Le Socialiste
18th July 2012, 07:34
Moshe Silman, 57, was near death Tuesday, comatose and with his organs failing, doctors reported, three days after he set himself on fire during a Tel Aviv protest demonstration over worsening social conditions in Israel.
Silman, who owned a successful truck delivery business until he was ruined by debts and ill health, had been a regular participant in the protest movement that began last year over the rising cost of living and cuts in social programs and benefits. He was part of a crowd of several thousand who turned out Saturday to mark the first anniversary of those protests.
As speakers addressed the group, Silman began to douse himself with gasoline, then set himself ablaze. Fellow protesters swarmed around him trying to extinguish the fire with their shirts and water bottles, but he was burned over 90 percent of his body.
Silman left a typewritten suicide note in which he blamed the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for the humiliation that the weakened citizens of Israel endure on a daily basis and for taking from the poor and giving to the rich.
He accused the government of destroying his ability to make a living and driving him to the brink of homelessness. The state of Israel stole from me and robbed me, he wrote. They left me with nothing. He added, And I will not be homeless and this is why I protest.
...
The Israeli political establishment has responded to Silmans tragic protest with typical indifference and contempt. Prime Minister Netanyahu dismissed the action as an individual tragedyi.e., one with no wider social meaningand his official spokesman added that the attempted suicide was a humanitarian situation and has nothing to do with politics.
A spokesman for the mayor of Tel Aviv was at pains to point out that Silman was an outsider who was not from the city. He wrote: While this tragic incident took place in Tel Aviv, it really has nothing to do with the city establishment. The person who lit himself came from outside of Tel Aviv to protest in a large manifestation which took place in the city.
Opposition Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich said that Silman definitely must not be seen as a symbol of the social justice protest.
But according to one Tel Aviv official, 400 people a year commit suicide in Israel because of economic hardship: in effect, a Moshe Silman every day of the year.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/isra-j18.shtml
Silman, who owned a successful truck delivery business until he was ruined by debts and ill health, had been a regular participant in the protest movement that began last year over the rising cost of living and cuts in social programs and benefits. He was part of a crowd of several thousand who turned out Saturday to mark the first anniversary of those protests.
As speakers addressed the group, Silman began to douse himself with gasoline, then set himself ablaze. Fellow protesters swarmed around him trying to extinguish the fire with their shirts and water bottles, but he was burned over 90 percent of his body.
Silman left a typewritten suicide note in which he blamed the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for the humiliation that the weakened citizens of Israel endure on a daily basis and for taking from the poor and giving to the rich.
He accused the government of destroying his ability to make a living and driving him to the brink of homelessness. The state of Israel stole from me and robbed me, he wrote. They left me with nothing. He added, And I will not be homeless and this is why I protest.
...
The Israeli political establishment has responded to Silmans tragic protest with typical indifference and contempt. Prime Minister Netanyahu dismissed the action as an individual tragedyi.e., one with no wider social meaningand his official spokesman added that the attempted suicide was a humanitarian situation and has nothing to do with politics.
A spokesman for the mayor of Tel Aviv was at pains to point out that Silman was an outsider who was not from the city. He wrote: While this tragic incident took place in Tel Aviv, it really has nothing to do with the city establishment. The person who lit himself came from outside of Tel Aviv to protest in a large manifestation which took place in the city.
Opposition Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich said that Silman definitely must not be seen as a symbol of the social justice protest.
But according to one Tel Aviv official, 400 people a year commit suicide in Israel because of economic hardship: in effect, a Moshe Silman every day of the year.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/isra-j18.shtml