Protest Modi's visit, extend SA's moral stand beyond Palestine

South Africa's leadership on Palestine has set a global example.

- Ismail Suder and Imraan Buccus

That same moral clarity must now confront Narendra Modi's repression in Kashmir — and the horrors in Sudan and the Congo.

South Africa's solidarity with the people of Palestine has restored moral purpose to our foreign policy and reminded the world that conscience still has a place in diplomacy. It has also renewed our collective sense of the moral centre of the national liberation struggle.

Former Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor, DIRCO Director-General Zane Dangor, and Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, have each become internationally recognised for taking principled and courageous positions. Dr Pandor would have been a deserving recipient of the Nobel Prize.

We led the way with the case at the International Court of Justice and helped form The Hague Group. Most South Africans support this stance, which has affirmed our moral leadership on the global stage. This clarity and courage now need to be extended to other places where people face horrific violence and silence from the international community, including Kashmir, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.

This week's G20 summit will bring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to our shores. His visit should not be welcomed. It should be met with peaceful protest and principled opposition. The same ethical conviction that drives us to support the Palestinian cause must compel us to denounce Modi's government for its repression in Kashmir and the steady rise of Hindu fascism in India.

The occupation of Kashmir mirrors the occupation of Palestine. Both are rooted in settler colonialism and ethno-nationalist ideologies that deny people their right to self-determination. India under Modi has flooded the valley with troops and surveillance, shut the internet, detained thousands without trial, and promoted demographic change by resettling outsiders. Dissent is branded terrorism.