Strike in Israel against austerity
Labor resists demands of Zionist regime
By Leslie Feinberg
The Israeli labor federation Histadrut carried
out a rolling public sector strike on Nov. 3.
The Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce,
Manufacturers Association, Airports Authority, Banks
Association and Port Authority had petitioned a labor court to
block the planned strike. The court limited the planned work
stoppage to four hours. So union leaders from different public
sectors strategically staggered their four-hour walkouts for
greatest impact.
And Amir Peretz, chairperson of Histadrut, rebuffed an
appeal from Ariel Sharon to postpone the strike for two days
until the prime minister returned from a three-day trip to
Russia, where he met with President Vladimir Putin.
Once the work stoppage began, long queues of cars lined up
outside gas stations throughout Israel. Airports, seaports and
border crossing were shut, stranding travelers. Business as
usual came to a virtual halt across the settler state.
The Histadrut is protesting a government privatization
campaign that includes plans to overhaul the state welfare
system. The Israeli parliament has been debating the 2004
budget, which calls for more stringent austerity measures and
spending cuts.
The Israeli economy reported one of the biggest budget
deficits in its history this year. The crisis has been
exacerbated by the fact that the Israeli apartheid occupation
is in a perpetual state of warfare against the population of
historic Palestine.
And the Zionist rulers are putting the burden of the crisis
on Israeli workers, who they have tried to pit against the
Palestinian people.
Official unemployment for Israelis is currently 11
percent--more than 250,000 workers. The National Insurance
Institute published its annual survey on poverty in Israel days
before the strike began. It revealed that tens of thousands of
the elderly and children have become impoverished since the
beginning of 2003. More than 1.6 million Israelis-20 percent of
the population-are officially living below the poverty
line.
Despite the millions of dollars that the U.S. pumps into
Israel in aid every single day, the economy of the settler
state has never been viable to stand on its own. And even being
armed to the teeth by the Pentagon has not been able to shield
the Israeli economy from the economic costs of three years of
trying to crush the sustained and determined Palestinian
uprising--the Intifada--against colonial occupation of their
land.
Benjamin Netanyahu, now Israel's finance minister, is the
point man who is forcing this austerity plan on the workers and
poor. His political career began when he was named Israeli
ambassador to the United Nations, where he worked with
Washington to oppose the many resolutions that condemned Israel
for its suppression of the Palestinians. He went on to become
Israel's prime minister in 1996 as head of the right-wing
Zionist Likud Party. He has long been recognized as an
arch-enemy by the Palestinian people.
His role now is to make Israeli workers pay for their
bosses' costly expansionist schemes. Israel is very much a
capitalist, class society, and Zionism is the political
movement of the bourgeoisie. Hopefully, this situation will
heighten not only class consciousness among Israeli workers but
their solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian nation.
Reprinted from the Nov. 13, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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