Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola is billed to share a New York platform with United States (US) Senator Bernie Sanders and members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) days after Washington announced targeted visa restrictions linked to South African policies.

The event at a church in New York City is timed to coincide with high-level United Nations meetings in the city this week.

Sanders is Vermont’s independent senator and a democratic socialist who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. A longstanding opponent of Donald Trump, he alleges the president is steering America towards authoritarianism.

His criticism extends to American foreign policy. Sanders has campaigned to end US military aid to Israel and forced Senate votes aimed at blocking weapons sales. In March, he accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of undermining international law with regard to the war in Iran.

The programme features a host of critics of US foreign policy, including Aber Kawas, the state senate candidate endorsed by the New York chapter of the DSA.

DSA is a socialist political and activist organisation, seen as the extreme left flank of the Democratic Party. Its programme calls for closing American military bases overseas, ending military and economic aid to Israel, and lifting sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran.

The New York event has shared online links directly to the Hague Group, which is a global lobby sponsored by South Africa to oppose US foreign policy, including on Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and Israel. South Africa co-chairs the group, which is the international arm of what DSA lobbies for on American foreign policy.

The New York event follows roughly a week after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s 15 September announcement of visa restrictions targeting people responsible for South Africa’s expropriation and racial discrimination policies and follows months of American frustration at South Africa’s unwillingness to secure a new trade and investment pact with Washington. Rubio’s announcement, in turn, follows comments from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week to the effect that US foreign policy supports genocide and that the war with Iran is illegal. South African sources who spoke to this newspaper said the government regards Trump’s America as a racist and white supremacist institution and intends to hit back hard against the Americans.