At least 50,000 workers from both the private and public sectors, backed by the
pensioners, poured into the Saker Park a very large area in Jerusalem, today.
They came from all over the country , Jews and Arabs alike, many of them recent
immigrants from the former USSR, and many young faces. They came answering the
call of the Trade Union Federation the Histadrut to demonstrate in Jerusalem on
Tuesday against the government's decision to present its proposed pensions
reform and get the stamp of approval from the right wing crooks in the Knesset.
You could see the flags and logos of the employees of government ministries, the local authorities, the government-owned industries, the ports, the university administration and the largest factories in the private sector.
The speakers were leaders of the local committees and the mood was militant. They want to fight for their own life, for their families, for the young people to have a future and for the elderly to live their last years as human beings. A spokesman for the Histadrut, Avinoam Magen, promised that "the demonstration today will be the zenith of dozens of demonstrations held in Tel Aviv, Haifa and the south, during which traffic has been blocked."
Many members of "Hanoar Haavoed", a left zionist movement, were present chanting slogans against the government that wants to steal their future and their pensions. A pensioner of over 80 years of age who retired over 20 years ago spoke explaining how the government of the rich are stealing from him.
Benjamin Gonen, the leader of Hadash - the front of the Communist Party’s fraction in the Histadruth – also spoke. His speech was a militant one and the audience reacted well. However he did not call for a general strike and like all the other speakers he remained vague.
This demonstration was accompanied by an action of the workers of the Israel Electric Corporation, who began industrial action on Monday, which could lead to a countrywide blackout within days. The action is part of the IEC workers' protest against the government's plan to privatize this state-owned utility. The reorganization plan was approved over the weekend by the Knesset's Finance Committee and will be brought before the Knesset for approval by the end of the week.
The decision to take industrial action was taken at an emergency meeting of the union's bureaucracy , which unanimously approved a proposal submitted by the chairman Yoram Oberkovitz. The union statement declared that the union would not agree to a single reduction in the benefits enjoyed by IEC employees. However, it did not oppose the privatization of the IEC.
The government is ready to fight for the capitalist class. National Infrastructures Minister, Yosef Paritzky (of the Shinui, a right wing secular bourgeois party) responded to the union's decision to launch industrial action by saying that he would not hesitate to issue restraining orders and even to declare the IEC of vital national importance, which would allow him to use emergency powers to operate the utility.
It was clear that we are witnessing the rise of the class struggle in Israel. The workers in this country are joining the struggle of their sisters and brothers around the world. There are many lessons to be learned. These lessons will be learned in the course of the struggle. What is necessary is to unite around a programme that unites all the workers, Jews and Arabs, in the entire land in a common struggle against the class enemy. Such a programme must include not only immediate demands but demands that will lead to workers power.
It is necessary to organize a 24 hour total strike of the entire working class as a step forward in the struggle. It is time to call on the Histadruth leaders either to organize a real struggle or step down and let better fighters lead the struggle to victory.
Yossi Schwartz,
SWL,
Israel, May 27, 2003.