Israelis hold protests in 15 cities against demolition of Palestinian homes

[freepalestine]

Israelis hold protests in 15 cities against demolition of Palestinian homes

http://www.revleft.com/vb/../graphics/date.gif Saturday August 07, 2010 20:19http://www.revleft.com/vb/../graphics/person.gif by Alternative Information Center


More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in cities across Israel on Friday (6 August) for a day of solidarity marking the one-year anniversary of the eviction and settler take over of the Ghawi and Hanoun family homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.http://imemc.org/attachments/aug2010/sheikh_jarrah.jpg (http://www.revleft.com/vb/../attachments/aug2010/sheikh_jarrah.jpg)
Sheikh Jarrah protest (photo from AIC)

Around 700 demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv, 100 in Haifa, 60 in Beersheva, 100 in Wadi Ara, 100 in Taibe, 100 in Kfar Yassif and around two-dozen in Ra’anana. Another 50 gathered in the unrecognized Arab village of Dahmash on the outskirts of Ramle, where at least 13 homes are slated for demolition, according to the Jerusalem Post. Demonstrators from around the country then boarded buses for Jerusalem and attended the weekly protest in Sheikh Jarrah.

A 2008 Jerusalem District Court ruling paved the way for the August 2009 evictions by stating that the Palestinian neighborhood is in fact part of the former Jewish neighborhood “Shimon Hatzadik” and belonged to the Sephardi Community Committee.

Since the home evictions of the Ghawi and Hanoun families, Sheikh Jarrah has become home to protests every Friday, attended by Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters and activists, calling for the return of the families to their homes.

The neighborhood has also come to symbolize the battle over the future status of East Jerusalem, as Palestinian communities fight discriminatory policies and decisions from the Jerusalem municipality.

Knesset Member Dov Khenin from the Hadash party attended the anniversary demonstration, noting that "struggle is intensifying, because people understand we are fighting here not just against the injustice suffered by the Palestinians in the neighborhood, but also for ourselves, for our future in this country. Because with a settlement in the heart of Arab east Jerusalem, we won't be able to reach an arrangement of two states for two people. It's a critical battle and more and more people are realizing that."

Protestors marched through Sheikh Jarrah on Friday carrying signs reading, "Democracy stops in Sheik Jarrah.”

"The problem is not just Sheikh Jarrah," said Sara Benninga, one of the demonstration’s organizers. "It repeats itself in other places across the country and stems from discrimination, inequality and racism, which are the foundation of these moves. I feel that compared to last year, we have made a great leap in the awareness of the injustice taking place here, and we have a lot of PR work to do in order to reach people. It's a feeling of a beginning of something wonderful and brave."

David Grossman, an award winning Israeli author, was one of the many known faces present at Friday’s protest. He described Israeli society as “stuck in a situation it created on its own, and is the victim of anxieties and lack of faith in change. It's insulting to see how little we are capable of doing to help ourselves.”

"The people, assuming there is such a thing, are apathetic and looking for an excuse not to do something,” he told the Israeli news daily Ynet. “In the face of this complete indifference, it's refreshing and encouraging to see the amount of people willing to come here every Friday afternoon to protest, whether in the heat or in the rain."

http://imemc.org/article/59251

[DragonQuestWes]

At least there are some Israelis waking up to reality. Good for them to stand up.

Sadly, they probably might get trumped/ignored by the Zionists. The Israeli government would continue to bulldoze Palestinian homes unless the protesters happen to confront them in groups of hundreds to thousands.

[DunyaGongrenKomRevolyutsi]

At least there are some Israelis waking up to reality. Good for them to stand up.

Sadly, they probably might get trumped/ignored by the Zionists. The Israeli government would continue to bulldoze Palestinian homes unless the protesters happen to confront them in groups of hundreds to thousands.

Given the increasingly unstable situation and the increasing struggle of workers in Israel, this is a possibility albeit in many years time, but a possibility nonetheless.

[freepalestine]

Given the increasingly unstable situation and the increasing struggle of workers in Israel, this is a possibility albeit in many years time, but a possibility nonetheless.you mention isreali workers.also what is the possibilty you mention.?could you explain

[DunyaGongrenKomRevolyutsi]

you mention isreali workers.

There is the possibility of a serious set of strike actions in Israel in response to budget cuts, there was a big protest in April in which two busloads of protestors where arrested by police..

My Jewish friends who have significant amounts of family in Israel believe that there is a mood of discontent there among workers, just like in other countries.

On top of that, hundreds of thousands of migrant and underpaid, racially abused minorities in Israel like the Ethopians, Bedouin and of course Palestinians who are discriminated against on a daily basis obviously have had even further cause to strike, walk out etc. Migrant workers too are feeling further suffering thanks to spending cuts, as if they weren't anyway (read this (http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/migrants-growing-anger-at-exploitation-by-israel/)).

I think it is a potent mixture..


also what is the possibilty you mention.?could you explain

If the village protests, the East Jerusalem protests, an intifadah and Israeli workers strikes were to happen at once, which is possible a few years down the line, there could be some potential for cross-border action which lets face it, is the only way that workers of he region can begin to think about seriously stopping serious breaches of their rights by the powers that run the show around there.

I have some Jewish friends who have spent time in Israel and they are adamant that the situation is not all rosy, there is plenty of discontent and I know that the Zionists hate Israelis who collaborate as part of the working-class even more than they hate anyone else (both in Israel and the UK by the way).

[Saorsa]

Strike action over wages and conditions does not necessarily indicate any trend towards or away from Zionism. Strike action is a weapon of the working class that can be used for many purposes and agendas - some that lead towards working class liberation, and some away from it.

I don't think Israelis will start to seriously question Zionism until Israel begins to be on the losing side militarily, economically and diplomatically. Until IDF soldiers start dying in the hundreds and thousands the campaign of genocide will continue.

The working class rarely if ever develops a revolutionary consciousness unless it's domestic ruling class is suffering defeats. From the Paris Commune to the Russian Revolution to the 1960s and 70s to whenever, revolutionary periods have emerged as imperialist squaddies end up on the losing side of conflicts overseas.

If your local rugby team is winning every game, why would you call for the coach to be fired?

[DunyaGongrenKomRevolyutsi]

Strike action over wages and conditions does not necessarily indicate any trend towards or away from Zionism.

Not by itself, but to say the Israeli working-class is no more dispossessed than it has been in the 80's, 90's or even 00's, thus far, is wrong.


Strike action is a weapon of the working class that can be used for many purposes and agendas - some that lead towards working class liberation, and some away from it.

True, but it can and has been turned around in a number of cases, which should be a rallying point for communists. I don't mean this in the Trotskyist or Marxist-leninist way of democratising unions or anything like that, I mean we can turn around spontaneous action decided upon by workers.. it's basically a vital part of our struggle that we can't have a stance of 'let the reactionaries fight it out' on, that's just burying your head in the sand when workers actually take to their own initiatives.


I don't think Israelis will start to seriously question Zionism until Israel begins to be on the losing side militarily, economically and diplomatically. Until IDF soldiers start dying in the hundreds and thousands the campaign of genocide will continue.

That's a very blanket statement, it's also unrealistic unless a massive war breaks out between Israel and several other imperialist powers with mass armies which would be a catastrophe for millions of workers throughout the entire region, it would probably mean European and American forces entering the conflict too which could be truly devastating.


The working class rarely if ever develops a revolutionary consciousness unless it's domestic ruling class is suffering defeats. From the Paris Commune to the Russian Revolution to the 1960s and 70s to whenever, revolutionary periods have emerged as imperialist squaddies end up on the losing side of conflicts overseas.

Israeli state is imposing more and more cuts which are necessitated by the world economic situation, they are facing increased isolation which further hurts the economy and now they even have soldiers, supposed to be the most hard-core Zionists going, defecting to left-wing causes.


If your local rugby team is winning every game, why would you call for the coach to be fired?

Successful imperialist states have been challenged from within before, you don't acknowledge that?

[Saorsa]

Successful imperialist states have been challenged from within before, you don't acknowledge that?

Of course I acknowledge it. But in pretty much every case I can think of these challenges took place at a time when the imperialist state's forces were being defeated overseas, when the particular imperialist ruling class was suffering humiliation and setback.

Coincidence?

[DunyaGongrenKomRevolyutsi]

Of course I acknowledge it. But in pretty much every case I can think of these challenges took place at a time when the imperialist state's forces were being defeated overseas, when the particular imperialist ruling class was suffering humiliation and setback.

Coincidence?

But it depends what you mean, if you mean massive struggles which involved millions of workers and could possibly have toppled the government then I think you are a little off the mark.

If you want historic examples, look no further than may 1968. Yeah so that 'failed', but then so has every post-revolutionary effort too.

When the British state was economically prosperous during the 60's, workers were still taking it upon themselves to challenge the status quo at almost every level of society.

What about Italy in the mid to late 60's? During that time, Italy's economy was possibly the fastest growing in the world..

I'm not saying in the strictest terms that you're wrong, but you have a very set in stone opinion when you really have to be more flexible, even if a massive struggles breaks out and it only develops slowly thereafter (without being suppressed and destroyed), that's still an incredibly important development and these things DO happen in times of bourgeoisie economic prosperity.

If that were to happen in the region, then it would be the beginning of a complete shift in the radicalisation of Israeli workers, which within a decade could mean a completely different terrain of struggle.

You don't seem to agree that Israel is going through the same austerity measures the rest of the world is, I'm not sure why but our discussion is based on the presumption they aren't? As I've said and as you can see with a little bit of searching, not a great in-depth search or anything, they definitely are and the effects are going to get worse and worse.

[Saorsa]

By the 60s, you mean a period in which the imperialist armies of the world were suffering major defeats and the colonial outposts were burning?

Of course working class radicalisation is a complex process, but it isn't a coincidence that revolutions have only ever occurred in imperialist countries suffering major defeats.

[bricolage]

By the 60s, you mean a period in which the imperialist armies of the world were suffering major defeats and the colonial outposts were burning?
I think that's more the 50s, even when you look at the 60s the major events of decolonisation were in the first few years and the working class struggles in the imperial countries (May '68, Hot Autumn...) were much later on.
France for example lost French Indochina in the 50s and Algeria by 1962, it was six years before the general strike in a time when relative stability had been restored.
In the UK the major struggles (Winter of Discontent, Miners Strike(s)) weren't until the 70s/80s long after the collapse of the colonial project.

[DunyaGongrenKomRevolyutsi]

By the 60s, you mean a period in which the imperialist armies of the world were suffering major defeats and the colonial outposts were burning?

Completely tried to evade the post, please tell me what wars Italy or the UK were involved in in the 60's?

The only involvement of the UK was suppressing relatively small uprisings, such as that of Radfan and also by supporting US troops in Vietnam with some elite SBS and SAS units stationed in in that region of Asia. As far as I know, Italy wasn't involved in any wars in the 1960's and France ended most of its wars in the late 50's.

[Saorsa]

I'm not talking about periods where there are lots of strikes and lockouts.

I'm talking about the revolutionary seizure of power by a workers movement.

Left-communists tend to confuse the two.

[bricolage]

I'm not talking about periods where there are lots of strikes and lockouts.

I'm talking about the revolutionary seizure of power by a workers movement.

Left-communists tend to confuse the two.
Well if you want to do that then you've got what 1871 and 1917? (even those can be debated but this isn't really the place).
With such a small selection of case studies I don't think we can really make any assessment.

[Saorsa]

There are more case studies than just those two examples.

[DunyaGongrenKomRevolyutsi]

I'm not talking about periods where there are lots of strikes and lockouts.

I'm talking about the revolutionary seizure of power by a workers movement.

Left-communists tend to confuse the two.

That;s completely untrue, actually left-communists are the clearest on that particular point, whereas the rest of the left is usually busy cheering on this or that regime or mass protests as being revolutionary. That's one thing that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Not sure how it relates to your earlier point either.

[bricolage]

There are more case studies than just those two examples.
What other examples are there? In imperial countries.

[Saorsa]

There has never been a successful revolutionary seizure of power in an imperialist country, except for Russia. But there have been periods in which mass revolutionary movements emerged, most notably in the 60s and 70s. Do any of you really believe we would have seen the movements in America, France, Italy, Portugal and elsewhere without the victorious national liberation struggles in Vietnam, in Cuba, in Mozambique and Angola and elsewhere?

As for further case studies, there have been successful revolutions in China and in Cuba. But I don't want to get into a debate about the nature of those countries with a left-com... save that for another thread.

[bricolage]

I don't know anything about America or Portugal but I referred to France and Italy earlier and yes I think they were separate from the national liberation issues, if not by relation then at least by years.

[Saorsa]

Those countries and the revolutionary movements in them did not exist in isolation. They emerged in an international revolutionary or semi-revolutionary period. The NLF's heroic struggle inspired radicalisation of students and working class youth around the world, and Vietnam wasn't the only example.

Left-coms try to boil revolution down to a worker vs boss, workplace relations thing. It is far more than that.

[bricolage]

If I could just backtrack a bit I think this is all getting a bit contradictory.

Initially you stated;

“revolutions have only ever occurred in imperialist countries suffering major defeats”

To which there started a discussion about, primarily, France and Italy in the late 1960s but which you, quite fairly, replied;

“I'm not talking about periods where there are lots of strikes and lockouts.

I'm talking about the revolutionary seizure of power by a workers movement.”

To which I asked what you could mean by a "revolutionary seizure of power by a workers movement" in an imperialist country other than the Paris Commune or the Russian Revolution you replied;

“There are more case studies than just those two examples.”

Yet when I asked which ones you replied;

“There has never been a successful revolutionary seizure of power in an imperialist country, except for Russia”

Which actually agrees with the point I was making in the first place.

If we go to your latest post you wrote that the NLF inspired students and workers in imperialist countries but aside from the debate around that itself this isn’t actually the point you were initially making when you wrote;

“The working class rarely if ever develops a revolutionary consciousness unless it's domestic ruling class is suffering defeats”

That decolonisation struggles may or may not have inspired students and workers in France or Italy does not change the fact that at that the time the domestic ruling class were not suffering the kind of defeats abroad you were referring to.

The statement “revolutions have only ever occurred in imperialist countries suffering major defeats” could be agreed with but then again if you are saying “There has never been a successful revolutionary seizure of power in an imperialist country, except for Russia” then we could say "revolutions have only ever occurred in imperialist countries that speak Russian" and it would be just as correct. If we expand this to the examples of France and Italy in the 1960s then the statement “revolutions have only ever occurred in imperialist countries suffering major defeats” does not fit because at that point the countries were not suffering "major defeats". Like I said I’m sure there is an argument to made that decolonisation struggles inspired other struggles but that is not what this was about in the first place.

[DunyaGongrenKomRevolyutsi]

There has never been a successful revolutionary seizure of power in an imperialist country, except for Russia.

..:confused: and how close it came in Germany and Finland, you don't acknowledge? What about Hungary..do you want me to continue?

And by marxist-leninists ideas you are supposed to support the East German revolution (even though I dont call it a revolution).

Your point doesnt really make much sense,


But there have been periods in which mass revolutionary movements emerged, most notably in the 60s and 70s. Do any of you really believe we would have seen the movements in America, France, Italy, Portugal and elsewhere without the victorious national liberation struggles in Vietnam, in Cuba, in Mozambique and Angola and elsewhere?

Independence movements being suppressed, no matter how bourgeois they have been have caused protests in those and other western countries before, it's not tied to there being communist national liberators or whatever you'd like to call them.


As for further case studies, there have been successful revolutions in China and in Cuba. But I don't want to get into a debate about the nature of those countries with a left-com... save that for another thread.

The nature of those countries was perfectly clear, whats to debate about?


Those countries and the revolutionary movements in them did not exist in isolation. They emerged in an international revolutionary or semi-revolutionary period. The NLF's heroic struggle inspired radicalisation of students and working class youth around the world, and Vietnam wasn't the only example.

Ultimately, the movements in the 1960's and 70's were turned around into being based on national liberation struggles, stalinistic tendencies and identity politics with workers as the main revolutionary class, being supplemented with large sections of the petit-bourgeois and the intelligentsia.

Perhaps the best thing to point out is that all these movements failed, really, with the ones most heavily emphasizing the working-class coming the closest to succeeding. More importantly, the national liberation struggles you talk of also failed in the long-term, of course the analyses of these would take time to elaborate on.

The bourgeois used these movements against workers, trying to split workers up based on being employed or unemployed, being white or black or asian, being gay or straight which had a large amount of success, they then quietened down any struggle based on identity politics by giving limited reforms.


Left-coms try to boil revolution down to a worker vs boss, workplace relations thing. It is far more than that.

If you can't back-up that last point with some evidence then why make it in the first place? "left-coms" which aren't one mass with all the same ideas anyway, often have very complex analyses of revolutionary situations and I doubt that you can refute this.