SAUJS on Wits support for ‘Solidarity Week’

NATAN POLLACK

Dear SAUJS member,

An e-mail released by the University of the Witwatersrand on Wednesday announced the commencement of a Palestinian Solidarity Week hosted by the university’s Student Representative Council (SRC). The SA Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) is fully aware of the event as well as the many concerns of our members regarding it.

RIGHT: Natan Pollack

While SAUJS fully supports the freedom of expression and political association integral to the university’s ethos, we are also committed to equity of representation. Such equity, regrettably, has not been afforded here. The mandate of the SRC is to promote the interests of all Wits students, not those which align with their own personal ideological agendas.

SAUJS has no issue with an event of this nature being organised by those individual societies for whom this cause is central. However, we unequivocally oppose the bias herein displayed by the SRC, whose focus should be to represent the broader interests of the entire Wits student communit, rather than push the agendas of a particular sector of it.
SAUJS is deeply disturbed by the intentions of specific members of the SRC, who are willfully hijacking what should be an entirely student-issues orientated organisation to promote views that are held by only part of the Wits community while being opposed by others. This is a flagrant abuse of the SRC’s mandate.

We commend the Wits SRC for not supporting the Israel Apartheid Week. However, it has become apparent that certain individuals within the SRC are destroying the aforementioned credibility by intentionally drawing support to the Palestinian Week by the use of outside structures and by further failing to display equal representation for those who hold alternative views. An internal investigation should be conducted to establish the personal political agendas of individuals who are indisputably ruining the fair representation promised to us. Additionally, the SRC has abused university resources by sending students e-mails which do not pertain to their interests.

SAUJS, on behalf of its Wits constituents, calls on the Wits SRC to be fairly represented. We have no problem with hosting a Palestinian Week; but let perspective be added. We request the SRC to invite an Israeli speaker; to share their story, and let our students decide for themselves. If you want to ‘give Witsies the edge’, give them the whole picture.

Issued by the National SAUJS Executive

‘PALESTINE SOLIDARITY WEEK’ CAUGHT JHANNESBURG JEWRY BY SURPRISE
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