Restive Ethiopians Take to Street
22 January, 2012 | By Nathan Jeffay
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Generation Emboldened To Protest Racism in Israel
Kiryat Malachi, Israel — Covering the shabby concrete
storefronts in this small Israeli town are graffiti messages
expressing the anger some Ethiopians feel over what they see as
racism.
An unemployed Ethiopian immigrant waiting at the bus terminal
says he has little hope of finding a job.
Welcome to the epicenter of the growing movement of Ethiopian
Israelis fighting what they call omnipresent discrimination and even
blatant racism in the Jewish state.
“It’s funny that Herzl was a man who said that Jews should be
together but… it’s full of Ethiopians living separately,” said protest
leader Rachel Sium-Aaron, 26, pointing to a sign emblazoned with
Herzl’s name.
Few Israelis had heard of Kiryat Malachi, much less been to the
down-on-its-heels town of 25,000 on the road to Beersheba from
Ashdod, until television news reports in early January broke the
scandal of apartment leases that supposedly barred Ethiopians
from living there.
Ethiopians responded by mounting one of the biggest
demonstrations in their community’s short history, drawing about
half of the town’s estimated 5,000 Ethiopians into the streets on
January 10.
The East African immigrants and their allies staged a similarly sized
protest on January 18, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Ethiopian elders say the protests, organized using social media and
led by people in their 20s, represent a dramatic new stage in their
community’s history.
Many of the protest leaders are second-generation immigrants
who grew up in Israel and may feel more confident protesting
racism than their parents, who came from Ethiopia in the famed
airlifts of so-called Falasha Jews.
“The youngsters didn’t appreciate what was happening until now,”
said Yaakov Kabada, a leader of Kiryat Malachi’s Ethiopian
community. “But now they have woken up. Now it’s all bursting
out.”
Studies reveal that de facto school segregation exists in some
places in Israel, with some schools populated entirely by children
of Ethiopian origin. In Kiryat Malachi, some neighborhoods
appear to be populated almost entirely by African immigrants.
“‘Ethiopian only’ schools are a disgusting and condemnable
phenomenon that stain the entire education system,” Alex Miller,
chairman of the Knesset Education Committee, said in September.
Courtesy
22 January, 2012 | By Nathan Jeffay
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Generation Emboldened To Protest Racism in Israel
Kiryat Malachi, Israel — Covering the shabby concrete
storefronts in this small Israeli town are graffiti messages
expressing the anger some Ethiopians feel over what they see as
racism.
An unemployed Ethiopian immigrant waiting at the bus terminal
says he has little hope of finding a job.
- In a predominantly
Ethiopian neighborhood
named for Zionist
forefather Theodor Herzl,
residents complain that
landlords use racist deals
to keep them out of
apartment blocks where
white Israelis live.
Welcome to the epicenter of the growing movement of Ethiopian
Israelis fighting what they call omnipresent discrimination and even
blatant racism in the Jewish state.
“It’s funny that Herzl was a man who said that Jews should be
together but… it’s full of Ethiopians living separately,” said protest
leader Rachel Sium-Aaron, 26, pointing to a sign emblazoned with
Herzl’s name.
Few Israelis had heard of Kiryat Malachi, much less been to the
down-on-its-heels town of 25,000 on the road to Beersheba from
Ashdod, until television news reports in early January broke the
scandal of apartment leases that supposedly barred Ethiopians
from living there.
Ethiopians responded by mounting one of the biggest
demonstrations in their community’s short history, drawing about
half of the town’s estimated 5,000 Ethiopians into the streets on
January 10.
The East African immigrants and their allies staged a similarly sized
protest on January 18, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Ethiopian elders say the protests, organized using social media and
led by people in their 20s, represent a dramatic new stage in their
community’s history.
Many of the protest leaders are second-generation immigrants
who grew up in Israel and may feel more confident protesting
racism than their parents, who came from Ethiopia in the famed
airlifts of so-called Falasha Jews.
“The youngsters didn’t appreciate what was happening until now,”
said Yaakov Kabada, a leader of Kiryat Malachi’s Ethiopian
community. “But now they have woken up. Now it’s all bursting
out.”
Studies reveal that de facto school segregation exists in some
places in Israel, with some schools populated entirely by children
of Ethiopian origin. In Kiryat Malachi, some neighborhoods
appear to be populated almost entirely by African immigrants.
“‘Ethiopian only’ schools are a disgusting and condemnable
phenomenon that stain the entire education system,” Alex Miller,
chairman of the Knesset Education Committee, said in September.
Courtesy
| Jewish-Arab coalition backs Ethiopian protest (Haaretz) Why Jews see racism in Israel (Joshua Mitnick) Foreign Minister Liberman to visit Africa (Press Release) To Hell with Israel’s Racist and Bigoted Schools By Dr. Ethiopia Why Petah Tikva's Ethiopian kids are like Shalit By Yossi Sarid Dozens of Ethiopian kids miss first day of school in Petah Tikva By Or Kashti, "What does it matter that we're black?" Or Kashti |
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