I know quite a few of the participants of Mochash protests who are offended when they are referred to, from time to time, as "privileged" or as "elites". It is a justified insult on the level of personal experience. Many of the protesters who flock to the Kaplan-Begin intersection on foot lead an average lifestyle, members of the middle class , mostly from the center of the country, who send their children by public transportation to a public school, and the only exit they will know will come under unfortunate circumstances in the sixth or seventh decade of their lives, in the form of an inheritance they will share with their siblings.
But it would be folly to ignore the class dimension of the protest.
It is necessary to see not only who comes with a militant sign, but also who creates the unrest and to whom the eyes are turned with great hope.
Suddenly a CEO stood up
In 2011, and later inspired by it, tycoons and tycoons were labeled here as enemies of the public, and a strong cultural abhorrence was fostered towards those getting (and getting) rich.
Activists used to make the lives of bank CEOs and their families miserable, in the "come to the bankers" operations. Names like Rakfat Rusk-Aminach launched radicals with socialist fire in their eyes to the barricades. Cultural critics detested the high-tech bubble and its people, who were suspected of arrogant and ultra-capitalist hedonism. Destructive Tel Aviv and its ravages, with their pompous offices and over-decorated apartments.
Protest by high-tech workers in Rosh Ha'Ain, photo: Kornit Digital
But in these difficult days, the days of the end of the state, high-tech entrepreneurs, CEOs of banks and capitalists are no less than cultural heroes. And not for nothing, those who possess a superweapon that can crush the government and exterminate its gullible voters: money. Hit the Israelis in their pockets, they We beg you. Please withdraw your funds, empty the coffers, smuggle investors to Singapore. Make it hurt.
The economic elite are not alone.
There is no center of hegemonic power in Israel that is not involved in stirring up the protest.
The veterans of the top security brigades provide symbolic training for refusals of orders and disobedience.
The former show up for the demonstrations, some of them are involved in the organization, and maybe even in the financing.
The academic elite controls an atmosphere of threatening silence in its institutions, forcing all students and the academic and administrative staff to identify politically with the opponents of the reforms.
The cultural elite in Israel - with the exception of the pop giants and the Mizrahi singer - is immersed in the ecstasy of signing petitions.
There is nothing to expand on the legal elite.
It is petrified, conformist and alienated like the Vatican City in its bad days.
We are in the midst of an elite revolt.
It is coated with a glaze of desperate clichés about despair and hope, destruction and redemption, and above all "Mary" and "struggle" - the entire verbal repertoire that apparently signifies a popular uprising "from below" against Dakhani rule.
Suddenly a man stood up, etc.
Everywhere you look, the same trumpet sounds: we are in the midst of an elite revolt.
It is coated with a glaze of desperate clichés about despair and hope, destruction and redemption, and above all "Mary" and "struggle" - the entire verbal repertoire that apparently signifies a popular uprising "from below" against Dakhani rule.
Suddenly a man stood up, etc.
But in essence, this is a very aggressive reaction to social and political change, which threatens to erode the relative advantage of all of the above.
This is expressed not only in the identity of the establishments, which pull the strings of the unrest and mobilize groups of protesters from square to square, but also in the working methods. There were those who compared the threat of economic disengagement to the tactics of the boycott movement. BDS. Boycott, diversion of investments and sanctions.
The protest against the legal reform, photo: Gideon Markovich
This is an apparently manipulative analogy - isn't it possible to put anti-Semites and terrorist enthusiasts in the same line as entrepreneurs and the leaders of the economy in Israel.
But the quick break, so quick, to the tactics of psychological pressure on the citizens of Israel - definitely similar.
It includes turning to foreign sources, so that they can use their levers of pressure on the policy makers in Israel.
It also includes the threat of an economic whip on public opinion.
If we don't hear it in their voice - we will feel it in our pocket.
And whatever comes from the outside will come from the inside first.
In both cases, an effort was made to bypass the democratic channels, and impose policies with tools that are far outside the realm of negotiation and persuasion.
In the circles that at the beginning of the week lamented the danger to the free press, they now explain that Ayla Hasson is part of the "poison machine" and that she "works in the service of the mafia".
Even the complainant is no longer believed so quickly
And, unlike strikes or riots, it is not a weapon of the underdog.
On the contrary, this whole package is wrapped in a clear self-concept: "We are the locomotive. We are the engine. You will not manage without us."
Including a willingness to leverage an economic advantage to frighten - and impose a position.
And whoever supports this - whether he belongs to the decile that can afford to attract investments and go to Miami, or whether he is stuck in Ramat Gan with a mortgage - not only rejects the basic rules of egalitarian discourse, but also shares in holding Israeli solidarity hostage to his political frustrations.
In the end, after all, this is a counter-reaction to the choice of the masses at the ballot box, under the title "We are the quality".
Our note is bluer.
This is anti-democracy on turbo.
It's social alienation on steroids.
It is supremely privileged.
The era of Mi-To is over
And equally it is also spectacular to see this camp, which this week demonstrates a very crisp commitment to social equality and democratic discourse, peeling away from its moral values.
The case of Avi Himi illustrates the degree of dedication to the principles that until a minute and a half ago were fought here with knives between teeth: gender equality, zero tolerance for harassment, empathy for victims.
"We believe you".
It all crashed into glory in an instant.
They no longer believe the complainant, suspect her motives, mock her on the networks, even explain that Abi Hami should be forgiven because he is necessary for the struggle.
The era of Mi-To is over.
Ayla Hasson, who exposed the filth, is accused of ulterior motives.
In circles that at the beginning of the week lamented the danger posed to the free press, they now explain that Hassan is part of the "poison machine" and that she "works in the service of the mafia."
And maybe it's a good thing that the moral styrofoam crackles with a big noise.
This will help to take with limited responsibility the panic about the end of democracy and the cries about the loss of the country.
Freedom of speech, women's rights, independent press.
She has a big mouth, for the protest trumpet.
If you ask me - everything is a peanut shell.
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