Opening remarks by Nkosi ZMD (Mandla) Mandela on the occassion of the 3rd International Conference on Solidarity with Palestine held in Sanaa, Republic of Yemen, on Saturday 22nd March 2025
Leadership and people of the brave Republic of Yemen,
Leadership of the Palestinian Resistance,
Brave people of Gaza, the West Bank all of Occupied Palestine,
Fellow freedom fighters, activists and supporters of the just Palestinian struggle all over the world,
Freedom loving people of the world,
Comrades and friends,
I greet you in the universal greetings of peace, justice and human dignity for all.
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu – may the peace and blessings of God Almighty be upon you all.
Allow me to say a special word of thanks and gratitude to the organisers of this 3rd International Conference on Solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Thank you for your hospitality, generosity and kindness.
It is indeed an immense honour to be here in your midst in Sanaa, Yemen and to learn once again the meaning of true faith, indomitable will power and unshakeable resolve. We are truly honoured and blessed!
This conference brings together activists from all over the world with many participating virtually. We welcome all of you wherever you may be. All of us are united by one critical question: How do we support the Palestinian Resistance in the respective places and spaces we find ourselves?
The Palestinian Resistance is engaged in armed struggle in this phase of their resistance to the nearly eight decade long occupation. The Zionist Occupation was unable to militarily defeat the Palestinian Resistance in over 15 months of heavy military engagement.
This conference addresses another important pillar of struggle and that is International Solidarity. In our own struggle against the Apartheid regime in South Africa, our leadership in exile for decades travellled the length and breadth of the world to mobilise support for our struggle. This included quiet diplomacy, lobbying friendly governments and other liberation movements, sourcing resources, training and a relentless pursuit of the information war.
In this respect the Palestinian struggle has no less than 7 million refugees in the diaspora. Away from the frontline of military engagement, a key area for mobilisation must be to bring the Palestinian communities all over the world to take up their responsibility and build a powerful international solidarity network that can continue to mobilise support for the Palestinian struggle from all sectors of society. This must be of necessity include students and academics at institutions of learning, workers and labour formations, faith-based movements and organisations, professionals, and structures of civil society such as Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs).
Some of the evidence for this important solidarity work was evident in the unprecedented mass marches in solidarity with the Palestinian cause that saw millions coming out onto the streets calling for ceasefire and stopping the genocide!
This extraordinary mass support for the Palestinian struggle was only rivalled by the grotesque brutality of the Zionist entity bombing mosques, churches, chapels, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and clinics on an unimaginable scale that has now become the subject of international scrutiny as it was in gross violation of every tenet of international humanitarian law.
The numbers of martyred, maimed and missing persons are now a matter of public record but there was one significant change and that was the emergence of the electronic intifada over the past 15 months that instantaneously carried the unfolding genocide of the Zionist entity right into the coalface of public awareness and public opinion.
This form of International Solidarity ensured that we were able to build a powerful counter narrative to the Zionist occupation propaganda. Even seasoned anchors and propogandists of mainstream media were exposed for their complicity with the genocide.
It is this work of building International Solidarity that we must carry into the homes, workplaces and social media platforms of nearly 8 billion strong humanity and all freedom loving people of the world. Such a powerful platform can carry a message of hope for those in the Palestinian Resistance assuring them that they are not alone!
Let the message of this 3rd International Conference on Solidarity with the Palestinian people reach those living amidst the rubble and the desolate remains. We stand with you oh brave people of Gaza, the West Bank and all of Occupied Palestine. The people of Yemen stand with you! All freedom loving people of the world stand with you!
Allow me to remind you of the words of our global icon President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela when he said “The Zionist entity and its western imperialist funders must know that there is nothing they can do to change our principled stance on the Palestinian struggle for freedom. We will resist occupation by all means until Palestine is liberated.
Today, we stand on the precipice of great and fundamental change in the world. Twenty years of regime change in Latin America, decades of wars and proxy wars in Middle East (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria) and conflicts in Africa ,(the Horn of Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya and Western Sahara) are all evidence that the time for the bullies of western imperialism is over.
The people of Canada, Greenland and Gaza say to Trump and his cronies you dream your dreams and plot your plans. The time of conquest and foisting a unipolar agenda upon the world is dying a certain death and will be buried in Gaza. We will not be moved. The people of Gaza will not be moved.
On my beloved continent of Africa the Zionists and its imperialist backers fund regime change, they use chequebook diplomacy to undermine the sovereignity of nations. They exploit our poverty, hunger and suffering to manipulate our national agendas through all means possible.
Against all odds Africa remains the largest block at the United Nations General Assembly supporting the Palestinian cause because we know what it means to be colonised, to be occupied and to have our land illegally usurped. We know what genocide is. We will never change our principled position on the Palestinian struggle for freedom!
We say to our beloved brothers and sisters in Gaza, the West Bank and all of Occupied Palestine. No threat of sanctions or acts of bullying will convince South Africa to withdraw its charge of genocide against Apartheid Israel. We stand with you and will never abandon you for my freedom, your freedom and our freedom remains incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.
The past few days has seen a massive increase in the acts of aggression by Apartheid Israel and its US backers. In the space of three days they have martyred more than 1000 people, mostly children. In the UK, USA and elsewhere they are doing everything in their power to close down protests, ban activists such as myself in the UK and close down access to public spaces.They know that they are fighting a losing battle!
From this sacred land of Yemen we call on activists all over the world to intensify your acts of protest. Let us take the electronic intifada to yet unknown heights. We have already won the battle against Apartheid Israel’s well-oiled propaganda machine and their lies have been thoroughly exposed. Victory is certain!
We salute the brave fighters of Hamas, Hezbollah and Ansarullah fighting for the liberation of Occupied Palestine. May we celebrate your martyrs in a free Palestine!
Long live the struggle for a free Palestine!
Long live the undying spirit of the people of Yemen!
We salute you!
Nkosi Zwelivelile
Royal House of Mandela
Mvezo Komkhulu
P.O. Box 126
Viedgesville 5102
Eastern Cape Province
South Africa 🇿🇦
