Arabic in the Jaffa Tel Aviv Municipal Council
Yesterday the first meeting of the Jaffa - Tel Aviv municipal council took place.
Omar Siksik, the Yafa list representative (from Jaffa) and the only Palestinian member, addressed the council in Arabic, which after all, is the second official language in the state of Israel. A week before, he made sure the municipality knew about this and would provide simultaneous translation. The official answer: no need..... Well there is a need, as the majority of the council members do not speak Arabic. That's how cultural wipe-outs work.
Huldai opened the meeting by placing it within a hundred-year Tel Aviv historical context, forgetting Jaffa's 4000 or so years of history.
As usual, Ron Huldai formed a coalition, but less usual, there is a strong opposition this time. And instead of quickly going through all the votes on the list in about half an hour, the meeting took a full 4 .5 hours. The opposition (Ir LeKulanu's 5 council members and Yaffa) opposed several of the propositions.
Huldai's coalition put itself comfortably in all the committees as well as municipal companies. 29 men were appointed to the various municipal companies. 29 men, not one woman, not one Palestinian.
And Huldai's coalition ate it all, voted in favour what prior to the elections some of them promised to fight. But fat salaried jobs and the belonging goodies (cars, expense accounts) do their things and as usual, the yes-men and yes-women of Huldai's coalition will continue to carry out their policiy of favoring the rich and wealthy, carrying out pro-car and non- green policies as we have been suffering over the pas 10 years.
Omar Siksik, the Yafa list representative (from Jaffa) and the only Palestinian member, addressed the council in Arabic, which after all, is the second official language in the state of Israel. A week before, he made sure the municipality knew about this and would provide simultaneous translation. The official answer: no need..... Well there is a need, as the majority of the council members do not speak Arabic. That's how cultural wipe-outs work.
Huldai opened the meeting by placing it within a hundred-year Tel Aviv historical context, forgetting Jaffa's 4000 or so years of history.
As usual, Ron Huldai formed a coalition, but less usual, there is a strong opposition this time. And instead of quickly going through all the votes on the list in about half an hour, the meeting took a full 4 .5 hours. The opposition (Ir LeKulanu's 5 council members and Yaffa) opposed several of the propositions.
Huldai's coalition put itself comfortably in all the committees as well as municipal companies. 29 men were appointed to the various municipal companies. 29 men, not one woman, not one Palestinian.
And Huldai's coalition ate it all, voted in favour what prior to the elections some of them promised to fight. But fat salaried jobs and the belonging goodies (cars, expense accounts) do their things and as usual, the yes-men and yes-women of Huldai's coalition will continue to carry out their policiy of favoring the rich and wealthy, carrying out pro-car and non- green policies as we have been suffering over the pas 10 years.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment