Class war within neo-liberal capitalism and the rebellion ignited by the Israeli "middle class"

It started with internet consumers' revolt against cottage cheese cost hike

The class war between the capitalist class and the working class within the capitalist system is mainly about the cost of the reproduction of working power. The smaller the cost of the reproduction of working power (wages and social services covered in part by taxes levied on capitalists), the larger the part of the fruits of labour that remain as profits (surplus value) in the coffers of the capitalists. [Italiano]

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Class war within neo-liberal capitalism and the rebellion ignited by the Israeli "middle class"

The class war between the capitalist class and the working class within the capitalist system is mainly about the cost of the reproduction of working power. The smaller the cost of the reproduction of working power (wages and social services covered in part by taxes levied on capitalists), the larger the part of the fruits of labour that remain as profits (surplus value) in the coffers of the capitalists.

Within the capitalist system the main struggle between the working class and the capitalist-class employers is about the wages that workers get (actual wages, health insurance and pensions mainly) and in a smaller measure about the taxes that workers pay and the quality of social services.

Lately, due to the gradual constriction of the welfare state under neo-liberalism and the recent austerity measures (including taxes) by States to cover the losses of finance capitalists due to the latest crash, the attention of exploited people has shifted from their employers to the State's activity relating to the constriction of social services and "social wages" (healthcare, education, housing, unemployment support and pensions mainly).

We have seen the mounting struggle by the working class following measures to cover the crash losses in Europe - mainly in Greece and Spain. Now, the struggle has exploded in Israel too, though its financial capital has not suffered serious losses as a result of the crash, and the State has not introduced emergency austerity measures... It started because wages and, even more so, the social wage of the "middle class" strata of the working class have gradually been decimated and become unbearable. The success of the ferocious neo-liberalist form of the piggish capitalism consisting of privatization and diminishing public services, has advanced in Israel more than in other developed countries.

The straw that broke the camel's back, leading to the summer revolt was the successful internet-based consumers' revolt two months ago, following an increase in the cost of cottage cheese by the monopolies.

It exploded this month as the cost of rents has increased significantly over the last few months, due to market failure.

Though most of the activists involved have not put it forward as a factor, most people resent the allocation of a huge part of the State's resources to the settler colonialist project and to the non-productive orthodox community.

It started as an internet call for a tent camp to protest the jump in rent prices. It materialized at first as a dozen participants in a tent camp near the national theater building (on Rothschild boulevard). It took just two weeks to expand to include a few hundred tents along the whole length of the boulevard, with thousands of dwellers and with a wider spectrum of grievances, reaching the point of the mobilization of about 2.5% of the Israeli population for the Saturday 30-7-11 demonstration (150,000 out of about 7 million).

The main demands are: free education from the age of 3 months, a reducation of the sales taxes that all pay and an increase in the direct taxes that the rich pay; the provision of low-cost housing (both to buy and rent) by stopping State and municipal speculation on public land and by building small apartments and public housing; an overhaul of the public health system which the MDs union (mostly hospital doctors) have been demanding for several months with their selective strike; a stop to the precarization of workers using manpower companies (already 10% of the workforce); the recruitment of 500 inspectors to enforce employer legislation regulating work - especially with regard to minimum wages.

It has taken 3 weeks since the tent camp was started by a dozen activists to get to the point where the government has agreed to massive changes, but the bargaining may take its time.

(Some bureaucrats are kicking themselves for not destroying the tent camp on the first day or the seccond, before it collected momentum.)