It’s like the world’s gone insane. Let’s ignore Egypt and Tunisia where there are real problems. I’m talking about these protests in the first world. Whether it’s the Students for Socialism here in Israel tenting it out all summer demanding that working taxpayers give them free housing; the Israeli Medical Residents in their two-faced war with the government; or the Communist wannabes attacking Wall Street demanding that capitalism and democracy be shut down unless (what exactly?).
It even reminds me of ISM tactics (which might explain the Anti-Semitism coming through too in a lot of these protests).
But there’s something funny here. Step back a second and take a look again. You’ll probably getting that feeling of déjà vu watching all these protest movements.
The rhetoric is the same. The claims of no central leadership is the same. The ambiguous yet anarchistic demands are the same. The theatrics, the antics and the tactics are the same: the drums, the human mics, the face masks, the tents.
The attempts to create crises are the same.
Sure, it’s easy to say that Social Media makes these protests spontaneous and it’s all part of the Facebook generation. But that’s not true. Facebook and Twitter are being used as the tools to make them seem spontaneous, but it hasn’t created this. These protests in no way feel spontaneous. They're organized. Undeniably very well organized.
There's a lot of money being spent to organize these protests.
So why are the people pulling the strings and behind the scenes trying to destroy modern civilization, capitalism and democracy, and dragging us down to anarchy, socialism, or worse?
Sometimes I think it’s just the nature of the Left to want to destroy things, to destabilize things, to constantly want to redistribute other people’s things.
On the other hand, perhaps there are those who expect to see profit (of one kind or another) from the chaos, and they’re taking advantage of the toolish/foolish nature of the Left to make that happen.
I don't know, but it's something worth contemplating.
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Hate to give you an alternative view, but perhaps things are just so bad people don't know any other way to fix things?
ReplyDeleteIn capitalistic terms it's called Creative Destruction, and the term was originally coined by Marxist theory which predicted that Capitalistic societies will eventually get to the point where the people revolt and demand communism.
Marxism proved itself to be a complete failure and caused (and still causes) misery for hundreds of millions of people.
ReplyDeleteThere's no denying that the Communist Manifesto is the new guiding light for the unenlightened masses who don't remember what the USSR was about.
So yes, creating a new world orders is definitely the goal of those behind the scenes. But guess who's going to be the 1% if they succeed.
"Marxism proved itself to be a complete failure and caused (and still causes) misery for hundreds of millions of people."
ReplyDeleteActually, so far, no capitalistic society has turned to communism due to a high level of automation from technology, and that is required for Marxism.
So yes, forced communisism will not and does not work. But it also might be the inevitably result of a society that has no room for low skilled labor.
i.e., when all the McDonalds are merely complex vending machines.
Actually, because of the similarity btwn the 'Tzedek Chevrati' movement here and the Occupy Wall Street, et al in America, I got the feeling that the movement here was the warmup for the one in the States. They wanted to see how it would go over in Israel, and seeing its success (but probably disappointed on the mostly lack of violence) continued it onto America...
ReplyDeleteIdeal capitalism, where there is fair and equal competition and independent democratic institutions, would be one thing. The current form of capitalism with state sponsored monopolies, oligarchy, influence peddling, public burden of private risk taking, and the global flow of capital to undemocratic countries with mass exploitation of workers is not the same damn thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why people have trouble understanding this.
I agree that social redistribution is not a good long term solution for growing inequalities in real income and share of wealth, but until you dismantle the institutionalized forces that enshrine these large gaps and extreme concentration of wealth you have neither real democracy nor capitalism.
Social redistribution occurs only with education, not with income redistribution.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there are many people who have legitimate claims of inequality and/or suggestions to do things better. But contrary to these unorganized regular people, the leftists are much better organized and able to hijack the activism. In Israel, at the major protests, most people were not socialists or communists, but did not care to dig deep and see who was running the show and where they had so much money to pay for the massive logistics and subsidized transportation as well.
Vicki Knafo was the most recent precendent. She seemed like an ordinary mother marching to Jerusalem, and attracted many normal mothers as well, but ignored by the media was the political backing she got (later to join Meretz and get sent to Switzerland to support the Geneva Initiative) and many regular mothers who joined her protest march and in Jerusalem but entirely ignored by the organizers and media.
The USA is sick. There really is a big problem there. I have a smart friend completely convinced of the non-partisanship of one of the Occupations in California.
But like you said, the objective is the protest itself, to create a crisis. Perhaps if we get conspiracy, to force a situation where the governments have to enact martial law.
Israel was not the first. There were similar protests in Chile at the same time.
The Occupy Wall Street was not spontaneous. During the summer, the leftist boards around the world were talking about Oct 15.
Yes, something stinks. Maybe that is why this is a good time to leave the galut.
This Latma is just awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtM5NepWcEw&feature=relmfu
ReplyDeleteOccupy Wall Street is not some conspiracy -- it's a genuine (if disorganized) movement for a better society. An-on is right. American democracy is a joke. The entire political and economic system is controlled largely by a small group of millionaires and billionaires who couldn't care less about the welfare of the 99%. We need better health care, education, a reformed criminal justice system, more jobs and job training. We need lots of things to have a decent democratic society that works in everyone's interests, but it's impossible to achieve with the present array of cultural, political and economic forces. So we need a move in a more social-democratic, less elite-driven direction. Communists and anarchists are a visible part of the movement, but most participants just want a fairer, more open version of capitalist democracy. It's somewhat similar to the mass protests in Spain and Israel. It has nothing to do with the chaos and authoritarianism that has come out of the Arab Spring. The tactic (continuing occupation of public spaces) is the same, but that doesn't mean the content is. They're using the tactic because it works in getting more attention to the cause.
ReplyDeleteYishai,
ReplyDeleteThe people to blame for the 99% are the people themselves. The decided that they did not want to get involved in politics where the actual decision making about budgets and spending is made. The people decided that consumerism and entertainment was much more important to them than being involved in building a better society and now they are paying the price.
Mark my words; camping out in tents is not going to change society for the better. Rather, it is scaring the government that something might get out of control and that will not be good for anyone. Camping out in tents in a declared unorganized way, without any concrete demands is pointless and just blowing steam, so there will come a time when the normal people will get frustrated and the anarchists (and plain hoods) will get the masses to attack the police.
In Israel, the 'poor' leftist organizers of the summer protests are about to declare a new party and launching baloons to the public to gauge popularity, the latest called 'Hatikva' (though that party already exists, d'oh!).
Don't be naive. If something is broken, help fix it. Whining about it, bringing attention to it, is going to accomplish what exactly?
If something is broken, help fix it. Whining about it, bringing attention to it, is going to accomplish what exactly?
ReplyDeleteIt's going to get other people to come help fix it too.
>Sometimes I think it’s just the nature of the Left to want to destroy things.
ReplyDeleteIt is in the nature of the left. Everything they touch is in affect to try to tear down social structure, standards etc etc. Most of the time, it comes from good intentions.
There is a very good TED video on the subject discussing the right vs the left, where they actually inhabit this sort of ying/yang existence. The left destroys in order for the right to build and maintain. And this dance plays itself over all the time.
The Occupy movement, like the Tea Party and the (mostly defunct) Code Pink, are pre-electoral movements drumming up partisan support for US Presidential elections.
ReplyDeletePeople vote when they're passionate about issues. Inflaming the passion helps the political parties get into power.
RBT, that is apparently not the point of these directionless movement(s). Metternich has the probable idea though the movements themselves are sort of delegitimizing big government and we are login faith in them. Maybe the left is tired of the Democrats and wants to create its own Left-wing Tea Party?
ReplyDeleteAbout 80% of the OWS in my town are the terminally homeless who are now camped next to the river. They are destroying the river and beach environment with their potty habits. When I see how other OWS camps are destroying communities by making them spend $$$$$ for cleanup and how they are forcing businesses next to the camps to layoff employees due to lost business I feel no sympathy for the OWS passion.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @ 9:41 AM: Actually, because of the similarity btwn the 'Tzedek Chevrati' movement here and the Occupy Wall Street, et al in America, I got the feeling that the movement here was the warmup for the one in the States. They wanted to see how it would go over in Israel, and seeing its success (but probably disappointed on the mostly lack of violence)...
ReplyDeleteIt looks like that is now about to change:
Daphni Leef: 'Protests to get more extreme'