Yes! Deporting three Sudanese Students is your Problem too!

Yes! It is your problem too!

Within a week, three young men, all three, BA students in the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the IDC in Herzliya, Israel will be deported and will not be given the chance to finish their degree.

Why? Because they are Black.

Why? Because they are not Jews.

Why? Because they come from a country some of us don't want to care about and prefer to relegate in the abysses of their memory as a name they might have once seen on some obscure map in a no less obscure classroom where they know they have spent many hours of daylight in a constant state of haze and boredom. As of late, the Israeli government has decided it was time to refresh their memory and bring back Sudan on the map, but only as far as Israel's borders go. That is, Sudanese were to be replaced outside the borders of Israel. Simple, no need to for any complicated geography knowledge here.

In other words and for those sensitive souls who are having problems understanding, the only reason these three young students are being deported, is because they have committed the crime of being born with a "difficult ethnic origin" and as such, present an existential threat to the country. (Is this sterile and politically correct enough for sensible ears?)

The government's real motives behind the latest waves of racist incitement is not something I want to care about at this stage. I do not wish to start analysing the political factors, both internal and external, the petty power fights within the country, the amazing amounts of money made in arms dealings and military training , the "Oil Route" that is in the process of being redesigned, and so forth.

What ulcers me is the fact that there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to have these particular students leave the country and not let them finish their degree.

What ulcers me is that those young men have been sold so cheaply. They have been given the illusion that they could make it, that someone cared, only to be thrown to the wolves with the rest of the sorry lot once they had served their purpose.

What ulcers me is the silence in the media. Had they raped or stolen, instead of being un-troublesome unnoticeable black students, they would have made the headlines! Now that they are being stolen their future, no one cares.

What ulcers me is the passivity with which the student body accepts the decision without having a protest on campus. Even first graders held a strike to protest the dismissal of their teacher last week.

Students at the esteemed Lauder School of Government Studies(!!) will let their co-students be deported without even half a protest. They are already so well-taught in diplomacy matters that they have organized what seems like a general rehearsal for their future cocktail parties: they have organized a farewell party.

A group was set up on Facebook, "IDC Students against the deportation of 3 students from South Sudan". It has not gone viral is the least one can say. It has collected but 610 likes, not even a tenth of the number of students at the institution!

Sadly, the latest message on the wall is asking fellow students to "exchange e-mail addresses with the 3 and wish them the best of luck".

A protest will not be organized on campus because "activism is not allowed on campus". How so convenient!

Some students did try to approach the press, but were prevented to do so by the IDC who promised them all would be taken care of and solved. The IDC did make a demand to receive student visas for the three and let them finish their degree, but this demand has been rejected today. As one of them said " The IDC has failed to protect them".

These students should not be sent back to their country before completion of their degree. It is wrong, and it is your problem.

Why? Because time to choose has arrived, either the country is an enlightened democracy as it proclaims it is, and as such, it is about time it starts acting accordingly, and its citizens too, by refusing this ridiculous ruling, allowing for the deportation of inoffensive BA students, or it is an obscure ethnocracy, in which case citizens should brace themselves for an obscure and violent future. Because if you do not want to be the next one discriminated against, now is the time to open your mouth and say it out loud: students should not be deported for no other reason but their skin colour, religion and country of origin!