“You Negotiate With Enemies, Not Friends” 🤝🇿🇦 | Matthew Parks on South Africa’s Push for Peace in Ukraine | Forbidden News - video Dailymotion

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🌍 Diplomacy over destruction. In this timely episode, Matthew Parks, Parliamentary Coordinator for COSATU, explains South Africa’s bold approach to peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict 🌿🕊️  Key points: 🤝 Why real peace means negotiating with adversaries — not allies 🇿🇦 South Africa’s historic stance on global conflict resolution 📢 Can the Global South play peacemaker where the West has failed? 🧭 The importance of neutrality, justice, and long-term solutions  ⚖️ While the world chooses sides, South Africa chooses dialogue.  👉 LIKE 👍 | SUBSCRIBE 🔔 | COMMENT 💬 to support real diplomacy and unfiltered international perspectives.  #MatthewParks #UkrainePeaceTalks #SouthAfricaDiplomacy #COSATU #GlobalSouthVoices #RussiaUkraine #PeaceNotWar #AfricanLeadership #NegotiationOverWar #UkraineCrisis #GeopoliticalWisdom #SouthAfricaForPeace #ConflictResolution #RussiaUkraineConflict #NeutralStance #GlobalPeaceEfforts #AfricaOnTheWorldStage #EndTheWar #DiplomaticSolutions #PeaceThroughDialogue

Transcript

00:00Cross live now to Cape Town and speak to the Parliamentary Coordinator for the Congress of

00:05South African Trade Unions, Matthew Parks. Matthew, thanks for your time today.

00:11A visit that sparked quite some outrage in South Africa is cut short barely after it began.

00:18Has that come as a surprise?

00:22Look, I mean, there's a lot of political noise. I think that's natural,

00:25given the levels of tensions on all sides with regards to the war in Ukraine.

00:30I think from our side, as a trade union movement, we support any efforts to bring peace to conflicts,

00:36and negotiation is a key effort. And I think we've supported South Africa's government,

00:41led by President Cyril Rompolsa, his efforts with the collective in the African Union to negotiate,

00:48to offer our services as a country, to support any peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

00:54I think we welcome that. I think we welcome the recent kind of discussions. We know

00:57at times negotiations is noisy by its nature. It has stops and starts. But I think the visit today

01:04really is a further effort by South Africa to kind of offer its support to our counterparts in Russia

01:12and Ukraine in the United States. And we're hopeful that that can make one small contribution towards

01:16those efforts that resolve in the conflict.

01:18Were you expecting these talks to bear any fruit? What agreements could be reached?

01:25So, I mean, obviously, the visit by Ukraine's President of South Africa won't itself include negotiations.

01:30I think it's simply a moment for South Africa, for the African countries, African Union,

01:36to offer their support to the peace negotiations. And I think to make it quite clear that South Africa

01:41and Africa as a continent support your efforts to resolve the conflict. We don't think it's in the

01:47interest of the citizens of Ukraine or Russia. We don't think it's in the interest of the citizens

01:51of Africa and the world. So I think for ourselves, we've been quite optimistic that there has been

01:56recently discussions between the U.S., the Ukrainian and the Russian governments. And we're hopeful

02:03that our small little effort of support can help to bolster, to boost those processes.

02:09Is there perhaps a feeling that when Mr. Zelensky needs the Global South, that's when he turns

02:17to them? The six years he's been in power, he's made many trips to the West, but none to Africa.

02:24Is that a feeling being heard in the country?

02:28Look, there have been quite a lot of views about all sides of the conflict. But I think, you know,

02:36our view is that how can South Africa play a positive role? How can Africa assist? And we can say without a doubt

02:42that South Africa has felt the pain of the conflict in Ukraine. You know, we've seen international global

02:48stability. We've seen the price of oil, which means the price of petrol, it means inflation. Those all have had

02:55an effect upon South Africa. It's also had an effect upon South Africa's relation with other countries in the U.S.,

03:01in Europe and so forth. So I think we've been quite optimistic when we've seen high-level discussions

03:05between the president of the United States, between the president of Russia and the president of Ukraine.

03:10And I think we appreciate there'll be a lot of noise. You negotiate not with your friends, but with people

03:16you've had very difficult relations with, very painful moments. But I think the point is there must be

03:21discussions. And that's always been South Africa's history. That's how South Africa managed its transition

03:26from a very, very painful apartheid past to a democratic dispensation. It's not easy to have

03:32negotiated. You're negotiating with people you don't like. And so I think that's what we've tried to say

03:36in South Africa, given our history, and also given the history of South Africa's relations with Africa,

03:42where we've also helped to contribute to negotiate painful solutions in other countries, whether it's

03:47in the DRC, in Congo, whether it's in Sudan or Zimbabwe. You don't negotiate with your friends.

03:52You negotiate with your enemies. I think that's the very point right now.

03:55That's a very interesting point. South African politics looked intractable for many decades,

04:02and yet it got to the stage it did. Is that the point that would have been made today? And do you

04:08think it will be listened to?

04:12So that's exactly the point that's been made. That's why our president,

04:16Cyril Romposa, had a good phone call discussion last night with the president of the United States,

04:20Donald Trump, and why he also had a good phone call with the president of the Russian Federation,

04:25Vladimir Putin, as well, earlier this week. Simply to say that all conflicts must come to an end.

04:32There's no conflict in the world which can't come to an end. And in most instances,

04:37it must lead to the negotiation table. Conflicts don't benefit ordinary people, whatever the causes

04:43and however legitimate those causes might have been. At the end of the day, it's ordinary young

04:47Russians who are in the army who go to the war. It's young Ukrainians who are part of the Ukrainian

04:53army to go to war. It's innocent civilians on boats as a border who pay a price. And we do need to see

04:58a negotiation. We do need to see it into the conflict. And for South Africa's side, we've got

05:03a history of good relations with Russia, with Ukraine, with all the former republics of the

05:07Soviet Union. We want to see how can we support that and how can we get back to building positive

05:13relationships. But also because we pay a price too. And there's conflicts wherever it is, whether

05:17it's in Europe, whether it's in the Middle East, whether it's in Africa.

05:22Just on that, Matthew, it's a very, it's a very valid point, because apart from the main

05:26protagonist, perhaps the country's most affected by this, as you say, in terms of food, in terms of

05:33agricultural products being sent, has been African nations. So are they getting enough of a say

05:40globally, the global South as a whole, in the process? Or has it been too Western oriented?

05:48It has been too Western oriented. That's inevitable, given the balance of power in geopolitics.

05:55Often, it's simply reduced to a Cold War prism, if you want to use that kind of a term,

06:02between the West and the East. And that's not helpful. Because again, it doesn't focus on providing

06:07solutions, which does come through negotiations. And I think where South Africa and other African

06:12countries have a unique vantage point is that because we've remained neutral, so to speak,

06:17we've not chosen sides in this conflict, or any other conflict, as a principal foundation of our

06:22foreign policy, is that South Africa is able to phone the United States. South Africa is able to

06:26phone Russia, to phone Ukraine. No other countries have been able to go to visit Kyiv, or visit Moscow,

06:32or visit Washington. But South Africa can do so. So I think that's how South Africa can make a

06:40contribution. Let's say, look at our own history, which is a very brutal, painful history,

06:46most barbaric in recent times, yet we're able to find solutions to it. And I think that's the point

06:52that South Africa can offer solutions to it as well. And that's why within one week, our president was

06:58able to talk to Vladimir Putin, to Donald Trump, and to Zelensky all within one week,

07:02with a single message to say, how can we assist you in negotiating into a conflict which we think

07:07all governments of Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. want to end ultimately.

07:11Well, thank you so much for coming and sharing your view with us, sir.

07:14Parliamentary Coordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Mr. Matthew Parks.

“You Negotiate With Enemies, Not Friends” 🤝🇿🇦 | Matthew Parks on South Africa’s Push for Peace in Ukraine | Forbidden News

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