University politics aren’t top of the agenda for most Jewish youth, but for Gabriella Farber, they are a calling.
Farber has thrown her name into the ring for a seat on the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Student Representative Council (SRC) this week on the ticket of the African National Congress-aligned Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA). The PYA has in recent years been overtly opposed to the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS).
Farber – a proud Jew and committed activist – has chosen to run for a position through this alliance, which is comprised of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), the Muslim Students Association (MSA), the South African Students Congress (SASCO), and the Young Communist League (YCL).
It’s here that she felt she stood the best chance of making a tangible difference on campus, having joined the group in September last year. It’s an odd choice for Farber, a second-year BA law major, considering that she attended a seminary in Israel for two years after matriculating from Yeshiva College, seldom leaving her Jewish bubble.
“When I came to Wits last year, I knew nothing about politics,” Farber told the SA Jewish Report this week. “Like most Jewish students, I preferred to keep company with other Jews, and seldom stepped out of my Glenhazel bubble. Then the PYA disrupted one of my lectures, and I started to think differently.”
A keen activist and the former vice-chairperson of Bnei Akiva, Farber identified with the values of the alliance. After attending a PYA-led protest and learning more about the group’s manifesto, she decided to join its ranks. From action against gender-based violence to sit-ins in the office of the vice-chancellor, Farber has spent the past year heavily involved in a variety of student causes.
Her SRC campaign is the latest step in her political journey, one which has exposed her to people and places few Jewish youngsters even contemplate.
“In the beginning, it was weird,” she says. “I was and remain the only white person involved. I was the first Jew many of my comrades had ever met, and together, we have engaged in a journey of mutual learning, understanding one another’s backgrounds, cultures, and situations.
“To me, they’re family. To them, I am Gabisile.”
Says Farber, “Campus is a microcosm of South Africa. It features individuals from across society who are the future of the country and for whom the university space is the start of the rest of their lives.
“As a Jew, I can’t let the opportunity to make a difference pass me by. It’s my moral obligation to avoid being a bystander and effect a revolution for those in need.”
As Wits students take to virtual polls this week to vote for their incoming SRC, Farber has been engaged in a gruelling election campaign driven by an overwhelming urge to help less fortunate students.
“G-d has blessed me with privilege, and it’s not something I can use as an excuse not to be involved – it’s the reason why I must be. I can’t enjoy freedoms when the students sitting next to me in class don’t have the same. I never thought I’d enter this space and see things from the other side, but as a Jew, it’s my obligation to stay here and make a difference.”
Given the PYA’s recent history of opposing SAUJS and its heavy ANC leaning, Farber’s choice of party appears somewhat odd at first glance.
“Historically, the posture taken by the PYA has been antipathy toward SAUJS,” says political analyst and former SRC activist, Jamie Mighti. “This is because of its Zionist ideology. However, the position hasn’t been fully consistent, with other campus organisations which adopt an ideology not being targeted by the PYA.”
This contradictory behaviour has resulted in the adoption of more tolerance, illustrated by Farber’s ability to join the alliance’s ranks, says Mighti.
“To see someone affiliated with SAUJS competing under a PYA ticket shows a reform in approach which actually makes sense,” he says. “The ANC is an organisation which has representation from across South Africa, including members of the Jewish community. It seems peculiar that an organisation which has a history of working with the Jewish community would continue to single SAUJS out.”
Mighti says that this significant shift is certainly welcome. “It’s a more honest appreciation of what the Jewish community is and does. Jewish students are South African too, and they can have political affiliations with the ANC. Farber’s involvement will probably lead to more discussion on divisive issues [like Israel].”
Farber says that the PYA and its ANC-informed values match her passion for helping fellow students and South Africans.
“It’s about the idea of service,” she says. “The people in the ANC and PYA serve the country and students as equals, not charity cases. They fight for them because they deserve better on campus, at school, and in the workplace.
“No South African should be left behind, and I’m determined to make a difference whether I get onto the SRC or not.”
Shimron Shapiro, a lawyer who was the first SAUJS activist to get onto the SRC at Wits in 2002, believes that Farber’s involvement has the potential to realign the values of the PYA, an alliance which he helped form while studying at Wits.
“Farber can make a tremendous difference in student politics,” he says. “There has always been a misperception amongst non-Jews that Jews are no longer involved in the struggle for democracy and freedom. It’s far from the truth, and the work that Farber does goes some way towards proving this.
“I was part of SAUJS when we formed the PYA, then a very progressive alliance that ruffled many feathers. Sadly, the MSA forced it to oppose SAUJS, and it was later hijacked by BDS [the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement]. Gabi’s involvement has the potential to bring about positive change within the PYA and create proper dialogue between opposing groups.”
ANC stalwart Joy Coplan believes Farber’s involvement can help the national ANC realign its own priorities.
“The ANC has fallen to anarchy and lawlessness, forgetting its core foundational values of anti-racism, anti-violence, and freedom,” she says. “Gabi Farber has taken the initiative to stand for these values, and could well help drive a revival at student level. As a Jew, a woman, and South African, she is standing true to the values on which our democracy is based,” Coplan says.
“Her candidacy makes me feel hopeful, and I pray that other youngsters in our community will follow her brave lead. We need more like her.”
