The Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa (BNLSA) is a scholarly publication issued by the National Library of South Africa since 1946. I have published six articles in the Bulletin so far.
However, a couple of months ago, the editor sent me extremely unethical feedback regarding my new article. Since 2014, I have been submitting articles to the Bulletin and have never received such an awkward response.
I realized that this was the first time I had written about Palestine in this journal, and it was also the first time I had received such ridiculous feedback.
While I do not mind too much, since the article was published in a more reputable journal, the issue lies in the fact that the Bulletin demonstrated a biased approach toward scholars due to the subject of Palestine.
It is disheartening to see such a racist view still prevalent in South African academia.
As a result, I will no longer submit my articles to the Bulletin until it becomes the objective journal it is expected to be.
For my beloved readers, I would like to share some of the reviewer’s feedback and my responses to the editor.
The reviewer stated, “Peer reviewers do blind, anonymous reviews. In other words, they do not know the identity of the author, and you would not know the identity of the peer reviewer.”
My response to the editor was: “The reviewer mentions the book I wrote and states, ‘No copies in South Africa, how strange.’ Thus, contrary to your assertion, the reviewer clearly knows who I am. Additionally, if the reviewer cannot find the published source, they cannot blame the researcher.”
After my response, the editor remained silent and did not address the reviewer’s unethical attitude. It is indeed bizarre that the reviewer blamed me for not being able to find the book I cited in my article.
The editor’s second comment was: “I know you badly want him to be Palestinian, but that link cannot be concocted, so I must have that proof, please.”
My response was: “Firstly, his grandchildren live in South Africa and identify as Palestinian. What proof do you need?
When they renovated their grandfather’s grave in Wynberg in the 1990s, they inscribed his birthplace as Palestine, Haifa, on his tombstone (see the attachment).”
Just imagine being a South African citizen of Palestinian origin trying to prove your roots, yet not being convincing enough for the editor due to their Zionist bias.
Zein’s family members and gravestone are in Cape Town, but the editor suggests that I’m trying to “make him” Palestinian.
What an unprofessional response to a writer; how disrespectful to the grandchildren of a Palestinian figure in South Africa.
It is clear they did not want to acknowledge a Palestinian figure in the history of South Africa and instead made absurd excuses regarding my article.
The Bulletin is supposed to highlight South Africa’s diverse cultures and indigenous histories, yet it fails on this front due to censorship of Zionist influence.
Perhaps it is time to decolonize the Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa before it truly becomes “How Strange.”
* Halim Gençoğlu is a historian with PhD from UCT and is a post-doctoral fellow at Wits University.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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