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Israeli tent protest: neither social justice, nor revolution
Via Fuck Yeah Marxism-LeninismThis article was jointly written by Dahlia Scheindlin and Joseph Dana, based on our shared experiences of the protests.
Every grievance is coming out: there are slogans against the huge concentration of the country’s wealth into the hands of a very few, slogans raging against enormous economic gaps between rich and poor in Israel, lists of demands for just resource distribution and for various elements of a welfare state, salary hikes and lower costs, better education conditions and health care; against the national housing committees law, against the government, for Tahrir. At 10pm on Friday night, when a song group spontaneously burst into chants of “The people! Want! Social Justice!” one young woman sang out beatifically, “The people! Want! All Sorts of Things!”
Many are saying that this is something new, especially after Saturday night turned into Israel’s largest-ever social protest, as Maariv’s print headline proclaimed. A new language is being developed: silent hand gestures replace Israeli shouting matches. The hyper-fragmented groups in Israel are listening to each other, hammering out common ground to combat shared economic desperation.
Just don’t mention Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, or even the neutral local euphemism “medini” [lit: political/diplomatic] issues. Just leave out the institutional inequality most Palestinian citizens of Israel experience here – inequality of other groups is welcome.
I learned this the hard way. After a number of conversations with protesters, including some of its organizers (the protests are actually notably non-cohesive) – it became very clear that one of the top strategic goals is to avoid being branded as “left.” Joseph feels the environment around this topic is so toxic, he has tried to avoid even raising questions about why a ‘social justice revolution’ does not address the inequality of all those living under Israeli control. Even soft questions are met with hard responses from many who passionately demand that the protests be given time, space and compassion to grow inside Israeli society.
hace 10 meses | 17 126 notas
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Alternative ways of surviving a shitty economy.
(Fuente: lickystickypickywe)
Via Billy Poobah Lives
[Paraphrased] It’s been great for us Libyans, you know, for the first time to taste freedom. I’m elated, I see people smiling in the streets. I see people committed to their country for the first time…. The bad news of course is the massacres committed against our fellow countrymen in Tripoli…. [Qaddafi] wants to commit suicide and will take as many people with him as possible…. If you watch the speech, he’s the one hallucinating!
…We are not afraid. We broke the fear barrier. We are not afraid of him anymore. The best example is that I’m showing my face…. After 42 years of fear and humiliation you just lose respect for yourself. This time, for the first time, I’m proud to be a Libyan. People are proud to be Libyan. He tried to pit people against each other by tribes… but today, in Benghazi, if you ask someone his name, he says “I’m Abdullah the Libyan” or “I’m Muhammad the Libyan” — they don’t mention their tribes. They want to say to this animal that we don’t fear you anymore, we are united. I am not afraid! There’s nothing he can do to me. I am a free man now. At last, I am a free man.
- a man from Benghazi named Moftah, who insisted that CNN use his name and show his face because, he said, “after 42 years I am no longer afraid.” (via sunflecked)
Via sunflecked
Via Billy Poobah LivesI’m thinking that the manufacturer might need an updated flag chart…..
(source)
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