By Abdulhaq Ibrahim
Few days ago, I asked Ghanaians to let the empty seats speak. Today, at Silverbird Cinema in Accra Mall, they spoke again.
For the second year running, ordinary Ghanaians refused to give the Israeli Embassy’s film festival the popular legitimacy it sought. Concerned citizens and activists gathered peacefully with placards in solidarity with Palestine and against the continued killing and suffering of civilians in Gaza.
But something deeply troubling happened. Students from Achimota School and Accra Girls Senior High School were brought to the festival in their school uniforms, on a Sunday.
We were there. We saw them. We have photographs and video.
So we ask:
Was the Ministry of Education aware of this? Was the Ghana Education Service aware? Who authorised these students in their uniforms to attend on a Sunday an Israeli Embassy-sponsored event at the centre of such a serious political controversy?
If the Ministry was not aware, then it should please investigate immediately.
Who contacted the schools? Who approved the students’ participation? Who arranged their movement? Were parents properly informed about the nature of the programme? And what exactly was the educational purpose?
If procedures were bypassed or authority was abused, we hope action will be taken against those responsible for allowing Ghanaian school children to become instruments of foreign (Israel) diplomatic propaganda.
The children themselves should not be blamed. They may have had little understanding of the political purpose surrounding the event. The responsibility belongs to the adults who placed them there.
When the public refuses, bring the children?
This is what makes the situation so disturbing.
Last year, despite the attendance of political and diplomatic figures, the Israeli Film Festival faced strong public resistance. Ghanaians protested. Organisations demanded its cancellation. The cinema was marked by empty seats.
This year, the Embassy returned with a smaller programme: free entry, free popcorn, raffle prizes and an invitation specifically targeting students and young people.
Once again, ordinary Ghanaians did not rush to fill the cinema. Then uniformed students appeared. The question almost asks itself:
When Ghanaian adults refuse to fill the seats, must Ghanaian children be brought in to make them look full?
Accra Girls Senior High School Students coming out from Silverbird Cinema at Accra Mall
That is not cultural exchange. If school children are being mobilised to manufacture the appearance of public acceptance, then we are dealing with something much more serious.
An embassy-sponsored festival is not “just cinema”.
Embassies represent states. Cultural diplomacy exists precisely because states understand that films, art, education and entertainment can soften political images and generate goodwill.
Nkrumah warned Africa that domination would not always arrive wearing colonial uniforms. Neo-colonialism works through influence, institutions, culture and the shaping of consciousness.
The methods become softer. The objective remains influence. Ghanaian schools must therefore never become extensions of foreign embassies.
Our children are not diplomatic props. Especially when Ghana’s President has already spoken
The timing makes this even more extraordinary.
President John Dramani Mahama has publicly described what is happening in Gaza as genocide. The Israeli Ambassador to Ghana has publicly rejected the President’s position and defended his government’s conduct. He has every right to present Israel’s position but he must also remember that he is an ambassador to Ghana. Ghana is not an embassy territory.
Against this background, how did students from important Ghanaian public schools in Accra end up inside an Israeli Embassy programme only days after this public disagreement? Again, we ask the Ministry of Education:
Did you know?
If yes, explain why. If no, investigate.That is not an unreasonable demand. It is the minimum expected of a sovereign state.
Nobody should attempt to transform Ghanaian solidarity with Palestine into a Muslim-versus-Jewish or Christian conflict. It is not. Our placard parade was peaceful.
Our argument is political and humanitarian: the killing of civilians, the destruction of Palestinian life, occupation, accountability and the use of diplomacy to create an appearance of normality while these questions remain unresolved.
Palestine is not simply a religious question, it is a question of power, dispossession and human dignity. Africa understands those words, we have lived them.
There was another extraordinary sight at Silverbird today. Police officers. Many of them.
To be clear: the police did not attack us or confront us. Our peaceful protest proceeded without such an incident.
But I personally counted about ten officers just where we are stationed, and there appeared to be more around the mall. Think about that. A significant police presence, at a film festival inside a shopping mall on a Sunday!
We understand that diplomatic events may require security and that police have a responsibility to protect everyone but the contradiction is striking.
We are told this is simply cinema, friendship and harmless cultural exchange, yet it requires such visible security because it has become politically controversial.
The protesters did not create that controversy, rather the actions of the state of Israel did.
Ministry of Education, Ghana deserves an answer!
The students of Achimota and Accra Girls deserve education, not political enlistment. Teach them about the creation of the State of Israel. Teach them about the Holocaust. Teach them Palestinian history. Teach them about the Nakba, occupation, Gaza and international law. Give them the evidence and allow them to think critically. That is education!, but do not place uniformed children inside a controversial foreign embassy programme and allow their presence to become evidence of Ghanaian acceptance.
Yesterday, the empty seats carried a message, Ghanaian consent cannot simply be manufactured. Today, the appearance of school children makes that message even more urgent, so we ask again:
Achimota School Students out in their uniform after the first film was concluded holding packages and leaflet of the film festival
Ministry of Education, were you aware? If not, investigate. If anyone improperly authorised this, hold them accountable. Ghanaian children are not instruments of foreign diplomatic propaganda. Ghanaian schools are not extensions of foreign embassies, and Ghana is not anybody’s propaganda colony.
The empty seats spoke again!
Now the Ministry of Education must speak and so may be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the leadership of Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa should also make a clear statement to put the Israeli Ambassador in his postition.
