chamsa

For photos from that time and quotes spoken by "Black Panthers" click here

For the article on which I quote below (A Salute to the Black Panthers), click here


[...]However, from today’s 30-year retrospective, and after engaging in a thorough research of my own, I state without hesitation that the ‘Black Panthers’ were the ground-breaking catalyst for the Mizrahi struggle in Israel. Israel before March 1971 was a different Israel than that of after March 1971. In the former, the economic and cultural oppression was accepted by Mizrahim with submissiveness, except for short rebellious outbursts which were repressed with an iron fist by the government and its Mizrahi collaborators, as in the case of the Wadi Salib Uprising in 1959. [...]

The Black Panthers’ uprising was begun by a group of young, unemployed, dropout residents of the Musrara neighborhood located at the border between East and West Jerusalem - a neighborhood whose Western (Israeli) half came to be as a result of the expulsion of its original Palestinian inhabitants during the War of 1948. Due to its peripheral status at the border with the then Trans-Jordanian side of Jerusalem, the early years of the neighborhood were characterized by issues of daily security,which ended in the wake of the ’67 war, because both the Eastern and Western halves of Jerusalem came beneath Israeli municipal and police control. The neighborhood was then housed by 650 Mizrahi immigrant families, the majority of whom came from North Africa, with a minority coming from Iraq. [...]

The ultimate language of the Black Panthers, for the first time directly attacked the manipulative myth that ‘Security precedes everything’, by which the governments of Mapai [Labor] silenced every protest. They claimed very clearly and directly that a state in which there is such an unequal economic situation of Mizrahim (and of Arabs – as said in certain places, mainly by Bitton and Shemesh) has no right to exist. This was expressed by Martziano’s radical words regarding the division of the cake: “Either the cake will be shared by all or there will be no cake”. [...]

The Black Panthers were also the first to make the connection between the concepts of ‘class’ and ‘ethnic group’. They often compared the way the new Russian immigrants were treated by the absorption authorities (in the early 70s­), with the second generation of Mizrahim who were still living in dire poverty. Thus they added another layer of comparison which previously existed in the collective consciousness– that of the absorption of Ashkenazim, and Mizrahim in the early years of the state. In this way, they completely undermined arguments of ‘Modernization’ and a ‘sociology of Backwardness’, which was based upon cultural rather than class analysis. In this, the Black Panthers preceded the class-oriented sociologists in Israel who appeared not accidentally, only after the era of the Black Panthers became the focus of their research. [...]

The Black Panthers’ greatest achievement was their ability to unmask the issue of the Mizrahim by presenting it as a permanent issue on the political, public and academic agenda in Israel. No one could pretend anymore that the problem was only a matter of ‘subjectivity’ or related to the set of priorities in Mizrahi homes, as Golda Meir once advised: “Let them stop all those family celebrations. Let them learn how to manage their budget rationally. Let them work hard for their rights. They should begin by having smaller families”. From then on it was clear to everyone that the problem exists – though it is continually avoided to be addressed.[...]

....the Panthers prompted a Mizrahi cultural awakening reflective of the cultural oppression of the Mizrahim which began immediately after their first protest and which continued in tandem with the breakdown of Mapai’s hegemony. Initially it was music that blossomed forth, followed by poetry and prose, and above all, academic research. Later came cinematography and the arts. [...]

I would like to emphasize the courage and devotion of the group of youngsters from Musrara who stood up against the forces of oppression and confronted the state headed by Mapai on both the ideological and physical levels. It is sad to note that since the confrontations of the Black Panthers, not one Mizrahi movement has emerged which dared to carry out a direct and brave confrontation with the state.[...]

Black Panthers Founder, Former MK Marciano Dies At 58 - "He always spoke of the poor residents of Jerusalem and never mentiioned his own financial situation"

Sa'adia, respectable, admirable human being, Yedid Nefesh, who's death was hardly mentioned on all of the 3 major tv stations while filth bags like Olmert would probably reach world press coverage, Zichronkha Baruch - May You Rest In Peace...

Tse.