“When I look back to my youth in years to come, I don’t want to have to tell my children I was one of the people who kept to the side and stayed silent. I want to tell them that as a white, Jewish woman in a democratic South Africa, I led.”
So says Gabi Farber, a student activist who, together with other Jewish youth, has committed herself to the fight against financial and academic exclusion at South African universities.
They join a growing movement of university students who in recent weeks embarked on a nationwide protest over tuition fees with demands including the allocation of funding for excluded students and a zero fee increase for the 2021 academic year.
Farber, the legal and policy officer of the Student Representative Council (SRC) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), has been integrally involved in the protest.
“We have been on the ground every day,” she told the SA Jewish Report. “Walking through the streets of Braamfontein creating mass awareness about the students’ financial-exclusion crisis.”
Following the shutdown of various campuses, violence has escalated in the past few days, with police responding to demonstrations with rubber bullets, stun grenades, and teargas, and arresting protesting students in Braamfontein. A bystander, Mthokozisi Nthumba, was tragically shot and killed by police last week.
Says Farber, “The first few days were scary. The police were out of control, and you could see they didn’t know what they were doing, shooting rubber bullets directly at people without giving time to disperse. A grenade landed on my foot and burst my eardrums. It was dangerous.
“The media suggests there are hundreds of us and that the protestors are violent. In reality, it’s very calm on the ground, and there aren’t too many of us.”
The police have calmed down in recent days, Farber says, and those responsible for Nthumba’s death were due to attend a hearing on Wednesday, 17 March.
“I couldn’t let [the police brutality] turn me away though,” she says. “There are risks when you’re fighting for change. What’s scarier to me would be doing nothing at a time like this.”
Natanya Porter and Benjamin Atie have also been actively involved.
“On Monday, there were about 50 protestors, and we were chanting and singing peacefully in the street,” recounts Porter, South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) officer at Wits’ education campus. “Suddenly, the police arrived in hippos [armed vehicles] and water-cannon trucks as if there were thousands of us burning down Braamfontein. They used a disproportionate amount of force.”
Beyond active involvement in the protest, Porter and Atie have also been involved in assisting students arrested by police, providing them with snacks and support while they awaited trial last week.
“There was no reason for their arrest,” Porter says. “We believe that the police just grabbed whoever was in a protest t-shirt and who was slowest at running away. In the end, the magistrate dismissed the case.
“As an education student, I believe that it’s a right not a privilege. I don’t think it’s fair for education to be available only to the few who can afford it. I’m heartbroken and shocked at the way the police responded.
“A total of 8 142 Wits University students are financially excluded,” says Atie, SAUJS Wits chairperson. “This means that these students passed last year in spite of all its challenges, but aren’t being allowed to return because they are in debt to the university.
“As Jews, this issue speaks to us because we have always placed a major focus on education and supporting the impoverished. It’s our responsibility to assist these students in whatever way we can.”
Indeed, the role played by the young Jewish activists has raised the profile of the fees issue within the broader Jewish community, says political analyst and former SRC activist Jamie Mighti.
“We have to be cognisant living in South Africa that there are challenges to upward social mobility, including historic poverty and exclusion,” he says. “One of the recognised ways to lift oneself up is through education. The Jewish community is world renowned for prioritising the value of education.
“To see young people like this stand in the gap with other students and use their voices reminds one of the roles played by Jews in fighting apartheid. The Jewish community will look back at this moment and say this was the birth of South African leaders and the re-emergence of Jewish activism within the broader South African conversation.”
Former SAUJS Wits chairperson, Yanir Grindler, stresses that more Jewish students need to get involved. “I’m left with a sense of anger towards the broader Jewish student population,” he says. “It has been so difficult to get them involved. A minority of Jewish students have been there on a consistent basis alongside Gabi protesting with the students. The rest are quite disconnected because they feel it doesn’t really affect them. That’s naïve, because it does.”
Farber, Porter, and Atie agree that more Jewish students need to play their part.
Says Atie, “One of the biggest criticisms we receive at SAUJS is that we come across as a union which cares only about Israel and Jews and not the larger South African community. It’s this perception of Jews that enables anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric to enter the halls of parliament and academic circles of South Africa. Only by involving ourselves in the struggle of the larger South Africa can we begin to change this perspective.”
Many academics agree that the plight of financially excluded students must be addressed.
“There are multiple stories in and around the protests,” says Bonita Meyersfeld, a professor at Wits Law School. “Do I think they’re legitimate? Absolutely. The commercial reality demands a creative and imaginative rethinking, but that’s true of the country as a whole. My experience with the first Fees Must Fall movement showed me that students are desperate.
“Ignoring that pain or painting all protestors with the same brush of judgement and intolerance will never solve the problem.”
Barry Dwolatzky, emeritus professor of engineering at Wits, attests that the contribution each graduate makes far exceeds the cost of educating them. “The debate isn’t between students and university management,” he says. “It’s one between all of us and our government.
“Universities don’t have the resources to solve the problem in the long run. All they can do is apply a band aid here and there in the hope of managing the short-term situation. The future of South Africa depends on how well we support education.”
steve marks
Jan 15, 2015 at 10:56 am
‘Great piece, makes good sense to me’
Choni
Jan 15, 2015 at 4:43 pm
‘To in any way imply that Israel is the cause of world wide anti-Semetism is an insult to the ultimate sacrifice 22000 soldiers and 2000 men woman and children murdered by terrorists, made for our country.
\nDiaspora Jews have brought anti-Semtism on themselves long before the rebirth of Israel in 1948, and will continue to do so until they come to their senses, and leave their foreign homes.
\nBlaming Israel is a chillul Hashem. Exile is a curse and a punishment, and is the only cause of anti-Semitism.
\n
\n
\n
Hi Choni, Firstly, I made no such implication. Israel’s hand was forced, of that there is no question. It had to do what it had to do. I am certain that I made that quite clear. What I did say, was that a consequence of what Israel had to do had led to an increase in violent anti-Semitism. They are aware of that. Diaspora Jewry is aware of that. We don’t feel Israel had a choice and Israel, too, understand that there have been ramifications around the globe about what they had to do.
\n
The high-ranking and intellectual WZO team dealing with countering anti-Semitism has, for the most part, done a great job. They certainly don’t “blame” Israel as being the cause of what has happened. They do, however, accept the reality that we are seeing the consequences of Israel having done what she had to do.
\n
I refer you to the ANTI-SEMITISM STATS 2014 story, and specifically to the ADL list at the bottom of that story, where it is clear how the July events (for which, I stress again, I have heard no Jewish person anywhere suggesting Israel had any other choice than to act as they did) significantly increased the violent anti-Semitic acts worldwide. That is undeniable. But, again, it was a consequence and not a cause.
\n
I have clearly stated my belief that Hamas forced Israel’s hand and that Hamas was are the guilty party in all this.
\n
Melanie Phillips’ incredible lecture: “Diaspora Jewry, paying the price for Gaza” is also clear on this point. “The intractable problem of Gaza has been exacerbated by the meddling incomprehension of a western world that just doesn’t grasp how ISLAMIST FANATICS play by entirely different rules.\” That was said before Protective Edge played out, but expressed the same notion. Israel has to act as she does. Hamas forces her to, and then plays the world for fools. Hamas and their masters and cronies are the “cause” that stoke the flames of violent anti-Semitic acts worldwide.
\n
ANT KATZ online.editor@sajr.co.za
\n
\n
‘
Stanley Friedman
Jan 16, 2015 at 6:23 am
‘Hi Ant, You are right ↪ ????%!
‘
Choni
Jan 16, 2015 at 7:40 am
‘Ant, So what exactly is the purpose of your column?
Maybe the answer will be more clear in the second half.’
Denis Solomons
Jan 16, 2015 at 8:35 am
‘A miss-leading title; Gaza never won the war !
‘
nat cheiman
Jan 16, 2015 at 12:56 pm
‘The world is in turmoil because of radical Islam. Not so with Israel. There are many incidents in Europe and USA that go unreported because they are onto these savages.
Not so in Israel. The jews deal with these issues and sometimes the rest of the world doesn’t like it. Europe will learn quickly that it should not throw stones if they live in glass houses. I do not believe Israel is worse off because of Gaza. Gazans are worse off.On top of it all, Europe will learn from the Israeli’s how to deal with barbarism. There always was anti Semitism and always will be. All that the Gaza war has done is to create an excuse for anti semites . All the non jews that I have as friends and associates, know what the global problem is and the species of human being that commits these atrocities. These despicable people are not liked at all. Remember, that Christians understand that they are not free to practice their religions in Muslim countries. They are free in Israel. The Gaza war was good for Israel and the next Gaza war will be too.
Thugs must be taught a lesson and a lesson they WILL LEARN .’
Ant Katz
Jan 18, 2015 at 4:15 am
‘Hi Dennis, thanks for your comment. What I am proffering is that Hamas achieved the strategic aims it set out to achieve. In Spades!
I’m suggesting that this was never a military campaign by Hamas, but rather that the military component was a small part of their bigger strategy, the propaganda war it set out to achieve – and this it certainly won… that they wanted to lose the war and that they wanted do do so badly.
By thus doing, and (as it can, surely, only have anticipated), this was achieved at the expense of a considerable loss of blood and property to its own citizens to boot. For this, these leaders should face the ICC on murder charges, knowingly and unnecessarily having put in place a strategy that killed their own people’
My reasoning will become apparent in my op-ed #2.
Ant Katz’
ANT KATZ
Jan 18, 2015 at 5:04 am
‘Hi Nat, thanks, too, for your very valid point. Israel is in a very different position
\nto the diaspora and I hope that nothing I have written here indicates
\notherwise. And Israel was forced to take the steps she did (in chess one calls
\nit the ‘tempo’, where the gains the tempo by limiting the other party’s reaction to a small window of options to deal with an imminent threat).
\n
\nWhen you say: “I do not believe Israel is worse off because of
\nGaza. Gazans are worse off”, I couldn’t agree with you more.
\n
\nMy op-ed doesn’t touch on or dispute the post-war well-being of Israelis and Gazans, not at all. Of course it is radicalised, meshugenas Islamists who are at fault. There is no dissention between us on that point.
\n
\nBut Israel is left with huge debt and Gaza lies in blooded ruins.
\n
\nUnder the global microscope, the Gazan leadership, and, I cannot repeat this enough, has come out looking rosy (as in: “Shame, the poor Gazens”; and “Israel offends
\nhuman rights, it kills civilian women and children”). Both Hamas and Israel have
\naccrued huge debts from this operation. Gaza will be be rebuilt for them by others – Hamas knows that, Hamas was playing to a world stage here.
\n
\nI, suggest this to have been the strategy of the thugs who head Hamas and their masters, at the expense of their own people – and the blame has to be placed squarely on their shoulders.
\n
\nIsrael, however, is better off in some respects, and worse I others. They suffered a considerable cost of having to acquire and replace domestic and foreign weaponry,
\nwhich it will be paying off for many years to come. And, while their injury and death-toll was moderately low, the incredible number of traumatised Israelis will require years and years of treatment. Some will even carry their emotional burden for life.
\n
\nThat said, the various components of the IDF, police, MDA and other state organisations has not had a ‘live drill’ of this magnitude since the 1971 Yom Kippur War. They have been restructuring their tactics and forces for some years. Whereas they were previously primarily configured to face conventional armies, they have been
\nchanging their focus to deal with militants who are not under the wing of a state per se.
\n
\nThis recent war must have been a great learning curve for the IDF, to test their latest weapons-systems and personnel on the one hand, while having a chance to evaluate their enemies’ at the same time.
\n
\nYou say: “The Gaza war was good for Israel and the next Gaza war will be too. Thugs must be taught a lesson and a lesson they WILL LEARN”.
\n
\nOf course, on the battlefield, you are quite correct. Israel came out on top. But I hasten to make a seminal final point: This op-ed is not about the Israel/Hamas engagement. It is, sadly, about the collateral huge increase of anti-Semitism in the diaspora.
\n
\nI use the word ‘collateral’ as (while I wouldn’t put it past them), I am postulating that
\nHamas’ strategy all along was to damage Israel’s global image and enhance the
\nparable of how Israel “kills Palestinian women and children” in a willy-nilly, uncaring manner.
\n
\nThis, I am sure you will agree, worked very well for them outside Israel (never mind their women and children had to die to make the point). This is borne out by the fact
\nthat the PA has achieved much world sympathy anti-Israel protests have become more frequent and larger; and that acts of violent anti-Semitism have increased considerably.
\n
\nAnt Katz
‘
Choni
Jan 18, 2015 at 7:25 am
‘Wrong …
\n
\n
\nSorry, Choni, completely omitted because you are boring us all with the same old, same old. Please stop spamming as we have neither the time and patience for it, and our users regularly complain about it. If you do not have an interest in anyone else having the right to an opinion, please do not read them – or at least do not comment on them unless you have something to contribute beyond your three stock answers. If you really disagree with someone, tell them why – instead simply insulting their opinion.
\n
\nANT KATZ, online.editor.co.za
\n
\n
\n
\n‘
nat cheiman
Jan 18, 2015 at 11:31 am
‘Hi Ant, of course you are correct in asserting that there was collateral damage to jews and Israel. Perhaps in my enthusiasm, I overlooked the fact that generally, in the diaspora, many people hate or dislike jews. It may also be that people dislike muslims and arabs but jews are easier to dislike because we don’t bomb or have jihads etc. So YES!!! everytime Israel retaliates, Europe and especially the Scandinavian countries become vocal about DISPROPORTIONATE use of force. Never mind that Jews die and are savagely killed. Off the record, I truly wish I could attend a decent military college so that I can full understand the use of disproportionate force during warfare. And also learn how other countries would react if someone fired rockets at their cities. However, I deviate. Whether or not there is a settlement in Gaza and whether or not ABBAS recognizes Israels right to exist, The world will always dislike the Jews. We are a people that will forever have to watch our backs. Unfortunate but true.
Win or lose, Israel has a huge propaganda mountain to climb.
I think, by the way, the Israeli’s need to employ media friendly/clever types whenever there is a crisis because guys like Peter Lerner and the Ozzie guy, in my opinion just don’t cut it. ‘