Why I didn’t participate in last night’s social justice demonstration

September 4, 2011 - 12:46 PM by

Protest in Tel Aviv last night

I didn’t participate in the mass social justice rallies last night. I wanted to, sort of. But inertia and washing the post-Shabbat dishes grabbed center stage. Moreover, I’m still conflicted about whether or not I fully support what’s going on outside on our streets. Nehemia Strasler put it best in an article in today’s Haaretz.

Strasler, an economics writer for the paper, compared the two main voices of the protest movement: that of Daphni Leef, who started the whole thing on Facebook, and Itzik Shmuli, head of the National Student Union. Leef tends to get most of the press – especially since revelations last week that she never served in the army and didn’t rush to do national service instead – but her approach leaves me with the heeby-jeebies.

Leef wants “a change of the economic system,” Strasler writes in his piece, in “an attempt to force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to completely reverse his approach.” Her movement opposes privatization, free competition and free enterprise, Strasler adds, and wants “big government that imposes much greater taxes.” In another article, I read that her eight-page manifesto also calls for government-backed mortgages.

Let’s just take the last point for a moment. Government-backed mortgages are exactly what got the U.S. into such economic turmoil. Sure, mortgages were formally given by banks, but Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, quasi-government organizations, essentially guaranteed those mortgages. They were then among the biggest recipients of the massive bailout package. Implementing such a strategy here would be an unmitigated disaster!

Shmuli, on the other hand, sounds like a voice of reason. He wants the current economic system to continue “with changes made to find the proper balance,” writes Strasler. “He understands that a free-market economy is the best system.” Shmuli is also ready and happy to meet with the Trajtenberg committee set up by the government to try to find a way to increase social justice without breaking the budget. Leef dismisses Trajtenberg out of hand, calling the committee “cynical, cruel and knowingly misleading.” Why?

I’ve written here before that a return to a welfare state is the worst possible outcome that could result from the social justice protests. Yes prices are high. Yes, classrooms are packed. Yes, doctors are underpaid. Yes, it’s impossible to buy a home.

But we are also not a Northern European OECD country and it’s wrong of us to compare Israel to one. As Strasler points out: “we are poorer than Europe, we work less [large sectors of the population don’t work at all, affecting the tax base] and spend more on security.” That’s not to say we shouldn’t strive for a more affordable life, but it’s not as easy as yelling “we want social justice!”

On taxes: now, I am certainly not a tycoon. But I do own my own business and I was very much in favor of Netanyahu’s plans to bring corporate taxes down (Leef wants them to go up). I used to work in a large telecommunications company. My monthly salary was more than double what it is today. But my take-home pay then was just about the same as it is now. Where is the incentive to work harder when taxes are so high? I may not agree with the prime minister on many issues, but in this case, Netanyahu’s direction was the right one.

So, when it came to joining the protest last night, the voice of Daphni Leef kept ringing in my ears. Do I want to march for her agenda? Can one demonstrate regardless in order to register some vague support for “change?”

I don’t want this summer’s remarkable consumer and middle class uprising to fall by the wayside. I am relatively confident that Manuel Trajtenberg will deliver on his promise: to come up with creative solutions that the prime minister has pledged to implement. Perhaps the time is indeed right to fold up the tents. The message has been heard. Now let’s hope the politicians will act in a responsible way.

Tags: • Category: Politics 

Comments

6 Comments on Why I didn’t participate in last night’s social justice demonstration

  1. Ellis Shuman on Sun, Sep 4th 2011 1:10 PM

    2. The demonstrators were able to rally around nearly an entire nation when they called out “We want social justice.” Who could disagree?

    But what were they really calling for? I can’t give you a list of specific demands. Possibly only Nehamia Strasler fully understands this. I’m afraid that if the list of demands was fully understood by the entire public, the general support for this movement would begin to crack. Instead of a unified call, we would hear “I want social justice A” and “I want social justice B”.

    I didn’t attend the rally either, because I live outside the big cities and I was afraid I wouldn’t find parking or would get stuck in a traffic jam. Those are day to day concerns of Israelis as well.

  2. Aviva on Sun, Sep 4th 2011 1:49 PM

    3. Well said! Thank you!!

  3. Benjamin on Mon, Sep 5th 2011 8:32 AM

    4. Brian. Wow. Do you have it backwards or what? This isn’t about Leef (thankfully) or Shmuli either. This is about taking control of our lives and making them our own. I couldn’t disagree more with Leef’s approach to economics and I wonder where she gets off on trying to formulate policy with no formal training or experience. That said, she is the spark that started this fire, so kudos to her on that score. Maybe it’s time for her to get off the stage.

    As for you not coming to the demonstration. Shame on you. Next time get your dishes done later, they’ll keep.

  4. Jpeditor on Wed, Sep 7th 2011 8:08 AM

    5. “That said, she is the spark that started this fire, so kudos to her on that score. Maybe it’s time for her to get off the stage.”

    She’s a proto-communist jihadi appeaser who stabbed Israel in the back with her refusal to serve and with her association with the jihadists who whine about “occupation”.

    You want to change the economy? Start with annexing Judea-Samaria and getting the State to release to land on both sides for private development of homes and more farmland.

    Next, ending the insane over-regulatory atmosphere and the crushing monopolies held by by the select few in food production and distribution.

    Finally, open up the airwaves for more privately owned broadcasting, not only will you break the monopoly of the Left on the media, but competition will bring down the cost of advertising.

    Finally, start deporting some Leftists – they are sapping the will out of Israel and will only stab you in the back once the war comes with Iran.

  5. Ira Kerem on Wed, Sep 7th 2011 6:50 PM

    6. People don’t have to agree with every proposal on the list of demands. This is the Middle East and everyone knows that one side has to exxagerate in order for the other side to give anything. If it wasn’t for those in the tents and those in the streets, the government would never have acknowldedged that life is difficult for most of its citizens. If you remember, until recently the goverment kept announcing how wonderful the economy was doing. We will see what kind of recommendations the Trajtenberg committee will make. You can be sure that the Prime Minister, government ministers, economic professors, etc. will find hundreds of excuses why nothing substantial can change. It will only be after the next round of demonstrations that the government and knesset might act. I hope by then you will be able to stand with hundreds of thousands of other Israelis who believe that the demand for social justice, despite how much the committee will have watered down many of the just demands, is worthy enough to make an effort to get the goverment to actually implement something.

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