When one thinks of a school as prestigious as Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town, one imagines only the cream of the crop emerging from its hallowed halls.
These are the school boys that go on to lead the Springboks, are the frontrunners among the Proteas, become the captains of industry - whether through the Old Boys patronage or by the virtue of its own robust schooling system is subject matter for another day.
But one also imagines that the boys who graduate from this revered institution would be taught to speak their minds, taught that freedom of expression and a strong sense of justice are among the most valued traits of an Old Diocesan.
One would imagine that the gatekeeping of opinions would be shunned.
One would be wrong.
This week, startling matters have been uncovered by IOL that call into question Bishops Diocesan College’s vision statement.
Critical to this is the now-deleted pro-Palestinian posts, on his own personal, private Facebook page, of Bishops Diocesan College Council Chairperson Crispin Sonn.
Sonn has been key to driving transformation at the 175-year-old school, but it seems speaking out against the genocide Israel is carrying out in Palestine is a bridge too far.
On Wednesday, IOL reported that Sonn had apologised to the Bishops Community for his posts, and on Friday revealed that an email from the Old Diocesan Union — Bishops alumni association — shows Sonn’s hand may have been forced.
Looking at the Bishops Vision Statement, which says the school aspires to “live humbly and with moral courage”, “address critical global issues”, and “contribute actively to transformation to a more just society by embracing and celebrating our heritage in all its diversity”, it’s curious that Sonn’s expression of his opinion on the Israeli genocide be shouted down, ostensibly by Zionists who seem to be ruling the roost.
In another disturbing email addressed to school principal Tony Reeler which IOL has seen, the writer says the following:
“Crispin Sonn starts his post with subjective and judgemental statements of comparison regarding racism, love for children, religious prayer, as well as a referral to God and life itself. He then continues to link these aspects directly to Zionists (’Zionists are victim to this mentality’). He goes on to state that this ‘prejudice’ is directly linked to Zionists, commenting that ‘they’ do not only show ‘prejudice towards Arabs and Palestinians but against black people as well’. There is absolutely no doubt that his post is racist and was directed at the Jewish community at large, regardless of where they live.”
The writer clearly conflates Zionism with Judaism, and Zionists with Jews, as the letter later confirms.
The Zionist Israeli genocidal regime is committing egregious war crimes in Palestine against the Palestinian people.
Jews are not.
To speak out against the genocide being perpetrated by the government of Israel against Palestinians is not anti-Semitic.
And yet, the writer of the letter to Principal Reeler states boldly that “Zionists in South Africa were imprisoned and died for the Black struggle”. I believe there were indeed hundreds of Jewish people who fought and died in the Struggle for our freedom, but I don’t believe we can count Zionists among them, especially in the context of our founding father Nelson Mandela’s comments that the freedom Struggle of South Africa was, and is, inextricably linked the freedom of the Palestinian people — a freedom Zionists in Israel not only dispute, but are committing war crimes to prevent.
The writer goes on to say that Sonn follows as council chair from “honourable men” like Mike Bosman and Simon Peile and claims Sonn will never be in their league. I can’t shake the feeling that this might be due to Sonn’s superior melanin count.
In the same email the Old Diocesan Union sent to its alumni community to address Sonn’s crime of speaking out against genocide, they mention “in a separate yet equally important matter”, that there are four vacancies for which Council would be calling for nominations, calling on its old boys to step up to the plate, no doubt garnering additional support to ultimately oust Sonn from the council chair position.
I would be surprised by the lack of attention given to this matter in our mainstream media, but I realise it’s in the best interest of maintaining the status quo at Bishops that melanin-deficient individuals sympathetic to Israel’s genocide continue to guide the overall governance and leadership of the school.
Sonn is the son of Franklin Sonn, a respected, decorated educator, South African ambassador, and fearless campaigner for civil rights with a long history of service and activism. His son, Crispin is cut from the same cloth, and should not be forced to apologise for standing up for what is right.
The Bishops Council should know better, and do better, to lead the boys in their care by example, and not bow to Zionist demands and be silenced when speaking out against injustice.
* Lance Witten is the Editor of IOL.