How South Africa's genocide case matters beyond Gaza

A stronger Global South emerges as alliances keep evolving 🌐

Feb 15, 2024

WorldWise readers—

The analytical side of me is fascinated by the changes unfolding around the world in the past few years. It’s not only the pandemic and conflict acting as catalysts—we’re also seeing polarising social movements intensify; climate change and environmental damage showing its teeth; technological advances stretching our capacity to adapt.

Then there’s the humanitarian side, troubled over those who already pay the price and worried about where all this entropy in the system will lead.

It feels important to do what we can, in our own little patch, to stay alert and hold up basic human values.

Anita

VIEW EDITION | insight and news for a rounded take on global affairs

INSIGHT | views & analysis

It’s a bold move.

Back in January we highlighted South Africa’s move to file a landmark case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations’ top court, accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza—in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust—and seeking a court order to force a stop to the attacks.

The case was just beginning to get media exposure at the time. And the spotlight has only got stronger.

A quick recap of developments:

South Africa is the first nation to compile a case against Israel in this war—84-pages detailing the killing of more than 25,000 Palestinians and the humanitarian crisis unfolding with a speed, severity and scale that some aid groups have called unprecedented in modern times.

Although a decision on the genocide charge could take years, the first phase of the Court’s hearing of the case included a ruling on interim “provisional measures” requested by South Africa, which essentially amount to asking for a ceasefire.

A preliminary ruling was issued on January 26th. The court said it would hear the case—and ordered Israel to do more to prevent the killing and harm of Palestinians in Gaza in the meantime. In stark terms, as Charli Carpenter puts it in World Politics Review, it meant “Israel could continue the war, but should report back in a month to demonstrate that it was not in fact committing genocide”.

Although the ICJ’s rulings are legally binding, in practice they need UN Security Council resolutions to greenlight sanctions or other mechanisms to implement them—which is one indication of how support from the West matters in the case.

South Africa’s move, and how it plays out, has obvious relevance for peace in the Middle East. The bombing and humanitarian crisis continue as I write.

But the significance of this case also goes beyond Gaza and beyond regional politics.

From the beginning, analysts saw the move as part of a wider challenge to the US-dominated international order.

The arguments around this geopolitical angle have since expanded to reveal finer points on what is, in fact, being challenged through this case. I’ve parsed them out here in four points, followed by a note on why this matters even if you’re not concerned with the political detail.

#1—Challenging a longstanding international hierarchy now turning into a global divide

Although South Africa’s chellenge has its roots in apartheid history, analysts argue that the current leadership’s goals in bringing the case to the high court also have to do with political positioning.

Back in the summer, as a host of the BRICS summit—which we covered back then—the South African government tried to evade an obligation to arrest Vladimir Putin under International Criminal Court rules. Although Putin ended up not attending in person, the resistance signalled an alliance to Russia that some analysts say damaged the country’s reputation. Since then it’s seen to be treading a fine line, openly contradicting both Western and Eastern powers in a bid to claim a global leadership role.

The positive response across the Global South suggests South Africa is succeeding on that front. From Brazil and Colombia to Bangladesh, Pakistan and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Countries, the nations supporting its ICJ case collectively represent some 60% of the world’s population. Some nations, including Chile and Mexico, have also referred Israel for alleged crimes against Palestinians for investigation by the International Criminal Court.

#2—Challenging double standards, despite its own

Many of these countries see hypocrisy and a huge gap between Western outrage over the Russian war on Ukraine on one hand, and complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza on the other. As long as the US government does nothing substantive to help enforce the ICJ’s ruling, the perception gets reinforced that Western talk of human rights around the world is just that: talk.

In that light, the Global South can get away with overlooking South Africa’s own double standards—displayed in its continued friendship with Russia as well as official ties with other oppressive powers, including the regimes in Iran and Sudan.

As Sasha Polakow-Suransky writes in Foreign Policy:

“Perhaps that’s because, listening to the formal legal proceedings, punctuated by a robed American judge reading out the court’s interim decision in The Hague’s imposing Peace Palace, many Palestinians and their supporters felt genuinely heard for the first time.”

#3—Challenging the Western seat of moral superiority

Post-apartheid South Africa built an international image as a moral leader in the 1990s. This subsequently faded as the government turned a blind eye to human rights violations and forged ties with authoritarian regimes. The move to challenge Israel in a globally respected forum, at a time when more powerful nations kept silent, has gone a long way to restore that image.

The moral authority gained is the moral authority lost by the West when international rules and norms are applied selectively, and according to geopolitical interest. That this is the case has been a perception in the Global South for a while—the stance on the Gaza war is now seen as evidence of it.

#4—Challenging a collective memory of the holocaust vs. colonisation

For a long time, South Africa has viewed Palestinians as a people who suffer from a regime similar to that which oppressed Black South Africans in the 20th century. According to the Washington Post, in 1990 Nelson Mandela drew a direct link between the liberation struggles of the two peoples when he said “Like us, the Palestinians are fighting for the right to self-determination”.

Analysts looking into that connection a little deeper prompt us to see how South Africa’s case is connected to Israel’s past support for apartheid, vividly recounted by Sasha Polakow-Suransky’s excellent piece in Foreign Policy. They also argue that it challenges our collective memory of historical crimes, recalling how Namibia is now widely accepted as the subject of the 20th century’s first genocide in the hands of Germany’s colonial authorities (a fact which led to an angry reaction to Germany’s defence of Israel at the ICJ).

Looking to views that honour the significance of both histories, I liked sociologist Mohammed Elnaiem’s distinction between principle and episode in this thought-provoking piece for Africa is a Country.

Why does all this matter, politics aside?

Analysts point out that an open display of double standards means future appeals on moral grounds from the West to protect minority groups like the Rohingya or Uyghurs are unlikely to be heeded by other nations—and this compromises humanitarian support.

And in terms of multilateralism, the shifting dynamics could make it more difficult to move forward on agreements to tackle other global crises, such as climate change and future pandemic risk. Or at least, it makes it more difficult to do so without also renegotiating where decision-making power sits—we see this playing out already in discussions over the details of running the ‘loss and damage’ fund newly agreed to compensate countries affected by climate impacts.

In the bigger picture, it’s a development that can be seen to follow one of the main consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine, which according to international relations scholar John Ikenberry is a push “in the direction of Three Worlds—the global West, the global East and the global South”.

Or as Chatham House editor Roxanne Escobales writes in introducing The rise of the Global South collection:

“The Global South is rising. Many geopolitical events have led to this moment, including most recently the number of abstentions in 2022’s United Nations vote against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and the International Court of Justice case of genocide brought by South Africa against the mighty western ally, Israel, for its assault on Gaza.”

South Africa’s past meets its future through this case. From the standpoint of power dynamics and intertwined histories, the move could amount to a diplomatic win regardless of the court’s final decision.

[Sources: WaPo + Al Jazeera + WPR + Foreign Policy + Foreign Policy + Al Jazeera + Le Monde]

BRIEFING | around the world

News highlights

Forest fires have been blazing through parts of South America since early February. In Chile at least 131 people have died, 370 are missing and more than 15,000 homes have been destroyed. According to official estimates, 70% of those homes were in poorer settlements. Wildfires have also been reported in Argentinian Patagonia and in Colombia, where the government appealed for international aid to tackle them. Out-of-control blazes have become more common in recent years. Here scientists cite a combination of the El Niño weather pattern and climate change creating favourable conditions like drought which helps wildfires to spread. Local officials also point to human activity as a factor in triggering them. [WaPo + Telegraph + The Guardian + CPI + WaPo + The Guardian + VOA]

Reports from India continue to document rising religious extremism. In late January, a Hindu temple opened in Ayodhya, northern India, at the same location where a mosque was torn down by a Hindu mob in the early 1990s. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the temple speaking of justice served and pride restored. The occasion reflects a rising nationalist ideology and tensions between the two religious groups. Reports suggest attacks on Indian Muslims grew after the ceremony, while disputes between Hindu temples and Muslim mosques are being reported across the Hindu-majority country. Meanwhile, laws that criminalise religious conversion in some states are being used by nationalists to target Christians. [The World + WaPo + Al Jazeera + WaPo + Le Monde + The Diplomat]

History is being repeated as hunger is rising once again in Africa and other regions—40 years after the Ethiopian famine that prompted the famous Live Aid fundraising concerts, and despite a period of progress. More than 3 million people in Ethiopia are again close to famine, as are nearly 5 million in Sudan. Although global hunger declined after World War II, and interventions are available which are known to work, other global crises are standing in the way of aid—and the risk is rising because of climate change, but primarily because of conflict. Some 600,000 people worldwide now face an immediate threat of starvation, 95% of whom live in Gaza, according to a coalition of UN agencies and nonprofit relief groups. [Devex + Vox + Guardian + AP]

Under the radar

“For the first time ever, all Southern countries will have a say in how tax rules are decided – and they will participate in the decision-making process on an equal footing with Northern countries.”

🔗 A UN tax convention is finally in the making. Now what? - Farida Bena for From Poverty to Power

“Developing countries, like Senegal, often look to the World Bank and other global financial institutions for help with such ambitious development. So these natural gas projects will pose a test of the international pledges made at climate conferences to phase out fossil fuels.

🔗 African discoveries of natural gas pose vexing climate challenge - Rachel Chason for The Washington Post

“Last August, Ecuadorians voted to keep the oil from block 43 in the heart of the Amazon rainforest’s Yasuní park in the ground. But months after the victory in the polls, the fate of oil exploitation in Yasuní is still uncertain.”

🔗 Ecuador’s new president tries to wriggle out of oil drilling referendum - Doménica Montaño for Climate Home News

Seeking Solutions

“As the country continues to recover from the pandemic, one of its main objectives is to strengthen the public policies that first took it off the Hunger Map.”

🔗 The pandemic erased Brazil's gains on hunger. Can free lunches move the needle? - Jill Langlois for Goats and Soda : NPR

“If an actor posing as the father of a sick child expressed a preference for the oral rehydration solution, they were twice as likely to get it as those who mentioned no treatment.”

🔗 Why a cheap, effective treatment for diarrhoea is underused - Smriti Mallapaty for Nature

In-depth

“Every man, woman, and child needs help. There's active fighting; no deconfliction mechanism; [and] significant hurdles to getting aid inside the country,” said Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice-president for global policy and advocacy with Mercy Corps.

🔗 Gaza aid in-depth: Response leaders warn of extreme obstacles, even with a ceasefire - Riley Sparks and Hajar Harb for The New Humanitarian

Culture corner

“Madame Zo was famous for her use of weaving, an ancestral tradition that continues to flourish. Her work drew inspiration from lamba, a wrap made of silk or cotton worn by both sexes in Madagascar and used by mothers to tie newborns to their back and as a burial shroud.”

🔗 ‘A way to open up to the world’: gallery galvanises Madagascar’s art scene - Saeed Kamali Dehghan for The Guardian

HOUSEKEEPING NOTE

Signing up to WorldWise grants access to both VIEW & MEDIA editions automatically, but you can also subscribe or unsubscribe to one specific section—there’s a handy how-to here.

If you wish to support my time and energy for the project through a subscription, you can do that here. If that’s not an option for you, absolutely fine—WorldWise is free to read.

MEDIA | working communications

ICYMI—the latest MEDIA edition featured reflections on the origins of the climate stripes, getting back to work, and the usual helping of new opportunities in journalism and communication. If you’re looking for more: opportunities that don’t make it into these posts are shared on our LinkedIn page.