Pappé, “The 1948 Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.” Ethnic cleansing forcibly removed roughly 750,000 Palestinians. In conjunction with immigration of over 700,000 Jews between 1948 and 1951, the Jewish population in Israel almost doubled and a large Jewish majority was created.

4. UN Population Fund statistics, cited by Reuters, February 9, 2008. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL09671764.

5. B’Tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) website. Accessed November 6, 2008. http://www.btselem.org/English/Settlements/Settlement_population.xls.

6. Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel, quoted in Haaretz.com, September 24, 2008. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024100.html.

7. This emergence of national consciousness is covered in great nuance by Khalidi, Palestinian Identity.

8. Cf. Antonius, The Arab Awakening.

9. Khalidi, Palestinian Identity, 177–178.

10. Ibid., 5–6.

11. Ringer and Lawless, Race–Ethnicity and Society, 1–27.

12. Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinian People, 248–249.

13. Website for Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the UN. Accessed November 3, 2008. http://www.un.int/palestine/PLO/PNA2.html.

14. Chomsky, Fateful Triangle, 69.

15. Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinian People, 254–256; and Smith, Palestine and the Arab–Israeli Conflict, 214–217.

16. Farsoun and Aruri, Palestine and the Palestinians, 304.

17. Le Monde diplomatique. Accessed November 4, 2008. http://mondediplo.com/focus/mideast/a2288.

18. “Political Programme of 9 June 1974, 12th Palestine National Council.” Accessed November 12, 2008. http://domino.un.org/unispal.NSF/f45643a78fcba719852560f6005987ad/ba7a9909f792340f8525704d006bdaf1!OpenDocument.

19. On ‘peaceful means’, see David Hirst, quoted in Chomsky, Fateful Triangle, 68. Emphasis in the original.

20. Rubenberg, The Palestinians, 24.

21. Shlaim, The Iron Wall, 466.

22. Rubenberg, The Palestinians, 76–77.

23. Cf. Tilley, The One State Solution.

24. Snow and Benford, “Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization.”

25. MacDonald, Why Race Matters in South Africa, 92–123.

26. Saunders, Illustrated History of South Africa, 288–290.

27. Ibid., 99; echoed by Thandiwe Luthuli Gcabashe, interviewed by Donald Will, August 21, 2005, Llandudno.

28. Saunders, Illustrated History of South Africa, 102–103.

29. Ibid., 103.

30. Ibid., 113–115.

31. Ndebele and Nieftagodien, “The Morogoro Conference,” 573–599.

32. Ellis, “The anc in Exile,” 446.

33. Seekings, The udf.

34. Ibid., 50.

35. Ibid., 59.

36. Emery, “Revolution without the Revolution.”

37. Lodge and Nasson, All Here and Now, 34.

38. Younis, Liberation and Democratisation.

39. Van Wyk, The Birth of a New Afrikaner, 113.

40. Holomisa and Meyer, A Better Future, 31–32.

41. Cape Times, July 31, 1987.

42. Star, May 28, 1990.

43. Weekly Mail, December 8, 1988.

44. Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 525–527.

45. Ibid., 526.

46. Legassick, “Armed Struggle in South Africa,” 287–302.

47. Seidman, “Guerillas in their Midst,” 111–127. Cf. Suttner, The anc Underground in South Africa.

48. Umkhonto we Sizwe, “Flyer issued by Command of Umkonto we Sizwe,” 716 –717.

49. Barrell, “The Turn to the Masses,” 220–221.

50. Gerhart and Glaser, Challenge and Victory.

51. anc, “Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa,” 302–305.

52. Friedman, The Long Journey; Sisk, Democratisation in South Africa; and Strand, Decisions on Democracy.

53. Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 527.

54. De Klerk, The Last Trek, 191.

55. anc, “Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa,” 302–305.

56. Quoted in Suttner and Cronin, 30 Years of the Freedom Charter, 263.

57. Quoted in Albeldas and Fischer, A Question of Survival: Conversation with Key South Africans, 339.

58. For a useful commentary on the property clause debates, see Chaskalson, “The Property Clause,” 131–139; and Chaskalson, “Stumbling towards Section 28,” 222–240.

59. anc, “A Bill of Rights for a New South Africa,” preliminary revised text, May 1992. http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=231.

60. Chaskalson, “Stumbling towards Section 28,” 226.

61. South African Government, Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Chapter 2, Bill of Rights. Accessed November 27, 2008. http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/1996/96cons2.htm.

62. Reynolds, “The Results,” 182–220.

63. Janet Cherry, personal communication with Alan Emery, Port Elizabeth, 1 July 2010.

64. Said, The Question of Palestine.

65. Saunders, Illustrated History of South Africa, 388–389.

66. Ahmad, The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad, 30.

67. Adam and Moodley, Seeking Mandela, 81–97.

68. Cf. Burg, The Holocaust is Over.

69. Gorenberg, The Unmaking of Israel, 236–237.

70. Cf. Azoulay and Ophir. The One-state Condition, 249–271.

71. Adam and Moodley, Seeking Mandela, 178. For a recent impassioned call for South Africa to reinvigorate its recent inclusive nation-building path, see Habib, South Africa’s Suspended Revolution. For a critical evaluation of the consequences of inclusive nationalism, see Barolsky, “The ‘State’ of Social Cohesion.”