Results for: Desmond Tutu

In the News

At a small ceremony on 7 June in Marrickville, a Sydney suburb, local mayor Fiona Byrne was presented with a letter of support from the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“I want to pay my respects to you and your fellow councillors in Marrickville for taking a stand to isolate the Israeli state,” Tutu wrote. “We in South Africa, who both suffered apartheid and defeated it, have the moral right and responsibility to name and shame institutionalized separation, exclusion and domination by one ethnic group over others.

Analysis

On April 19, the same day that Marrickville Council met to reconsider its vote in support of the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian human rights and against Israel, the Socialist Party of Australia issued a statement opposing the BDS campaign.

The statement, posted on the web site of Stephen Jolly, one of two Socialist Party councillors elected to the Yarra City Council in Melbourne, said “The “Socialist Party has been asked by a number of groups and individuals if our Councillors ... would consider supporting the campaign”.