A Different Type of Racism In South Africa
In 2004, freelance journalist Paula Slier was unofficially blacklisted by the head of news at the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). We now know why. It's not because her work was lacking or because she photo-shopped pictures. She is out simply because she is a Jew. The Jerusalem Post reports that news head Snuki Zikalala had ordered an outright ban on reports from Slier because since she is Jewish, she supports Israel. Zikalala has admitted to being a supporter of the PLO, and referred to the Mid-East conflict as the "Jewish War". The commission which was set up by the SABC to investigate determined that Slier's reports were impartial, and the SABC ban was in conflict with the companies policies. Slier explains:
"Zikalala describes the conflict in the Middle East as a 'Jewish war' and accuses me of taking sides. His argument, by inference, is that because I'm Jewish I automatically support the policies of the State of Israel without question, which is simply untrue. The situation came to a head in November 2004 when then-PLO chairman Yassir Arafat was dying. I was reporting for SABC as a freelancer in Ramallah - I had since left the corporation where I'd been a senior news reporter and anchor for several years. I was covering the story hourly when suddenly I was told my services would no longer be needed. No explanation was given."
It is not too difficult for me to imagine what would happen if a Moslem reporter was fired by a Jewish boss because of his religion. How many synagogues would burn? How many Rabbis would be shot dead? I can assure you there will be no violence in this instance. That does not mean we will go silently. Zikalala must go.
Email the SABC and tell them what you think. info@sabc.co.za
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8 comments:
Jay..this is so sickening!..great reporting!...wonder if the Lamestream Media will even bother to cover it!
You makesasked this a good point. If this had happened to a Muslim reporter, there would have been massive protests and most likely violence.
I guess since she is Jewish they aren't afraid of any backlash.
That should have read...you make a good point.
Reprehensible. I sent them a letter.
Shame on the SABC.
The hypocrisy of the people who claim to practice tolerance is amazing. Freedom of speech and action as long as it agrees with them, otherwise, too bad.
as i stated somewhere else earlier - welcome to the animal farm where some are more equal than us.
or would that be some of us are less equal than others...
Thanks for your comments. Special thanks to atheling2 for taking the time to write the SABC. I plan to follow up on this. Will keep you all posted.
I hadn't heard of this before; thanks for "breaking" it!
Truly disgusting, and you have a dead-on point about the juxtaposition of a Muslim reporter getting canned.
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