It is Election Day eve, and a tense, anticipatory quiet has descended on
the land. Even as campaign volunteers scramble around the country to hand out
their last fliers and pin up their last posters, the candidates themselves have
entered a law-dictated silence and the nation waits. At 7am tomorrow, members
of the public will begin exercising their last and most important chance to
influence the outcome of the elections by casting their ballots.
For many pundits and commentators, tomorrow's result is a foregone conclusion. The polling data, though perennially fickle and unreliable, does appear to reflect the inescapable truth of the rightist-religious bloc walking away with the lion's share of mandates. Still, surprises are an inseparable element of elections here, and one cannot know for certain what will happen. As we were shown in 2009, the party that wins the most seats will not necessarily be the party to form the next government.
In this quiet moment, the peace before the storm, we should reflect on a few key points that we have learned from the last month or so of campaigning.
Firstly, change is in the air. The social protests of the summer of 2011 gave the Israeli public a sense of self-confidence that was lost 18 years ago. The spontaneous passion that lit up the Israeli middle and working classes from North to South showed people that they were not alone, that things could be better. From the hundreds of thousands of people who left their homes to sleep in tents and hit the streets to join the marches, we learned that solidarity is our greatest strength, and that social justice is not a slogan but a basic right. It is true that many of the new parties that have sprouted up recently did so on the fertile ground of 2011's social justice movement. It is also true that the preponderance of so many new parties does not necessarily help our cause, but still, it is worth reflecting on the mere fact that the Israeli public is hungry for change and they believe that they can achieve it. The latter is not something to be scoffed at.
Secondly the right's stronghold is weakening. This may be counterintuitive after a cursory glimpse of the polling data, but prod a little deeper and the truth becomes apparent. Likud Beitenu running on a joint list are polling at 34 seats (as separate parties in the last elections they held 45). The horde of young voters, secular and religious alike, planning to vote for Naftali Bennett tomorrow, have been tricked by a wily and extremely effective campaign strategy into associating Bennett with change and youth, offering voters fed up and disillusioned with Bibi and the Likud a younger, smiling face to turn to. Bennett’s foothold in the next Knesset will allow him, champion of the settlers, to reveal his true extremist self and his anti-democratic policies will surely send those voters back to the center.
Thirdly, social policies are back on the agenda. For the first time in a long time, social and economic policies are vying as equals with security for the public's attention. The Israeli public no longer believes the lie told to them for decades by politicians that they are not entitled to a high standard living while security threats abound. We now know that all the working people of this country are entitled to a share in its prosperity and that only equality can foster the social fabric of a society strong enough to deal with its external threats.
Most important of all, however, is the following. What we are really seeking – the end to all of this – is true change. Politics is but a tool, and a far from perfect one at that. One need only to read any newspaper in Israel over the past 20 years to know that all too often politics can corrupt. Legislation and policies that have hurt Israeli society by privatizing our social services and disintegrating solidarity have come from both the right and the left. Whoever forms the government over the course of the next week will be forced to do so through coalitions with parties that share few of the same platforms, and have very different goals. All legislation will still need to pass through a Knesset seized by large extremist elements – diametrically ideologically opposed to each other. Change in this forum, as in every other, will be slow.
With this in mind, we should remember that we have in our hands a greater tool for change. Human effort – through education, local activism and community building – can provide the kind of organic, revolutionary change that politics can't. In the political realm words like 'values' and 'social justice' and 'a strong society’ are campaign slogans. On the human level, they are concepts that define lives and the way that we interpret our society, our world and each other. Israeli youth must be educated to believe that a different, better reality is possible and that they have the power to pursue that reality through the choices they make: through the way they treat others, the paths they take in life, their willingness to reach out to the other – least of all by the way they vote on future Election Days. Only truly personal education that places the human being in the center can show us that we are the masters of our own destiny, and that the choices that we, and we alone, make, determine the future for ourselves, our society, our people and the planet. The mandate to shape this future does not belong only in the hands of elected officials, it is all of ours. Whatever the outcome tomorrow, we will never stop pursuing a future of justice and truth for all.
-Why Vote Labor Editors
For many pundits and commentators, tomorrow's result is a foregone conclusion. The polling data, though perennially fickle and unreliable, does appear to reflect the inescapable truth of the rightist-religious bloc walking away with the lion's share of mandates. Still, surprises are an inseparable element of elections here, and one cannot know for certain what will happen. As we were shown in 2009, the party that wins the most seats will not necessarily be the party to form the next government.
In this quiet moment, the peace before the storm, we should reflect on a few key points that we have learned from the last month or so of campaigning.
Firstly, change is in the air. The social protests of the summer of 2011 gave the Israeli public a sense of self-confidence that was lost 18 years ago. The spontaneous passion that lit up the Israeli middle and working classes from North to South showed people that they were not alone, that things could be better. From the hundreds of thousands of people who left their homes to sleep in tents and hit the streets to join the marches, we learned that solidarity is our greatest strength, and that social justice is not a slogan but a basic right. It is true that many of the new parties that have sprouted up recently did so on the fertile ground of 2011's social justice movement. It is also true that the preponderance of so many new parties does not necessarily help our cause, but still, it is worth reflecting on the mere fact that the Israeli public is hungry for change and they believe that they can achieve it. The latter is not something to be scoffed at.
Secondly the right's stronghold is weakening. This may be counterintuitive after a cursory glimpse of the polling data, but prod a little deeper and the truth becomes apparent. Likud Beitenu running on a joint list are polling at 34 seats (as separate parties in the last elections they held 45). The horde of young voters, secular and religious alike, planning to vote for Naftali Bennett tomorrow, have been tricked by a wily and extremely effective campaign strategy into associating Bennett with change and youth, offering voters fed up and disillusioned with Bibi and the Likud a younger, smiling face to turn to. Bennett’s foothold in the next Knesset will allow him, champion of the settlers, to reveal his true extremist self and his anti-democratic policies will surely send those voters back to the center.
Thirdly, social policies are back on the agenda. For the first time in a long time, social and economic policies are vying as equals with security for the public's attention. The Israeli public no longer believes the lie told to them for decades by politicians that they are not entitled to a high standard living while security threats abound. We now know that all the working people of this country are entitled to a share in its prosperity and that only equality can foster the social fabric of a society strong enough to deal with its external threats.
Most important of all, however, is the following. What we are really seeking – the end to all of this – is true change. Politics is but a tool, and a far from perfect one at that. One need only to read any newspaper in Israel over the past 20 years to know that all too often politics can corrupt. Legislation and policies that have hurt Israeli society by privatizing our social services and disintegrating solidarity have come from both the right and the left. Whoever forms the government over the course of the next week will be forced to do so through coalitions with parties that share few of the same platforms, and have very different goals. All legislation will still need to pass through a Knesset seized by large extremist elements – diametrically ideologically opposed to each other. Change in this forum, as in every other, will be slow.
With this in mind, we should remember that we have in our hands a greater tool for change. Human effort – through education, local activism and community building – can provide the kind of organic, revolutionary change that politics can't. In the political realm words like 'values' and 'social justice' and 'a strong society’ are campaign slogans. On the human level, they are concepts that define lives and the way that we interpret our society, our world and each other. Israeli youth must be educated to believe that a different, better reality is possible and that they have the power to pursue that reality through the choices they make: through the way they treat others, the paths they take in life, their willingness to reach out to the other – least of all by the way they vote on future Election Days. Only truly personal education that places the human being in the center can show us that we are the masters of our own destiny, and that the choices that we, and we alone, make, determine the future for ourselves, our society, our people and the planet. The mandate to shape this future does not belong only in the hands of elected officials, it is all of ours. Whatever the outcome tomorrow, we will never stop pursuing a future of justice and truth for all.
-Why Vote Labor Editors
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