Passport Apartheid

Condemn the South African apartheid regime and support the international boycott (1976) vintage poster by Rachael Romero.

In Zimbabwe, one of the popular relishes to go with the staple dish of sadza (a porridge of cornmeal and water) is “haifiridzi”. The history of this delicious dish speaks to the stringent pass laws in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe’s name under colonial rule) under the Native Passes Act. The same effects of these pass laws in colonial times can be seen in the present day visa system. Haifiridzi was invented by the witty native working men in Rhodesia’s high density towns as a way to cope with the law that hindered them from owning property and having their wives in their worker’s quarters. These men were only permitted to have two pots--one for sadza and one for relish, which was usually a meat portion. Most relishes would be missing a rare component, marrow-stem green kale known as muriwo, a side dish staple in Zimbabwe even today.

Failing to have an extra pot in which to cook the muriwo, after cooking their sadza and meat in the other two pots, the native workers would then simply add the muriwo to the pot with the relish, giving birth to what is known today as “haifiridzi”. The name is a Shona language version of Highfields which was a popular high density town housing most workers quarters. It was strategically positioned by the Rhodesian town planners to be next to the industrial area of what is now Harare (then called Salisbury) amongst other worker’s towns such as Mufakose, Glen View, Glen Norah and Kambuzuma.

Today’s restrictions resemble the pass laws that blocked black citizens economic opportunities, decent wages and a healthy social and family life.

To this day, Zimbabweans under self rule are still making their own compromises, their own mixes. Many don’t come out as nicely as “haifiridzi”. Today’s restrictions resemble the pass laws that blocked black citizens economic opportunities, decent wages and a healthy social and family life. Visa laws today are separating working husbands and wives. Just as pass laws stopped ‘natives’ looking for empowerment in certain districts, visa laws are obstructing Zimbabweans and Africans at large from working at good jobs.

This is a form of systematic racial discrimination based on one’s nationality. Many people are disenfranchised from the right to travel. People with Zimbabwean passports have great difficulty obtaining visas, be they for tourism, study or work. Some African citizens have to travel to other African countries to obtain a visa due to lack of consular services in their respective countries. This form of segregation is reminiscent of in-country travel for a black man during colonial times when Zimbabwe was Rhodesia.

In Rhodesia, failing to walk around with a pass or a “chitupa” or failure to produce it at required times was lethal. There could be dire consequences, some resulting in death. Today many Zimbabwean dreams, especially of youth, are killed for lack of obtaining a visa to work and study in other countries. Soon after high school, one of my friends was unable to pursue a career in criminology because he failed to obtain a study visa. This was in spite of the fact that he had excelled in his studies, had been enrolled at a reputable institution and had even secured a scholarship. But failure to get a visa was the end of his dream of a good education.

The visa application process itself is so intense and so interrogative it feels inhumane. The patronizing treatment received at the consular offices to the frisking, detention and interrogation received at immigration and border controls if one misses but a single correct response during questioning are humiliating.

The visa application process itself is so intense and so interrogative it feels inhumane.

Such treatment is akin to the treatment given native workers during colonial times when a person was found outside their district of origin or their registered district of employment.

It boggles the mind to think this form of discrimination even transcends diplomatic ties. A recent example is the inhumane and frustrating experience of South African President Ceril Ramaphosa at the hands of Polish immigration authorities on his way to the Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks. In June, 2009, then Mining Minister Obert Mpofu was denied a UK visa to attend an investment conference. Today many Zimbabweans face deportation from South Africa as this neighboring country has decided not to renew the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) visa. Visa requirements and visa restrictions are a huge stumbling block to the economic and social progress of many Zimbabweans.

Zimbabweans are Africans, and Africans are disproportionately impacted by visa restrictions. A European can mostly travel freely, often visa free. Europe has a relaxed inter-continental visa-free travel system. But in Africa, a Zimbabwean would need a visa to visit Egypt, a country with which it shares a continent.

As an individual who has been fortunate enough to travel to around eleven countries, I am appalled at the problems faced by my fellow African citizens due to visa restrictions. Now technology and online visa appointment booking begin the stress and mental strain of securing a visa even before the formal process itself starts. Failure to attain a visa can be fatal, killing one’s travel plans dead. My first time traveling was to Washington D.C. I received my visa at the Embassy at around 1400 hours and my flight was four hours later. If my visa interview had been delayed by even a day, I would not have been able to travel.

I was going on an advocacy tour to prepare me to attend college. My whole future prospects would have shattered had I failed to secure a 10 minute interview.

A Letter to My Non-Jewish Friends

'Woman Writing a Letter' by Rupert Shephard. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre

It’s difficult being a Jew today. Of course, over the centuries, that’s often been true. Jews have been reviled, excluded, insulted, isolated, murdered. The Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, was the apotheosis of Jew hatred, mercilessly eliminating much of European Jewry.

Then, in 1948, when I was very young, the State of Israel was declared. In my parents’ synagogue, I sang Hativah, Israel’s national anthem, my young eyes tearing up. A Jewish state, wow! Over time, Jews in America became more and more integrated into the social fabric, flourishing and influencing. Israel was a place of joy, something special.

In my parents’ synagogue, I sang Hativah, Israel’s national anthem, my young eyes tearing up. A Jewish state, wow!

Blinded by pride and relieved to have a Jewish home, from the beginning we refused to see that Israel was a nation-state, not a holy piece of land exempt from disastrous decisions every human-made political entity makes. As to the Palestinians: we didn’t see them; we didn’t acknowledge their existence. They were indistinguishable from all those who wished for our destruction, and we had every right to destroy them as sworn enemies. They were entitled to no human rights.

I can’t speak knowledgeably about Jews in the UK, as I’ve lived here only seven years. My sense is that whilst Jews are much a part of life here, flourishing in communities both orthodox and more secular, they are less of a force than in the US. I suspect this has to do with myriad factors, including Jews’ exclusion from English life over the centuries, living outside city centres both physically (in Oxford, there was a wall around the city which Jews could not cross) and in terms of how Englishness is defined and expressed.

There’s less room here for marginal voices, more pressure to blend in to an Anglicized way of being. At the recent coronation of the king, for example, Protestantism in the form of the Church of England was a continual presence in validating his kingship. White Christian Nationalism is a growing movement threatening US democracy, but there is not yet an official declaration of a marriage between church and state as expressed in the UK monarchy.

These are generalities; discard what feels off. I aim to set the context for where we are now, in summer, 2023. Israel is a nation-state moving further towards a destruction of its democratic institutions, such as the judiciary. Its leaders embrace a set of beliefs underpinned by religious orthodoxies; religion in Israel is intertwined with all major appointments and activities. Watching Israel becoming a de facto theocracy is angushing. I see no difference between the blending of religion and nationalism Israel is embarked upon and the blending of these elements in Hindu India or Islamist Iran. We Jews were often lauded for our cosmopolitanism, our ability to flourish in any culture, at any time, making that culture richer by our presence. In today’s Israel, the desire of those in power is to assert Jewish supremacy and to extinguish that worldliness which once defined us.

We Jews were often lauded for our cosmopolitanism, our ability to flourish in any culture, at any time, making that culture richer by our presence. In today’s Israel, the desire of those in power is to assert Jewish supremacy and to extinguish that worldliness which once defined us.

Along with the destruction of what was once Jewish large-mindedness, there is also the undeniable truth that Israel is sustaining an illegal Occupation, contravening international law in relation to disputed territory. Agents of the state routinely humiliate and torment Palestinians. For the Israeli power structure, there’s no dispute: the land from the Jordan to the Mediterranean belongs to Israel, to the Jews. Period. No argument. 700,000 settlers have moved onto land which does not officially belong to Israel, displacing and tormenting and often killing Palestinians who get in the way. Defending the rights of Palestinians to have a home of their own is to risk being labeled a self-hating Jew, a traitor. You’re a fool for not seeing that Palestinians are the enemy and can never be trusted, only subsumed or destroyed.

I’ll not go on to list those groups who are working for justice, both Jews and Palestinians; those individuals who never give up trying to change minds. Nor will I list those complications that make negotiations difficult -- like a split Palestinian government with a sclerotic 87 y.o. as head of the Palestine Authority (for the nineteenth year and counting) and a militant anti-Israel Hamas in Gaza. I’ll not delve into the alliances the Israeli Right makes with Christian Zionists who are a major source of ongoing US support. I’ll not argue for or against the notion of Israel as a settler-colonial project nor examine the nuances of the term Zionism. The language and slogans and shouting are unrelenting and polarized, and they make it nearly impossible to find common ground.

I will implore my friends not to be paralyzed when it comes to looking at Israeli policy and insist that it must right the wrongs it is doing to Palestinians. It must address this issue and stop hiding behind Jewish vulnerability as an excuse to continue the status quo.

Anti-semitism is on the rise, but that is not a reason to excuse Israeli actions towards Palestinians nor to forgive the inactions of many so-called liberal democracies who turn away.

Anti-semitism is on the rise, but that is not a reason to excuse Israeli actions towards Palestinians nor to forgive the inactions of many so-called liberal democracies who turn away. Anti-semitism has many forms, some more blatant than others. There are visual representations of Jews with hooked noses, huddled over bank notes. There are those who insist Jews run the world, controlling policies through their grasping, moneyed hands. Nazi swastikas are painted on buildings. Jews are called zionist racists as a form of derision. Jews are sometimes shot whilst in gathering places like synagogues. Sometimes the sneering is obvious; other times, it’s a more subtle form of undermining Jews.

Anti-semitism is spreading, not only in right-wing populist countries like Hungary, but even in the good old USA and the UK. It’s real and it’s growing.

Get it clearly: antisemitism exists and it’s scary and it hurts everyone. But that is not a reason to allow Israel to continue its Occupation and to torment Palestinians, denying their human rights. I know it’s difficult to critique Israel because for many, Israeli equals Jew and criticizing Israel can be construed as anti-semitism. Don’t buy into that reasoning; it’s wrong.

I am a Jew. But I am not an Israeli. In fact, twenty percent of Israel’s population is non-Jewish Arab. But Israel refuses to separate out nationality from religion, insisting it’s a Jewish state and its Jewish citizens are to be privileged above its not Jewish ones. No, no, no. This sense of Jewish superiority is used to underpin the belief that Israel is exceptional, free from accountability, unlike other nations held accountable for what they do to all their citizens and what they do in the name of their citizens.

It is difficult and confusing to take a stand on Palestine and Israel. One is whipsawed in many directions. The hatred between Left and Right is extreme. Part of that vitriol stems from the longstanding belief that Jews are different, in horrible ways as in the ancient canard that Jews are Christ-killers and in less egregious but still negative ways. On the other hand, there are those who valorize Jews, giving them extraordinary qualities unlike those of other ethnicities.

Within the Jewish community, the splits between those who support Israel at all costs and those who insist it is on the wrong path are deep and ugly. If you’re not Jewish and you care about this issue, there are verbal landmines everywhere. This is an attempt to bring a bit of light, and to urge you to look as clearly as you can at this nation’s Occupation. Find a way of speaking against it, ever mindful of the distinction between a country--Israel--and an ethnicity--Jew.

Gülce Tulçalı Reviews Two London Exhibitions

British Espionage & Male Homosexuality: Ungentle

Huw Lemmey in collaboration with Onyeka Igwe

Studio Voltaire is a hidden oasis in busy Clapham Common. Renovated in 2021, the space functions as both artist studios and a gallery along with a limited edition shop: House of Voltaire.

As visitors navigate through the multifunctional space, the gallery presents a black curtain dividing work and outer reality. A gentle narrator’s voice is heard through the walls.

Ungentle is filmed entirely on 16mm and is on a continuous loop between 10am to 5 pm, Wednesday to Sunday, at Studio Voltaire’s Gallery space. Watching the film, the audience experiences a sense of ‘spying’ on busy streets, calm countryside picturesques and historically significant places of the espionage. The protagonist directs the entire film from outside the camera lens, making the camera itself a pair of binoculars. As the narrator softly continues, one gets the sense of an intimate conversation with someone about something not so secret.

The film preserves a conversational sincerity throughout ,despite the critical themes it touches on such as: imperialism and sex. As described by the gallery, “It moves from St James’s Park, a historical cruising ground at the center of British power, to Beaulieu, a historic country house in Hampshire that served as a Special Operations Executive training school, and its surrounding countryside.”

More information can be found here.

Ungentle can be seen in Studio Voltaire until January 8th 2023.

Insomnia

by Leah Clements

Leah Clements’ new work INSOMNIA transports the viewer to 3 in the morning, no matter what time you visit the exhibition. Inspired by the artist’s own sleep paralysis and insomnia, South Kiosk hosts the artist’s first photographic solo exhibition. Curated by Marianna Lemos, visitors are placed in a setting with big linen sheets and a bright blue carpet serving like a body of water underneath. Purple and green lights come through the photos, and doors from the photos open to hallways with an uncomfortable sensation of stuckness. Objects are thrown out of time, stuck in a state between wakefulness and sleep, moving but not going anywhere. Clement’s work is informed by this in-between state, where mind and body exist in a parallel world. Her world resembles reality, but simultaneously, space, time and the body are compromised. The photographs suggest time that moves at an irregular pace, a space that appears disproportionate to its dimensions and a body stripped from its regular functions.

The exhibition is accompanied by a sound piece with image descriptions. The viewer is given gentle suggestions as to how to navigate the space. The installation is produced so as to be accessible. From the gallery brochure: “Leah Clements’ practice includes performance, installation, writing and film to develop a language of chronic illness and disability.”

The exhibition can be seen at South Kiosk until 29 January 2023. There is a public programme with talks, workshops and in-person live events.

More information here: https://southkiosk.com/Current