In December 2024, as the Israeli occupying forces continued their genocidal assault on Palestine, health researchers, Dr. Marion Stevens and Dr. Karen Daniels found solace in their go-to place, the ocean. “Watching swimmers cross Cape Town’s False Bay, we were reminded of the sea’s dual role as teacher and healer. Its saltwater mirrored our tears of grief for Palestine, where dehumanisation and violence have become unbearable to witness,” they explain.
In these moments of despair, they turned to the water, seeking its embrace as they navigated Cape Town’s tides. From this grief emerged an act of collective resistance, a Robben Island solidarity swim for Palestine. Assembling a team, spanning gender, ability, age, race, religion, and sexual orientation and united around a shared commitment to justice, they planned a relay swim from Robben Island to Big Bay on Cape Town’s West Coast. This is their message.
Why Robben Island?
Robben Island is a potent symbol of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid and colonialism. By swimming from the Island to Big Bay, we move symbolically from a legacy of oppression toward freedom, honouring our own history while standing with Palestinians fighting for theirs.
This swim joins global actions like GAZA – Solidarity Swim for Liberation, amplifying the call to end Israel’s occupation.
For Palestinians, Gaza’s waters have long been a source of sustenance, solace and freedom. Today, they are militarised and restricted, with Israeli forces blocking fishing, aid and even recovery missions. The swim is a tribute to Palestinian resilience and a demand for justice.
Feminist health workers in solidarity
As feminist health researchers, we are enraged by Israel’s systematic destruction of healthcare infrastructure, a reproductive justice crisis. The bombing of hospitals, including the Anglican hospital on Palm Sunday, has erased critical genetic laboratories storing embryos for assisted fertility treatments. This is not just infrastructural damage. It is a genocidal assault on future generations.
White phosphorus and other toxic chemicals have polluted Gaza, disrupting reproductive hormones and making pregnancies harder to sustain. Even when pregnancies do occur, the obliteration of healthcare means no safe deliveries, no anaesthesia for C-sections, and no facilities to stop haemorrhages. This is reproductive tyranny.
Freedom Day Swim for Palestine
On or around 27 April 2025 (Freedom Day), 12 swimmers will undertake a relay from Robben Island to Big Bay under the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. This date marks 31 years since South Africa’s democracy – a victory won with global solidarity. Now this solidarity is needed for Palestine.
Three teams will brave icy waters, currents, and marine life, supported by boats and observers. At Big Bay, additional swimmers will join for a final stretch to shore, embodying unity across waters.
How you can support
Donate to Gift of the Givers, providing urgent aid in Palestine and beyond.
As South Africans, we know freedom was never given. It was fought for, with global allies. Now, we fight for Palestine. Join us in the water, in protest, in solidarity.
Free Palestine.
Dr. Marion Stevens is a sexual and reproductive justice scholar-activist with over 30 years of work in midwifery, public health, and political science. They are currently adapting their PhD research into a book on post-apartheid reproductive justice.
Dr Karen Daniels is an independent health policy and systems researcher, who has worked at the South African Medical Research Council and the World Health Organization. She has authored and co-authored nearly 50 publications. While her research interests are wide, her methods have focused on the conduct and teaching of primary qualitative research and qualitative evidence synthesis. Through this work, she hopes to bring a human voice to the experience of health systems policy, guidelines, implementation, and reform. Her work is guided by her commitment to social justice, socialism, feminism, and a feminist ethic of care.
This piece was written for the April 2025 edition of Postscripts, Shamillah Wilson’s monthly round-up of what’s been happening in feminist circles, her work, and some recommended reading suggestions.
