Thefight against the right wing government impels a commitment to the principle of equal partnership between Israelis and Palestinians

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Wac-Maan
– February 5, 2023פורסם בWAC-MAAN

The sixth government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was established just a month ago, yet its leaders have already made it clear that they intend to set up a fundamentalist and racist dictatorship. MAAN, as a trade union committed to democracy, equality and freedom, opposes the government’s program and urges its members and supporters to act fiercely against this attack.

The changes the government openly aims for include, at first, eliminating the independence of the Judiciary, transforming Israel into a state where the executive and legislative forces have absolute power, under the notion that this represents “the will of the people”; partial annexation of the West Bank and the deportation of Palestinian inhabitants; Judaization of large swathes of the Negev and the Galilee at the expense of the Arab citizens in these regions; curtailing freedom of speech, free press and art; increasing religious influence in the public sphere starting with education. Also, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who promotes a libertarian and neoliberal agenda aims at the retrenchment of welfare services and threatens to undermine workers’ rights including the right to strike.

These changes are inspired and guided by Kohelet Policy Forum thinktank, which has imported the ideas of  the Trumpian US rightwing into Israel. Bezalel Smotrich, Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin aim to emulate the authoritarian regime of Victor Orbán in Hungary, where the courts have been silenced, the free press destroyed, and the conservative-nationalist majority imposes its racist and homophobic worldview on academia, public discourse and culture.

MAAN Workers Association unionizes Arab and Jewish workers in industry, education, services and civil society organizations. As an organization representing a wide mosaic of workers including Palestinians employed in Israel and in the settlements, MAAN positions itself unequivocally against the new government which threatens to harm the basic human and civil rights of all, including the right of workers to unionize and strike. We add our voice to the current massive protest against the government’s regime change.

Yet, while we share the concern of the protest leaders we cannot simply ignore the call of the protesters to maintain the current system that has places for over 55 years five million Palestinians under military Israeli rule without basic human and civil rights. We claim that the important democratic struggle taking place cannot bear fruits as long as it ignores the principle of equality, on the right of every person – Israeli or Palestinian – to live in dignity, with freedom of movement and the right to vote.

MAAN calls for the creation of a wide coalition that acknowledges that two peoples live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. The democracy we struggle for includes Palestinian workers unionized with MAAN, who have for decades been subject to the repressive and exploitative work permit regime.

The struggle against Netanyahu’s government is an opportunity to bring a new democratic agenda to the table. This monstrous Government was born out of a false assumption, adopted by the mainstream Israeli thinking that Israelis could enjoy a democracy while Palestinians would be doomed to occupation and dispossession. We must now demand an open and pluralist society, which will arise from the meeting point between the two peoples and from the understanding that all human beings are equal.

MAAN’s work on the ground gives daily expression to its principles of equality and cooperation. We call on workers who share this vision to join the struggle against the government and join us in building  MAAN as a unique trade union for social, environmental and cultural change.

אודות Wac-Maan