Stéphane Hessel: 'Regeringen schieten tekort, we hopen dat burgers hun verantwoordelijkheid nemen'

Stéphane Hessel en Mairead Maguire tijdens één van de zittingen van het Russell Tribunaal in Kaapstad.

Eén van de leden van het Russell tribunaal voor Palestina (5-7 november in Kaapstad) was de 94-jarige Franse oud-diplomaat Stéphane Hessel. Hessel,  in 1917 in Berlijn geboren als zoon van de Joodse schrijver Franz Hessel en een protestantse moeder en in 1924 met zijn ouders naar Frankrijk geëmigreerd, is oud-verzetsheld, overlevende van Buchenwald, oud-ambassadeur en destijds mede-auteur van de Verklaring van de rechten van de Mens. Hij baarde onlangs opzien met een boekje van 17 pagina's 'Indigniez-vous' (Wordt boos) waarvan in korte tijd 1,5 miljoen exemplaren werden verkocht en dat intussen  is vertaald in het Baskisch, Catalaans, Italiaans, Duits, Grieks, Engels, Portugees, Sloveens, Spaans, Kroatisch en Hebreeuws. Er zouden nog meer vertalingen op stapel staan meldt Wikipedia, onder andere in het Koreaans, Japans, Hongaars, Zweeds en Nederlands.
Hessel refereert daar aan de bezettingstijd en het verzet en vraagt zich af waarom er geen verzetsbeweging komt tegen zaken als de groeiende kloof tussen arm en rijk, de behandeling van immigranten, de achteruitgang van het milieu en de erbarmelijke situatie van het Palestijnse volk.
The Middle East Monitor interviewde hem naar aanleiding van zijn deelname aan het panel in Kaapstad. Ik neem een deel hier over:

HC: You helped to draft the Universal Declaration on Human Rights but it looks as though every clause in it is being breached by Israel. How would you categorise Israel's human rights record today?

SH: I think that [this applies] not only to the Declaration – which is not a legally binding instrument - but on the two covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The witnesses that we have heard at the Russell Tribunal here have all indicated clearly that Israel is respecting none of those covenants nor the Geneva Convention on humanitarian law so one can really say that these violations of human rights and of international law is, as we are saying in our Tribunal conclusions, something that cannot be allowed any more in our new global society.

HC: You have supported the flotilla efforts to break the siege of Gaza and you support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. You are also participating as a Juror at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine here in South Africa. Do you think that, since Israel clearly has no regard for international law or any international bodies, it is now down to such civil society initiatives to bring Israel to account?

SH: It is clear to me that governments, all of our governments, are terribly intimidated by Israeli propaganda and unfortunately they are not strong enough to really act. They have drafted resolutions but they are not implementing them; they come together in Quartets but nothing occurs. For that reason we feel that civil pressure from public opinion is absolutely needed. We are not too hopeful that it will prevail quickly but I also have the feeling, and that is the focus of my "Time for Outrage", that it is time for the civil population to take responsibility.

HC: What do you make of Israel's demand that it should be recognised as an exclusively Jewish State? As someone who is Jewish yourself do you support that demand?

SH: That demand is really what allows us to say that what happens there is similar to apartheid because when there is one part which claims to be something that the others cannot be, and the others cannot be Jewish, then therefore this Jewish state is a little bit like the whites here during Apartheid South Africa saying, "we are the ones"; "we the Jews"; or "we the whites" and the others have to be disregarded. So that is why we feel that there is a similarity between what is happening to the Palestinians and South African apartheid and we are trying to show that in our statements.