The global crisis and the protest
The protest movement is being heavily discussed. Some say it won't lead anywhere because it avoids politics. Some criticize it because its agenda is so broad it won't be possible to realize it. Some see it as a national Zionist movement because it doesn't make the link between social justice and peace. Among the Arab population, voices are increasingly heard refusing to take part in the protest because, they say, it concerns only Jews. The vast majority of workers are not taking part because they don't believe anything will come of it. This feeling got stronger when the tent encampments were dismantled following the "march of the million" and the discovery of internal schisms within the protest leadership.
Though most of the criticism is justified, and under normal circumstances the protest would fizzle out, it seems this time things are different. The Israeli middle class is not isolated. Its awakening is a global phenomenon, and is a response to the economic system ruling around the world, from the US to Argentina, from Egypt to Israel. The capitalist system itself is collapsing; socioeconomic disparities and inequality have led to the spread of poverty from the periphery to the heart of the capitalist world, where the economy works for the tycoons, the banks and the stock exchanges while workers' wages decline and unemployment rises.
There is a direct link between Israel's protest movement and the events in Madrid and Cairo. The attempts by establishment figures in Israel to paint the Egyptian uprising in Islamic colors were intended to preserve the national-security discourse and enable the continuation of the policy of hostility towards the Palestinians and the Arab world. The revolution in Egypt, too, is a middle class uprising. However, unlike in Israel, the power of the Egyptian revolution lies in the central role played by the Egyptian workers. Well before the youth took to the streets, a widespread movement of strikes had taken hold. Egyptian workers protested against the privatization of state-owned enterprises, against low wages, against management corruption, against the monopolies, against the government, and of course against the emergency laws which denied them the right to unionize, the right to strike and the right to protest.
The participation of the educated youth tipped the scales against the government and brought its downfall. The Muslim Brotherhood at first opposed the protest, joining the revolution only much later, when Mubarak's fate was sealed. The Egyptian revolution is fundamentally democratic, and demands a modern, secular constitution. Its battle-cry was "democracy and social justice," a response to the regime of privatization and the crushing of all social solidarity which characterized the parasitic capitalism of the Mubarak period. This revolution broke out not just because of the lack of democracy but because the social and economic system had brought Egyptian society to the verge of collapse. Millions of university graduates saw no future for themselves in Egypt; government services had collapsed; food prices sky-rocketed; unemployment increased; and wages failed to meet rising costs of living.
The Israeli government's claim that the economy is doing fine and will weather the economic crisis is far from the truth. Israel, like other western states which adopted market economies, suffers from over-concentration of economic resources. The tycoons who control the economy are facing difficulties because of the fall of the stock markets where they invest. Israeli companies are highly leveraged, investing in real estate, equities and various speculative ventures far from public surveillance or the knowledge of investors. Furthermore, what is happening in the global economy affects the performance of most industries in Israel, which depend on export. The recession in the economy of the West directly affects production in Israel and is liable to lead to greater unemployment.
The social security safety net has shrunk, even as the state budget enjoys a surplus due to taxation. If the economy is hit by recession and tax revenues fall, public services such as education, health and welfare will be immediately affected. Moreover, the ruling social-economic ideology praises the free market, and the current government continues to cling to its market-oriented policies until the bitter end, in the spirit of Samson who declared, "Let me die with the Philistines." This is how the Republican Party in the US is behaving, restraining Obama's plans to fight unemployment and to increase taxation of the wealthy. The US government's inability to govern is an important factor in creating the crisis of faith in the American economy and in deepening the global crisis which is playing havoc with the European economy.
These facts show that Israel's government does not want, and is even unable, to meet the demands of the protest movement. The reasons for the rise of the movement have not only failed to disappear, but are gaining strength. The tycoons are unable to settle their debts, companies are not investing or creating jobs worthy of the name, and states are approaching bankruptcy—not only Russia and Argentina, but also Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland, even the US. And it must be noted that the NIS 50 billion Israel sets aside for defense, an enormous percentage of its budget, makes the aim of turning Israel into a Middle East Switzerland just a fantasy—and we haven't even mentioned security instability and Israel's international isolation. The size of Israel's defense budget reflects the security establishment's enormous influence in determining national priorities, according to which we are fated to live by the sword forever. Real and imagined strategic threats are conjured up day and night, competing with the demands for social justice. Until Israel becomes a normal state with recognized borders and without the occupation, no normal, egalitarian society will be possible here.
The Arab minority's middle class isolates itself
The Israeli protest movement fell on Israel's Arab population like a thunderbolt out of the blue. The Arab parties were busy with an extreme nationalist agenda, which included widespread support for Hezbollah during the second Lebanon war, participation in the Turkish flotilla, demonstrations against Lieberman's racist legislation, even support for Assad's regime which "stood fast" against American and Israeli "intrigues."
Israeli society continues to be seen by Arab parties as united behind a national Zionist consensus, led by the extreme right. Their worldview sees all Israelis as Jews able to magically influence the US via their omnipotent lobby in Washington, and as a supreme force united in its desire to destroy the Arabs using any means available. Clearly the siege on Gaza, the second Lebanon war and Operation Cast Lead (against the Gaza Strip) help strengthen this basic perception.
Since the killing of Arab citizens of Israel by Israeli police in October 2000, the Arab population has lost all connection with Israel's Jewish society. Arab citizens link up to Arabic satellite channels and see the world through the eyes of Al-Jazeera. The Jewish population for its part knows the Arabs mainly—if at all—through the crime pages of the printed press. Jewish Israeli media generally ignore the Arab population for fear of losing ratings. Thus two societies have been created, living side by side but closed to each other and becoming increasingly estranged. This situation is so prevalent that there has been almost no authentic Arab participation in the protest movement even though this protest demands social justice for disadvantaged populations, of which much of the Arab population is a prime example.
There are many reasons for this lack of participation. Arab society, like Jewish society, is divided by class. Though there are no Arab tycoons in Israel, because of structural discrimination against the Arab population, there is a strong middle class and a working class which constitutes the numerical majority among Arabs but has no voice. The Arab middle class is boycotting the protest for ideological reasons. Like most intellectuals and those in the liberal professions in the Arab world, it perceives Israeli society as cooperating with the occupation and indifferent to the fate of Israel's Arab citizens. This is the position adopted by the Muslim Brotherhood and by the political party Balad, while the ostensibly Jewish-Arab party Hadash tries to avoid taking a position. The reason for the Arab working class's failure to participate is like the reason why the Jewish working class is mostly keeping away—they are on the point of despair, feeling that their fate is already determined and harboring little hope of salvation.
The Arab middle class developed during the last 30 years as Israel welcomed globalization. Despite the discrimination in the economic structure, which leaves Arabs struggling behind, a significant number of academics and entrepreneurs succeed in gaining a foothold in the economy. Contractors, merchants, lawyers and those in the liberal professions have faith in capitalism, in the shadow of which their own status was created. Through the privatization of the media, this class gained a number of radio stations, websites, television channels and of course newspapers. Civil society is flourishing, and countless charitable organizations have been founded which employ those in the liberal professions for attractive wages.
This class is integrated in the Israeli economy via ownership of manpower contract-agencies, business partnerships with Jewish Israelis, restaurants, tourism, haulage companies and construction; it is also employed in the public sector in hospitals, local councils, and welfare services. It is politically and culturally isolated from Israeli Jewish society, which is not willing to accept it, and is completely disconnected from manual workers and the poor.
The Arab middle class dominates the Arab political parties, which compete among themselves for its vote—Hadash, Balad, Ahmad Tibi's Ta'al, Abna'a al-Balad and both factions of the Islamic movement, the more radical northern branch and the "pragmatic" southern branch. To preserve their electoral strength, they build on nationalist sentiment and on fear of the Israeli Jewish right wing. They stress what sets them apart from the Jewish population and make sure the Zionist parties don't steal their votes.
In contrast, Arab workers are excluded from political and cultural life. While the middle class isolates itself from Jewish society, Arab workers labor among Jews. They meet their Jewish counterparts daily in the factories, the cleaning agencies or the supermarkets. Powerlessness and poverty push them into the arms of religion and tradition. Their frustrations find expression in violence within the family, crime, educational underachievement, reckless driving, and the oppression of women—all in the name of religion and honor.
Hadash's official participation in the protest doesn't affect the overall picture. There is no protest movement in the Arab street, and the participation of Hadash activists has more to do with political opportunism than significant work on the ground. Before the protest movement, Hadash did not concern itself with social issues. Regarding labor questions, it did little more than get hold of some Histadrut positions.
