‘Gaza Remains The Story’: the exhibition highlighting historic ties between Palestinian and South African resistance

In 1948, two nations in the world both became ruled by ethno-supremacist, segregationist governments, respectively, the non-white populations of South Africa and the Palestinian people. Within the decades that ensued, both of these groups underwent periods of extensive oppression, enforced geographical displacement, and state-mandated erasures of their respective cultures. So similar in fact were the governmental policies of the white supremacist South African regime and the Israeli regime, that the two governments would go on to collaborate on fulfilling their settler-colonialist visions- with South Africa becoming Israel’s largest trading partner in Africa by the time of the 1967 Naksa, and intimate diplomatic relations being established between Tel Aviv and Pretoria. In a new exhibition ‘Gaza Remains The Story’ this history is now being showcased in a collaborative show held at Cape Town, South Africa’s District Six Museum in partnership with the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit.

“South Africa’s connection to Palestine is rooted in the shared experiences of colonialism, apartheid segregation, and the struggle for social justice,” shares Mandy Sanger, the Head of Education at the District Six Museum. “Both our countries experienced enforced segregation from 1948 when a white Christian nationalist government (inspired by Nazism) came to power in South Africa and British-mandated Israeli occupation led to the first contemporary Nakba in Palestine.”

The Apartheid South African regime and the Israeli regime equally collaborated militarily and on issues of land dispossession and appropriation, which had respectively both been outlawed by international law on numerous occasions. It is apt, that this exhibition- showcasing archival materials as well as modern art from Palestine- is held in Cape Town’s District Six, itself a formerly racially and religiously diverse vibrant residential area which had been forcefully bulldozed and segregated to fulfil the Apartheid policy of “separate development”- a theme which the Palestinians know far too well, with the common occurrences of forced evictions, displacements and destructions of property committed by the Israeli regime from the 1948 Nakba until the present day. “European settlers in both Palestine and South Africa were given primary rights to the land by the British colonial powers at the time and displaced millions of Indigenous people with violence. South Africans with a historical consciousness recognise the patterns of settler colonial oppression, and the stories of ordinary Palestinians resonate with us,” shares Sanger.

The exhibition itself is a retrospective delve into ordinary Palestinian life, culture and society over the decades, featuring installations of archival photographs on loan from the Palestinian Museum at Birzeit, text, audiovisual material and artworks. There are black-and-white photographs of the Gaza College football team, and of little boys playing in the streets of Gaza to meetings of the Palestinian Ministry of Finance featuring coiffed and manicured women and moustachioed apparatchiks awaiting the arrival of Yasser Arafat. It is not simply a visual experience, but a personal reflection on and reminder of the lived realities, societies, cultural ecosystems and actual biological lives that have been lost in this near 80 years of the Zionist entity’s destruction of Palestinian life, identity, culture, and ability for political statehood.

“Palestinian cultural heritage—both tangible and intangible—must be documented, protected, and shared to foster sumood (steadfastness) under occupation. By showcasing Palestinian identity, traditions, and creative expression, we help connect fragmented communities and promote global recognition of their history, present struggles, and future aspirations,” share members of the Cultural Solidarity Collective (CSC), a participating organisation in the exhibition.

When the much-adored African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela was released from decades in prison for his anti-Apartheid political activity, and latterly became the first president of a democratic South Africa, he famously declared, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” This historical camaraderie and unity between the South African and Palestinian peoples is fully on display at this exhibition. “In a world that often feels dystopian and overwhelming, this kind of cultural resistance offers a meaningful way to engage in solidarity,” share members of the CSC.

The exhibition runs until March 15^th 2025.