One month after the government of the City of Buenos Aires disqualified three artisans from the traditional Defense fair in the neighborhood of Saint Elmothe victims considered they were victims of “an act of censorship of freedom of expression” and demanded that their work permits be returned. It all started when one of them was displaying a Palestinian flag at her stall and was verbally attacked by another guest stallholder who is pro-State of Israel.
The conflict occurred on March 1 in one of the sections of the extensive fair, known as Recova II of San Telmolocated in Defensa at 700. Through a statement, titled “Not one artisan less” the fairgrounders demanded that the government of the City of Buenos Aires review your decision and revoke it. “We have not been allowed to defend ourselves and, nevertheless, the maximum sanction has been applied to us: the cancellation of our work permits,” they indicated.
“We need to go back to work because all week we make our crafts to sell on Sunday. It is our only source of income. We have to pay rent, support our families. Right now, we live off the solidarity collections that our colleagues make,” he said. Delfina Argentodelegate of the fair and one of those affected.
The statement highlights that the Buenos Aires government adopted this measure after the viralization of a cut video in which the fairgrounders are demonstrating in favor of Palestine. According to what they reconstructed, that Sunday started like any other day at the fair on 700 Defensa Street. First thing in the morning, positions were given to invited people, not permanent members of the fair, who come every Sunday to ask for a space to work. This is a common solidarity practice at fairs.
“At around nine thirty in the morning, a guest craftswoman verbally attacked a permanent stallholder for putting a Palestinian flag at her stall.“, remember Silver. “In my role as a delegate, I approached her and asked her to calm down. But she didn’t; on the contrary, she began to attack us with racist insults and shout ‘Take out that terrorist flag‘. Then I called the police and the inspectors of Fairs and Public Spaces and the woman calmed down.”.
According to account Silverthey offered the guest to “change places” so as not to be next to the flag of Palestinebut the woman did not want to. “He said, ‘I’m going to talk to my boss,’ He made some phone calls and two people came to film. She continued with insults like ‘terrorists’, ‘fucking black women’, until at two in the afternoon she said: ‘I can’t be next to this flag.’ “He dismantled his stand and left.”
In the report prepared by the fairmen it is stated that while some artisans were singing “Long live Free Palestine” They were filmed at a distance of at least twenty meters. Shortly after, A video went viral where the woman claimed to have been expelled from the fair for her religion. “This unleashed a wave of harassment and threats in the personal networks of the artisans, their children and family members“, they pointed out.
As is known, the Government did not take long to join the ridicule against the fairgrounds. “We repudiate with absolute firmness the anti-Semitic attack that occurred in the San Telmo Fairwhere an artisan was harassed for the mere fact of being Jewish. Anti-Semitism is unacceptable. It is a form of hatred that constitutes a crime and we are not going to let it pass under any circumstances,” it was stated in an official statement replicated by the Head of Government himself. Jorge Macri.
Along the same lines, the Buenos Aires legislator and fan of the expansionist policies of the State of Israel, Waldo Wollfthreatened: “Anti-Semitism is a crime and not only does it have no place in our City, but we are going to attack them with the full weight of the law and the powers of the Executive power to those who do not understand it,” he assured, while arguing that he had filed a criminal complaint within the framework of the Anti-discrimination Law.
For the victims, the version that the guest was expelled for her religion reached the mass media and generated the reaction of the city government, which that same day issued the cancellation of the work permit of the three fairmen involved: the one who put up the flag of Palestine, the delegate and another fairwoman who expressed her rejection of the attacks by the guest.
“They expelled us without even calling us to ask us what happened. They deprived us of our right to defend ourselves, based only on video clippings on social networks, and they prohibited us from working again.”, he adds Silver.
“Our fair is a space for work, solidarity and community construction, free of violence. Punishing freedom of expression is censorship. Denying the right to defense is unconstitutional. Acting without due process is an attack on democratic principles and the human right to work“, they concluded from the Fair.
