Martin Luther King’s Lost Speech & The BDS Movement

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Earlier this month Democracy Now! aired the audio of a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., found by the the director of the Pacifica Radio archives, Brian DeShazor, about apartheid in South Africa and the struggle for black civil rights in the United States. Dr. King gave the speech in December 1964 at London’s City Temple.

This article won’t look at the parts of the speech that focus on civil rights, segregation (legal and de jure), or the “abyss of exploitation,” as King called it, that blacks faced (and continue to face) in America. Rather, it will compare what King said about South Africa and how that compares to the fight for justice in occupied Palestine.

During his 1964 speech, he compared the “struggle for freedom and justice in the United States” by black Americans to those engaged in a “far more deadly struggle for freedom in South Africa.”

In part, he said:

The Rise And Fall Of Egypt’s Democracy

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Nearly four years ago in January of 2011 the Egyptian Revolution began. Citizens began an uprising to over throw Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

It was part of the greater Arab Spring that engulfed the region at that time. The revolution saw many give their life for freedom with many more injured. In the end, it was a success as it led to the ousting of Mubarak. Parliamentary and presidential elections were held and in June of 2012, Egypt’s first-ever democratically elected president was announced: Mohamed Morsi.

Morsi’s background was from the Muslim Brotherhood, a group which also won parliamentary seats in the new Egyptian Parliament. During Morsi’s brief tenure, Egypt experienced freedoms it had never seen, from freedom of press and the ability to criticize the government, to allowing any peaceful protests to occur against the government or president.

Israel’s Worst Fear Is A Political Settlement

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The recent murder of four Jewish worshipers in a Jerusalem synagogue has drawn intense media coverage, with the situation being described as “tense” and the country as “shaken.” U.S. officials decry the violence and call for both sides to “seek a path forwards toward peace.”

Yet the Israeli government’s reaction and history demonstrate that Israel is not concerned with creating peace, but rather maintaining the status quo. If the government cared about stopping violence and protecting its population, it would immediately end the occupation and accept a political settlement that guarantees everyone in Greater Israel their right to self-determination. Instead they are exploiting the violence to tighten their control of the West Bank and Gaza and crush Palestinian aspirations for an end to the 66-year dispossession and conquest.

The grisly murder of four worshipers at a Jerusalem synagogue was carried out last month by two Palestinian cousins, who did not belong to any political or resistance factions. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to cast blame on all Palestinian political parties who would be a partner in a peaceful settlement to the conflict.

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