HOUSING PROTEST IN ISRAEL

HOUSING PROTEST IN ISRAEL

When Facebook compensates the absence of efficient Unions and consumers associations

By Didier BERTIN – 21 JULY 2011

The lack of State intervention in social and economical situation has led the country to a substantial inequity of revenue distribution among citizens and to a jump in real estate prices amplified by a speculative thirst and a lack of ethics.

Today many citizens and in particular the young people, have not sufficient earning to access to property or more simply to rent a flat.

Israel has no efficient associations or Unions to enable the victims of the current politics to be heard.

Fortunately, as recently in many Arab countries, social networks Facebook and in general internet have enabled people to organize themselves.

In order to protest against the lack of housing, people have decided as in Spain to live under tents in the streets of an increasing number of cities.

This crisis might be an opportunity of the birth of a political conscience in Israel, which had disappeared for many years. The debate used to be dedicated to security, war with no real space for social issues.

I-ECONOMY

We had underlined formerly that the Israeli economy is too much based on speculative sectors, which provided a fragile growing at the benefit of a small part of the population.

All sectors are led on a shortermist market principle with a very reduced State intervention, which exclude long run industrial effort or housing sector.

We had also underlined the incredible high level of the Gini index (0.392) illustrating the big inequity of revenue distribution among citizens, is equivalent to the level of the very poor countries.

We had also underlined that the current organization of the economy leads to very high prices for basic needs since the corner stone of the economy is the free market with a lack of competition and with a limited intervention of the State to compensate it. This policy might be due together to a religious faith in an economical ideology and incompetence.

II-DEMOCRACY

We had underlined the need to give fundamental rights to citizens in order to guarantee the welfare of the vast majority by opposition to the current situation.

The main lacks of the current Israeli democracy are:

-the lack of housing policy, social security, health care, work conditions, laws, pensions and the mediocre administration of the country in all fields.

III-POLITICAL CONSCIENCE

Without a clear political analysis the protest movement will lead to nowhere.

As a matter of fact the last answer of the prime minister is shocking and improper because it is only based on market mechanisms as a response to the crisis. As a matter of fact he mainly proposes to build more flats but without a modification of social national conscience and policy, this will change nothing.

In addition the target of this type of proposal is only dilatory since it postpones the solution in a far future with the target to calm down people and clean the streets of the cities of the current “happy campers.”

The immediate solution to the problem might be for example:

-A limit by law of the level of rents and immediate reductions in taking into account the national median wage.

-A requisition of all empty flats or space transformable into flats for people having no flats

-A limit of sale price per square meter

Example:

A rent for a descent flat and for a 4 people family should not exceed on average 25% of the medium wage, or a 100% funding and interest for the acquisition of a descent flat for the same family should not exceed on average 7 years of the annual medium wage. This will correspond to a 35% debt service over 20 years.

Families with revenues under the medium wage should receive state subsidies to have access to housing.

This conception is totally opposed to market considerations but take into accounts the needs of citizens.

IV-CONCLUSION

The response to the housing crisis as to any issue regarding welfare commands a change in the type of government.

This was clearly understood in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, by Spanish protesters and now Syria and we could expect a similar insight from the Israelis.

The good signal is that Miri Reguev (Likoud) said that the protest is hijacked by the leftists; it is hard to believe that she think that such a crisis could be out of the political scene as she said when it was generated by political choices.

The worst thing is that she could be sincere and reflect the disappearance of the political conscience from the public debates as shown by the current naturally rightist or far rightist knesset.