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South Africa – Features

Dubious in dubai

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By Uri Avnery

(source: Uri Avnery’s ZSpace Page)

From time to time I ask myself: what would happen if the world’s governments decided to abolish all their spy agencies simultaneously?

True, it would be a great blow to the authors and movie producers who make their living from secret service stories. Their products would lose their appeal.

It would be a disaster for the huge army of fans which gobbles up spy adventures, the enthusiastic consumers of books and movies about superhuman heroes like James Bond and super-devious geniuses like John La Carre’s Smiley.

But what would be the real damage if Washington stopped spying on Moscow and Moscow stopped spying on Washington, and both on Beijing? The result would be a draw. Immense sums of money would be saved, since a large part of the efforts of every spy agency is devoted to obstructing the intrigues of the competition. How many diseases could be overcome? How many hungry people fed, how many illiterates taught to read and write?

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Ethiopian students affair shows prevalent racism in Isarael

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When the children of Petah Tikva have all found schools to attend, society will not stop being racist

By Gideon Levy

(source:  Businesswire.com)

All of a sudden, we can say "racism." A shock wave has struck complacent Israeli society. A few dozen Ethiopian children were not accepted to religious schools in Petah Tikva. That is truly terrible, everyone tsked-tsked at the heart-rending picture of Aschalo Sama, a boy without a school. Even President Shimon Peres expressed shock. Everyone is permitted to be shocked; it is politically correct.

Oh, how beautiful we are, how enlightened we seem to ourselves. Look how we fight racism, undaunted and uncompromising. And yet, in a twinkling, this shame will be forgotten, and we will be left with the many other manifestations of society’s racism, to which we remain sleepily indifferent.

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To talk or not to talk thats the question

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To talk or not to talk, that’s the question

Posted on:  2009-01-06 08:29:42

  While pro-Palestinians have been urging the South African government to cut all diplomatic ties and trade links with Israel in response to the war on Gaza, some social commentators say this would not help the situation since it closes the door to dialogue. It has become the centre of a continuing local debate on the issue with other commentators vehemently objecting to continuing ties between the two countries.

Speaking to VOC last week, founder of the Gift of the Givers (Waqful Waqifin) humanitarian organization, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said while it was understandable why Muslims became emotional about the Palestinian crisis, it appeared to be a concern that did not extend to non-Muslims. When other communities are affected, he said, Muslims tended to take an ostrich approach by burying their heads in the sand.

 

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