At a first-of-its-kind conference at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel-Aviv and co-hosted by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), some 300 teachers and other education professionals discussed on last Sunday how the education system is coping with racism in Israel. Set against the backdrop of a disturbing rise in incidents of racism in recent weeks, the teachers yesterday explored the difficulties that the educational system faces in addressing the phenomenon, and examined different means for meeting the challenges that lie ahead. The conference is part of a project aimed at enhancing and mainstreaming anti-racism education supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Sharaf Hassan, Director of ACRI’s Human Rights Education Department, opened the conference by speaking about the racist atmosphere pervading Israeli society today, the expression of which is felt not only in overt statements, but also in subtle, more sophisticated, racist practices, like the establishment of acceptance committees in small communities, and the exclusion of non-residents (i.e. ultra-Orthodox and Arabs) from some public parks. Hassan called upon the new Minister of Education, Shai Piron, to prioritize the fight against racism in his educational policy, and to ensure that democratic values are integrated into the curricula of all school subjects.
ACRI President Sami Michael during the conference at the Kibbtuzim College of Education in Tel-Aviv (Photo: ACRI)
Professor Nimrod Aloni, Director and Chair of the Institute for Progressive Education at the Kibbutzim College of Education, referring to the policies of outgoing right-wing Minister of Education Gideon Sa’ar, Aloni pointed out that whereas Sa’ar saw education as a tool to advance nationalist Zionist feelings.
The conference closed with a speech by ACRI President Sami Michael: “The main culprit is not the one who flies the racist sign, not the one who kicks Arabs, not the one who throws stones at them, not the one who lynches them. The education system is the guilty party, because it reduces the study of world history to just twenty percent, because the Education Ministry confiscates copies of history textbooks published by the Zalman Shazar Center in order to prevent students from being exposed to the point of view of the other, and because when schoolchildren from Ar’ara participate in a human rights march carrying signs for equality and against racism, the school is reprimanded by the Education Ministry on the grounds that this contravenes regulations. The education system is guilty because it has not acted sufficiently to convey the message that we all belong to the same wonderful race, the human race. There is no superior race, there is no inferior race, there is no pure race, and there is no impure race.”
“Whoever adopts the denial mechanism should please volunteer to spend a day posing as a Palestinian in the occupied territories, an Arab in Jerusalem or Safed, or a black person knocking on the door of a nightclub. In a racist atmosphere, it is not only the preacher of racism who is responsible for sowing the seeds of calamity. Those who deny the existence of racial injustice are also responsible, those who are not partners to racial injustice but have a finger in the pie and remain silent, whether out of fear or indifference. They may well find themselves victims of a racist regime tomorrow. They may lose their freedoms and their liberal way of life. It happened not long ago in enlightened and humanistic Europe, and if we do not pull ourselves together and shake off the affliction of the racist epidemic, it will happen here tomorrow to us too,” added Michael.
