ON AN ANGLE: Eetta Prince-Gibson

PART OF THE 400,000: (left) Some 50,000 Jerusalem residents took part in the nationwide rallies demanding social justice, September 3

POSTER WARFARE: (right) Some of the slogans that adorned the weeks-long, countrywide social protest
MARC ISRAEL SELLEM

Israeli Society Has Wised Up

N SATURDAY NIGHT, SEPTEMBER 3, MORE THAN 400,000 people demonstrated throughout Israel to demand social justice and feel that they are part of a newfound sense of change and hope. Following the demonstrations, the tent camps in various cities are being taken down, to be replaced by informally scheduled Hyde Parklike happenings. A few camps in the more economically distressed and socially deprived neighborhoods remain but the authorities have threatened to demolish them; a few homeless families squatted in an abandoned dormitory in Jerusalem belonging to the Hebrew University. The Advisory Committee on Social Protest, hastily established by a panicky government and chaired by liberal economist Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg is convening public meetings and closed-session discussions as it prepares its recommendations. The informal Alternative Committee, headed by social activist Prof. Yossi Yonah, is meeting to finalize the protesters lists of demands. It is unclear what the results of these protests and committees will be. Vested interests may try to offer social welfare crumbs, or to manipulate us into complacency, or to mollify us with gestures. Yet whether the government accedes to at least some of the protesters demands or not, whether the Trajtenberg Committee uses its mandate to institute real change or not, we can already point to some of the successes that the protest movement can claim to its credit. A new cadre of young leadership has emerged, whose political

skills are being honed by their activism and tempered by the mistakes they make. For more than six weeks, this leadership has succeeded in galvanizing a protest movement that never once deteriorated into violence or destruction. There are many young women among these leaders and theyve introduced a new language to the Israeli public. Its a language that is more inclusive and empowering, less chauvinistic and hegemonic. And it leads to a discourse that recognizes that the personal is political, that emotions have a place in public discussion and that the individual has a place in a collectivist society. The new language is already resonating in the media and on the street. Israeli society has wised up. Its no longer enough for us just to cast our ballots once every few years. The public is taking responsibility and will not allow any government to change the character of society without discussion or debate. The Trajtenberg Committee invited the public to submit suggestions and received more than 1,200 separate policy statements. On websites and webcasts, through virtual media and teach-ins, individuals and groups are educating themselves about economic and social theory so that they can participate effectively in policy decisions. Even the tensions that the protest sparked between the poor and the middle class, Mizrahim and Ashkenazim, center and periphery, Arabs and Jews, religious and secular, settlers and peaceniks have contributed to a new awareness of class distinctions and animosities and to a new commitment to finally face these difficulties head-on.

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THE JERUSALEM REPORT SEPTEMBER 26, 2011