Above: Young Barack Obama with Sara Hussein Obama.
Protesters angry Obama continues militarization of Africa, theft of resources, abuse of Palestinians and drone killings
Protesters carry placards as they protest against the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama in Pretoria, June 28, 2013.(Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko/ Reuters)
President Barack Obama was greeted by more than one thousand protesters in South Africa. Protests were being held at the US Embassy, outside of the Parliament building in Cape Town, University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus and the University of Cape Town.
The South African government fired warning shots toward the crowd at the embassy to disperse them. USA Today reported “Police fired rubber bullets and a stun grenade into a crowd of hundreds of protesters waiting for President Obama to arrive at the University of Johannesburg on Saturday. The crowd quickly scattered as police officers walked up the street pushing protesters away with shot guns.” They report 24-year-old Bilaal Qibr, who was at the protest, telling them “I feel my rights are being infringed. We can’t protest anymore. Personally, I feel like this is an extension of the U.S.”
Above: Protesters run away after police fired two warning shots to clear the street from a demonstration against the visit of United States President Barack Obama to the university building in Soweto, South Africa, June 29, 2013.
Common Dreams summarizes the story in “South Africans Slam US ‘Plunder’ and ‘Atrocities’ as Obama Arrives,” and reports: “In a statement released ahead of the visit, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) denounced the Administration’s ‘horrifying record of foreign policy in the world,’ citing the ‘militarization of international relations for the multinational companies and their profit-seeking classes in the US,’ and the presence of AFRICOM and other Special Operations forces, ‘which are largely responsible for the destabilization of various countries and communities.’
A man carries a placard calling US President Obama “The Kitchen Boy of the White House” and expressing many things he thinks are wrong with US foreign policy, as Protestors demonstrate against the upcoming visit of U.S. President Barack Obama in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday June 28, 2013. (Photo: Jerome Delay/ AP)
The Blaze reports, “The protest was put together by “No You Can’t” or “Nobama.” Organizers managed to bring anti-Obama and anti-America protesters from labor unions, climate activists and the South African Communist party.
“Mdbuyiseni Ndlozi, the national coordinator of the “No Obama” told reporters, “I think it’s very clear at the moment that the Nobel Peace Prize givers made a mistake.”
“Ndlozi went on to accuse the president of failing to keep his campaign promises as well as continuing wars he promised to end; starting more wars (though without saying which ones); and continuing U.S. aggression and human rights violations (no specifics here either).”
USA Today further reported that the students felt betrayed by Obama, criticized the theft of Africa’s resources, drones, keeping Guantanamo opened, expanding wars and enabling the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel as well as continued militarization of Africa by the United States and opposed Obama receiving an honorary doctorate:
“‘They don’t believe Obama deserves that award. The U.S. position and its relationship with Israel has created a problem,’ said Levy Masete, president of the Student Representative Council. ‘The students say, ‘Stop the oppression in Palestine,’ and you want to honor this man who is making this oppression possible.’
“‘He’s here for our African resources,’ said Nomagugu Hloma, 19, a student at what she called the ‘sell out’ university. ‘Hands off our gold, oil, diamonds and land,’ she said.
“South Africa’s biggest trade union, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) also said they would be protesting, while the Muslim Lawyers Association called for the president’s arrest for war crimes.
“‘I’m disappointed with President Obama,’ said Putase Tseki, the COSATU chairman of Gauteng province in Johannesburg. ‘He promised he would (change) his foreign policy, he was going to resolve Palestine and close Guantanamo. I would say I was positive four years ago, but now I don’t know.’
“The ‘feeling of being let down’ helped stem the protests, says William Beinart, an African studies professor at Britain’s University of Oxford.
“‘High hopes were held for Barack Obama and his impact on Africa, and there has been some disappointment that he has not made a huge effort to increase aid,’ Beinart says. ‘(COSATU) is using the opportunity of Barack Obama’s visit to make a point about corporate responsibility.’
“Even in Pretoria, blocks away from the hospital where former South African president Nelson Mandela has remained with a lung infection, students set up protests against U.S. policies on drones and the Middle East on Friday — a stark contrast to the excitement that greeted the president in Senegal, the first stop on his trip.”
Above: South African police fire rubber bullets at protesters rallying against President Obama’s visit to South Africa, in Soweto on June 29, 2013.(Photo: Alexander Joe, AFP/Getty Images)
Voice of America reported the protests as well writing: “On Saturday, a group of protesters gathered outside the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus, where the president was speaking to young South Africans. Protesters said they oppose Obama’s foreign policy and criticized his performance on human rights issues. . . On Saturday morning, dozens of protesters gathered on the busy Soweto road in front of the campus. They held aloft signs that read ‘Stop World War III – Remove Obama” and “Obama Killed Gadhafi — Who’s Next?’
“The protesters — who came from a prominent union coalition, a Muslim advocacy group and South Africa’s Communist Party — offered several reasons for their opposition.
“Claire Ceruti, a former UJ staff member who is now a student there, is a self-identified socialist. She says she opposes the university’s decision to confer an honorary doctorate on the American president.
“‘We’re calling it a dishonorary doctorate because we feel it will dishonor all of us to be just handing out these things to a head of state who, for us, doesn’t have a very good record,’ Ceruti said.
“One of Obama’s goals on this trip was to speak to the youth of Africa. But 19-year-old UJ student Nomagugu Hloma was having none of it.
“’I do not want to hear anything from Barack Obama. I am not interested in anything he is going to say to me. I do not view him as a credible leader, he is not,’ Hloma said. ‘He killed Gadhafi, and the government of Gadhafi in Libya was a good government. We don’t regard him as a leader. If we want leadership, we will speak to our own leaders.’
“Phutas Tseki, the regional chair of powerful trade coalition COSATU, says he belongs to the South African Communist Party. He disagrees with Obama’s foreign policy decisions and says the American president has broken promises.
“’When the president, President Obama, was ushered (in) to the world, he promised that he’s going to make sure that he settled the dispute between Palestine and Israel people,” Tseki said. “But the United States has continued to support, financially, it has continued to support Israel through arms to attack and displace people of Palestine from their land. There was a promise that Guantanamo Bay is going to be closed, even today, people are still standing there for many years without trial.’”
