2011 Israeli social justice protests
The 2011 Israeli social justice protests (Hebrew: מְחָאַת צֶדֶק חֶבְרָתִי), which are also referred to by various other names in the media, were a series of demonstrations in Israel beginning in July 2011 involving hundreds of thousands of protesters from a variety of socio-economic and religious backgrounds opposing the continuing rise in the cost of living (particularly housing) and the deterioration of public services such as health and education. A common rallying cry at the demonstrations was the chant; "The people demand social justice!".
As the protests expanded during August 2011, the demonstrations began to also focus on other related issues relating to the social order and power structure in Israel.
The housing protests which sparked the first demonstrations began as a result of a Facebook protest group that initially led hundreds of people to establish tents in the Rothschild Boulevard in the center of Tel Aviv, an act which soon gained momentum, media attention and began a public discourse in Israel regarding the high cost of housing and living expenses.[1] Soon afterwards, the protests spread to many other major cities in Israel as thousands of Israeli protesters began establishing tents in the middle of central streets in major cities as a means of protest. As part of the protests, several mass demonstrations have been held across the country, in which hundreds of thousands of people have participated.
A major focus of the protests have been what organizers have termed social justice. Part of the movement is about changing the social order, and the economic system. Calls to topple the government were made by some parts of the protests.[2] Criticism of the protests includes accusations of a political agenda rather than a social one with revelations of funding from specific left-wing individuals and organizations like S. Daniel Abraham and the New Israel Fund.[3] Maariv journalist Kalman Libeskind claimed that the spontaneous protests had actually been three months in the planning by Stan Greenberg and orchestrated by left-wing organizations and the National Left.[4] Criticism within the protests accused the 'protest leaders' of not publicizing specific goals, the lack of visibility of their goals, and the damaging impact of media focus being on a few activists.[5]
Following the first large-scale protests in early August, the government announced that a series of measures would be taken to solve the housing shortage, some of which were already under preparation and ratification, and some which were new measures proposed in response to the demands of the protest movement leadership.[6] In addition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed a team of ministers and senior staff members from his office, headed by Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, to negotiate with the protest leaders as well as the Trajtenberg Committee. Since that time, there was significant criticism of the Prime Minister's perceived insensitivity to the public sentiment, prompting speculation that general sympathy for the protest movement may cause one or more members of the governing coalition to leave the government, triggering national elections.[7]
On 22 June 2012, Daphne Leaf and several other activists tried to restart the housing protests by re-erecting a tent encampment on Rothschild Boulevard. The municipality had not given a permit and as a result Leaf, along with eleven other activists, were arrested when they resisted the twenty policemen and municipal inspectors who arrived to dismantle the tents which were confiscated.[8][9][10]
Naming[edit]
The most common name for the protests in Israel (both during and after the protests) was "The social protest" (המחאה החברתית Hamechaa Hahevratit) the protests have also been referred to as the Housing Protest (מחאת הדיור Mechaat HaDiyur),[11][12] Social justice protest (מחאת צדק חברתי Mechaat Tzedek Hevrati),[2][13] the Cost of Living protest (מחאת יוקר המחייה Mechaat Yoker HaMekhiya),[14] the Real estate protest (מחאת הנדל"ן Mechaat HaNadlan),[15][16] the Tents protest (מחאת האוהלים Mechaat HaOhalim)[17][18] and less frequently the middle class protest (מחאת מעמד הביניים Mechaat Maamad HaBeynaim).[19]
Background[edit]
Motivations[edit]
Numerous factors have led to the protests, in particular rising cost of housing and living expenses in Israel, but also various ongoing issues such as government corruption, rising poverty rates which the OECD defined as being twice the average of other developed countries, and a widening gap between rich and poor.[20]
Demographic structural factors, such as a large percentage of educated but dissatisfied youth within the population, extreme poverty in the haredi Jewish sector, and high unemployment in the Arab-Israeli population have spread the cause of the protests amongst a wide swathe of the Israeli population.[21] Many have also blamed the erosion of Israel's traditional egalitarian socio-economic model for the rise in public dissatisfaction, claiming that the rise of American-style social structures in Israel is incompatible with Zionist ideology (The word Zion does not exist in the referred article).[22]
A major catalyst for public anger has been the significant rise in the cost of living, particularly for the lower and middle class. Although average salaries in Israel tend to be lower than those in the Western world, the cost of many consumer goods is relatively high – particularly basic necessities on which long established price controls have gradually been lifted. Since 2007, Israel has also experienced a gradual rise in housing prices. This increase followed a decade-long period of low housing costs, between 1996 and 2005, as well as a long history of significant government involvement in the public housing sector. According to data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, from 2005 to 2011 apartment rental prices rose 34% on average, 49% in the Gush Dan region around Tel Aviv. A survey published by the Housing and Construction Minister of Israel revealed that in 2010, 129 average monthly salaries were required for the purchase of an average priced apartment, an amount significantly higher than countries in the Western world.
Events leading to the protests[edit]
In April 2011, about three months before the cost of living protests began, Boaz Gaon, son of prominent Israeli businessman Benny Gaon, presented activists with a ten-point plan by Democratic pollster and political strategist Stan Greenberg to defeat the right-wing.[23][24][25] It was recommended that not one organization should coordinate the struggle, rather to divide up the effort with as many initiatives in as many locations as possible. Maariv journalist Kalman Libeskind suggested that the protests were a result of this plan.[4]
During June 2011, a month before the housing protest began, another significant large scale demonstration took place in Israel. Commonly referred to by the media as the cottage cheese boycott, this event saw the Israeli public protest against the high cost of many products in Israel and specifically in this case, the high price of cottage cheese. The protest was successful and led to a drop in the retail price of cottage cheese.[26] This was the first time in Israel that a public protest organized by means of social networking had such a wide public effect in Israel.
In July 2011, 25-year-old Israeli video editor Daphne Leef had to vacate the central Tel Aviv apartment where she had lived for three years due to major renovations in her building. Leef soon found out that apartment rental prices in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area had skyrocketed. Consequently, she initiated a small-scale public tent protest.[27] Leef opened a Facebook protest page, inviting others to join her protest, and pitched a tent in Habima Square in Tel Aviv. In response, protesters gathered in the streets around Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, as well as in Zion Square in Jerusalem.[28][29]
The use of Protest camps have been described by the protest leaders as being inspired by the Hooverville tent cities in the Central Park of New York City and in many other cities throughout the United States in which many Americans were forced to live during the Great Depression in the United States.[20]
The use of social networks for public protests began to increase in the early 2010s, with the most significant one being the large-scale demonstrations in Arab countries in the Middle East that led to a change of government in several countries such as Egypt (see 2011 Egyptian revolution). Some see a connection between the Arab Spring protests and the 2011 Israeli housing protests, as the common denominator is, firstly, the use of social networking to organize public protests,[30][31][32] and secondly the fact that these two waves of protests stem from the increase in the cost of living, that they were organized mostly by young people, and that the protesters claims include not only economic demands but also demands for changes in the policies and practices of the ruling government.[33]
Continuation of the protest into 2012[edit]
Even though the protest ebbed in late 2011, it was revived in 2012. From early 2012, plans were made by various groups to revive the protest. This time the municipality of Tel-Aviv made a preemptive move by warning about no tolerance for any tents being placed on Rothschild St., so tents were instead placed near the railway station in Tel-Aviv. This time protesters were divided in two major camps, as some activists criticized Leef for using upper class donors to finance her protest.
On 22 June 2012, Daphni Leef was arrested at a demonstration in Tel Aviv while her arm was broken. On the following day, her supporters held a massive demonstration where 85 protesters were arrested and glass windows of banks were smashed.
As a result of the split within the protest movement, two separate social justice demonstrations were held in Tel-Aviv on 14 July 2012, to commemorate the first anniversary of the social justice protest.[63]