In this episode of the miniseries, ‘Social work around the world’, Community Care’s careers editor, Sharmeen Ziauddin, speaks to social worker Riad Arar, who is from Hebron, a city south of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.
He describes what life has been like for him since 7 October 2023. Increased military checkpoints have made delivering services incredibly hard for social workers and healthcare professionals. The focus is on survival and having the basic necessities.
Riad speaks about the destruction and trauma around him and in Gaza. He points out that social workers and other professionals are not exempt from the trauma of occupation and war. His Palestinian colleagues, even those who work for international humanitarian organisations, are not safe in Gaza.
But Riad also talks about hope, and how the solidarity from the international community keeps him going.
Listening with the transcript is advisable.
About The Social Work Community Podcast
The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners. Careers editor Sharmeen Ziauddin and fellow host Kirsty Ayakwah, our senior careers editor, interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.
It was nominated in the podcast category at the 2024 BASW Social Work Journalism Awards following its first season, which ran from October 2023 to April 2024.
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You can also listen to the episode here:
Listen to “Social work around the world: West Bank & Gaza” on Spreaker.
Listen to Riad’s previous interview: How the Israel-Gaza war has affected social workers in the UK
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Social workers have been embarrassingly quiet on the genocide going on in the Gaza strip. So much for advocating for the rights of children.
Learning self censorship is a national skill in social work. The quiet on what is being perpetuated against Palestinians is in part due to the absolute dread that however justified, however backed by evidence, dissent results almost certainly at being branded and anti-Semite by the parameters of debate or lack of it which is being forced on us from the top down. I work in a London LA where Jewish social workers have been branded as terrorists sympathisers at as self hating Jews by a cabal of self righteous activists with open support from senior managers. When a colleague dared to refer to Michael Rosen he was set upon viciously. This is as much a reality. So that we are clear I restate again, October 7 was an attrocity, it was terrorism laden with vengeance. What has happened since is an openly declared murder strategy aimed at erasing Palestinians from their homeland. It’s racist, it’s genocidal and in the long run all those Jewish or otherwise supporting it will face consequences that they do not expect to face. When Canada,France, UK start to consider sanctions that the road of ruin and erosion of sympathy for Jewish suffering is a quarter of its journey already. I’ve been disowned, tarnished, abuse for not parroting the state approved narrative against Palastinians. I’ve all but been threatened with a disciplinary if I didn’t “tone” down my “ideology”. Lessons from history are that not conforming overrides our DNA. Being a Jew hast spared me. Being the right kind of Jew won’t spare those who see and know but can’t deviate from expected behaviour either. What has this to do with social work? Everything.
Hi Simeon
A very insightful reply. Don’t let them grind you down. At least you will know that you were on the right side of history.
It’s very difficult to draw out social work lessons from this as well as the previous article by an Israeli social worker. For a start definitions of social worker are very different to how we in the UK define it. So what I’ve learnt is never to forget the contexts, the environments, the political systems that we work in, are influenced by and are constrained by. Above all much as UK social workers might think political directions have little impact on us here, being reminded that whether you are in Tel Aviv, Hebron or Oxfordshire, we are not sold arbiters and we certainly aren’t as autonomous as we like to decide ourselves in the UK. Thank you Community Care for having the integrity to feature these.