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International Women’s Day in Tel Aviv
all photos by Hadas Reshef
On International Women's Day, March 8th, hundreds of WAC's Arab women agricultural workers marched through Tel Aviv, demanding their right to work. Delegates of other women’s and social organizations joined the march. Arab women in Israel are at the bottom of the social ladder. Only a fifth of them work. Due to the lack of job opportunities, discrimination, and low levels of education, they remain at the margins, doomed to poverty. Small wonder, then, that two of every three Arab children in Israel are below the poverty line. Furthermore, the government-backed policy of importing cheap workers from abroad deprives Arab women of the few job opportunities they had. The march ended with a street rally, moderated by Michal Schwartz, WAC’s coordinator of women’s affairs. The rally was endorsed by representatives of other women’s forums and social organizations. The first speaker was Wafa Tiara, formerly an agricultural worker and at present an organizer with WAC, who called women workers to join WAC and create a genuine grass-roots trade union containing a strong women’s movement.
She was followed by Asma Aghbaria-Zahalka, among the founders of WAC, a former ODA nominee to head the Workers' Party, and currently nominee for the Tel Aviv municipality elections. “We are building a strong social working class power, encompassing men and women, Arabs and Jews, which presents an alternative to the present racist, chauvinist and extreme religious currents. We are struggling for life, for our future,” she said. Dr. Erela Shadmi, a veteran peace activist and a feminist, said that the spirit of the march and the women of WAC are the true continuation of the historic women’s struggles from the 19th century which originated Women’s Day. She called on WAC women to lead the women’s movement in Israel. The next speaker was Nurit Hajaj, coordinator of the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow New Discourse. Hajaj pointed out that many Tel Aviv residents must have been taken aback at first, as they are used to the stereotypical idea that Arabs only raise extremist and fanatic demands. Yet this demonstration highlighted a different picture altogether. Poet Yehudit Shahar congratulated the women for the courage to demonstrate in Tel Aviv, and read her poem It is me who is speaking. The platform also included Shevi Korzen from the Hotline for Migrant Workers who dedicated her speech to the courageous women migrant workers who leave their families in the Philippines or Nepal to earn a living. “They probably can't be with us today because they are busy taking care of the elderly and sick in Israel.” Among others who addressed the crowd were Orna Meri-Esh from Isha Leisha, a feminist coalition in Haifa; Yana Ziferblat from the Coalition of Women for Peace; and Esther Eilam, one of the founders of the feminist movement in Israel, and today a leader of Sister – for Women in Israel. At the same time, hundreds visited a nearby Bread and Roses art exhibition. Revenues from the sale of works in the exhibition will be dedicated to WAC’s agricultural female workers. The Israeli TV Channel One highlighted the demonstration in that evening’s news broadcast.
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