
Women against deportation: The International Woman Day of Maan
[:en]On the International Woman Day, March 8th, Arab and Jewish

[:en]On the International Woman Day, March 8th, Arab and Jewish
[:en]The Israeli government’s decision to deport 37,000 asylum seekers who
The Workers Advice Center (WAC-MAAN), which seeks justice for all, sees the courageous struggle of the African asylum seekers as an exemplary civic struggle and does all it can to assist, and believes theirs is an important battle in the fight against racism and discrimination.
The struggle of the African asylum seekers in Israel to be recognized as refugees and to be treated as human beings has been in the headlines regularly during the last few weeks. This follows their declaration, on Jan. 5, 2014, of a mass campaign including a strike to demand that the government cease abusing them. On the first day of the campaign, some 25,000 (half of all asylum seekers in Israel) gathered in Tel Aviv’s central Rabin Square in an unprecedented demonstration, showing the government that this is indeed a real human issue. Later, the asylum seekers demonstrated in front of foreign embassies and the UN representative in Israel, declaring that they would continue their struggle until the cancelation of the law that enables unlimited detention, violation of the right to work, and the current policy of not investigating asylum claims.