Protesters demonstrate against new austerity measures set to be included in the 2013-2014 national budget at a main junction in Tel Aviv May 11, 2013. (Photo:Amir Cohen/Reuters/RT)
On Saturday, 10,000 Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv calling for the ouster of Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who backed austerity measures that cut short his wave of popularity as a potential challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The demonstration was called for days in advance through a Facebook event page, as Israelis anticipated the announcement of the next government budget.
Demonstrations were also held in Hafia, Modin and Ramat Gan. The Ramat Gan protest opposed a controversial proposal to drill oil off the coast of the Mediterranean.
Last winter during Israel’s election campaign, Lapid, a former anchorman, emerged as the unlikely candidate for the middle-class. His base was hopeful he would curtail Likud economic liberalism that maneuvered Israel to the right. However, his reign as a changemaker elapsed late last week when the finance minister announced next year’s state funding plan. More social services will be cut, VAT taxes will increase and even a tax on cemetery plots is now causing Israelis to feel pinched.
“Lapid’s financial plan will severely hurt the working man and will trample the weak sectors,” Labor Party Minister of Knesset Itzik Shmuli said to Haaretz. “To block it, we will wage a persistent battle on the streets and in the halls of the Knesset. Israelis don’t expect their finance minister to be a socialist, but they don’t expect him to be a populist, either. [They expect him] only to fulfill the promises he has been making up until last week,” he continued.
Protesters demonstrate against new austerity measures set to be included in the 2013-2014 national budget at a main junction in Tel Aviv May 11, 2013. (Photo:Amir Cohen/Reuters/RT)
Yesterday’s dissidents reflected the “J14 movement,” the wave of social justice protests in summer 2011; they are an amalgamation of Israel’s center left to far left—including labor unions and Knesset members. +972 Magazine‘s Haggai Matar says that the renewed demonstrations will raise the same questions that plagued the activists two years ago: what is their line on the occupation and settlements and how do the rights of Palestinians configure into the protests?
While the official event is targeting not only capital but the settlements in the West Bank, and while leftist parties are preparing to make their presence felt on the streets, some are once again calling for the protests to be “a-political” (that is: not to mention the occupation) so as to “allow a wider base of support.” Tensions might also arise between the old and somewhat centrist leadership of the movement and other leaders from the social periphery, who have been constantly active since July 2011.
Because grievances over the cost of housing are intrinsically tied to the outposts of the West Bank (the highest government subsidies are available to those living outside of Israel’s 1967 borders), taking a stand against settlements would seem appropriate for the anti-austerity protesters. Yet, the demonstrators are going to be silent on the issue of occupation– even as critics in the pro-Palestinian camp will call them hypocritical for that silence– because nothing can be more contentious among Israelis than the lives of Palestinians.
Ah, yes, the Big Tent. What they want are as many people as possible under the Big Tent. To do that they avoid any issues that might be “divisive” and scare some away. They obviously have no idea on how you get a social justice movement going.
Here’s how you do it: first- you articulate what the problem is; second-how you propose to deal with said problem; third-you put your views forward and say “who’s with me?”
I’ll know when J14 is a true social justice movement when the settlers start avoiding them like the plague.
Social justice and Jewish supremacism are not compatible.
J14 is a left wing Israeli movement that is based on economic justice. Israel was founded in a large part by European Jews who were socialists. They have a long tradition. However, from the very beginning it was a movement that explicitly excluded non-Jewish Palistinians. The commune movement of the Kibbutsim and the worker movement of the Hisrardot was based on the notion that only Jews should farm the land or be workers. Hisradot was already picketing construction jobs during the 1930s if the contractors hired Palestinians. This economic justice movement was from the very beginning a Jews only movement.
If the Palestinian farmers and laborers were actively excluded from the new economy that the Jews were building from the very beginning then it seems quite clear that these actions were designed for ethnic cleansing. (Hey if the farmers can’t farm and the workers can’t work, then immigration is the result — unfortunately for Israel that didn’t happen, too many were left behind that continue to demand their rights.)
It is no surprise that J14 would exclude the Palestinians. After all, J14 is descended from left wing Israelis that helped initiate the exclusion of the Palestinians from their new nation. It would be truly radical if they were to invite Palestinians into their notion of economic justice. Who knows, if they did that then they might have to consider political justice.
Allison,
You made an insightful report. You may recall in passing that since its inception even the Socialist left there has been like this. The country’s Socialist left came out of the European left of the early 20th century, which divided along national lines and fought itself in WWI. Israeli Socialists apparently turned out to be even more nationalist than the European ones of the era, considering attacks by Socialist kibbutzes on peaceful villages. A case in point is Chomsky, who planned to seek cooperation with Palestinians and joined a far-left Hatzomair kibbutz, which a few years before had expelled the neighboring friendly village.
We should welcome the latest outburst from the Israeli Jewish working class and middle class, trying to defend their standard of living, in the face of attacks by the Israeli Jewish ruling class. Of course, it would be wonderful if they could work together with the Palestinians, as I’m sure all Mondoweiss readers agree.
However, I wonder if it’s entirely realistic to demand that the J-14 speak out for Palestinians right now.
If organizers of the J-14 protests want to recruit about 20% of the Israeli population who are severely oppressed, they could reach out to Palestinians. That would requiring combating the racist attitudes of their own (Israeli Jewish) members. And they may not be ready for that yet.
For decades, leftists have dreamed of an alliance between Palestinians and Israel’s Jewish workers. But getting there isn’t easy.
It’s the same in the US: leftists have long voiced the slogan, “black and white: unite and fight!” But it isn’t easy here, either.
What is encouraging is the emergence of class conflict between the Jewish classes of Israel. Polarization along class lines, as well as longstanding racial lines.
There are plenty of obstacles. For example: if Israeli leftists reach out to Palestinians, who represents the Palestinians? Hamas, as an Islamic party, has trouble reaching out to Palestinian Christians or secular Palestinians. The Palestinian “Authority” is even more discredited among Palestinians than Hamas.
Let’s hope that the new Israeli Jewish protest movement can establish relations with the Palestinians.
I hope Mondoweiss will run opinion pieces from Jewish Israelis involved with the new protest movement.
Yair Lapid to the people of Israel :
“I may be qualified for a one night stand but I could never take the place of your finance man”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I-QS2GHEw0
He cuts spending on the poor because YESHA needs the money. Same as the rest of the sociopaths in the Government.
“Israel couldn’t stop crying because she knew the settlers were there to stay
Bibi don’t waste your time…: