Palestinian-American legal scholar Noura Erakat joins PTO to discuss South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice and the utility of international law in struggles for global justice. With its roots in providing justification for European settler colonialism in the Americas, can International law ever serve the cause of liberatory movements? Is there a danger that in winning legal victories in forums such as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, that radical causes - such as the Palestine liberation movement - can come to prioritise endorsement by prestigious multilateral bodies at the expense of other, and potentially more effective strategies? And how strong are the respective cases of South Africa and Israel in their dispute at the ICJ - and what is the legal, political, and moral significance of the case that South Africa has brought? Those are just some of the questions that Noura Erakat addresses in today's episode.
