Arab Spring? No. Think Israel Summer

Protesters marching in lower Manhattan in an Occupy Wall Street demonstration, Sept. 26, 2011. Paul Stein/Creative Commons

NEW YORK РAs the Occupy Wall Street protest enters its fourth week, with demonstrations popping up in more than 10 cities, the protesters are aggressively pushing a comparison to the Arab Spring. Some say the movement has channeled the zeal (or perhaps the naivet̩, others would argue) of the 1960s anti-war demonstrations. It is not Tahrir Square or Chicago in 1968 that Occupy Wall Street most resembles, however. What it most resembles are the protests for economic justice that swept Israel this summer.

Let us begin with location. Like the J14 – the catchy name for the Israel protests, taken from the date, July 14, when they began – the Occupy Wall Street activists have staked out their turf in the heart of the U.S. banking industry.

In Tel Aviv, hundreds of protesters railed against the high cost of housing by setting up tents in the area of the city that houses Israel’s largest banks, specifically on Rothschild Blvd., an exclusive street named after Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a member of the famous Jewish banking family and a patron of Zionist causes.

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In Lower Manhattan, the Occupy Wall Street protesters have made their base 2 1/2 blocks from the New York Stock Exchange in Zuccotti Park. While there are no tents allowed, hundreds of protesters have made the park their temporary home, camping out in sleeping bags despite rain and the early autumn chill.

Rothschild Blvd. in Tel Aviv houses Independence Hall, the site where Israel’s Declaration of Independence was signed in 1948. Zuccotti Park has been rechristened “Liberty Park” by the protesters and is just a few yards away from Ground Zero.

Occupy Wall Street has drawn a broad-yet-disparate coalition much in the way that the Tel Aviv protests did. Taking a lap through Zuccotti Park, you will hear snippets of conversations about the environment, gay rights, police brutality, the Iraq War, Afghanistan, the drone program, tax cuts, foreign aid and more.

The single overarching theme of the protests has been corporate greed. It is this one-note song of economic inequality that has allowed a collection of students, the unemployed, activists, anarchists, immigrants and union members to form a coalition. They say they represent the 99 percent; the wealthiest one percent, they point out, controls 40 percent of the country’s wealth.

Similarly, by avoiding divisive political issues such as settlements, the status of Jerusalem, the future of the west bank, policy toward Iran and financial subsidies for the charedi Orthodox, and focusing on one issue – the untenable cost of living – J14 was able to unite Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Christians, Druze, gays, the religious, the secular, the left wing, and the right wing in common cause. In its final rally on Sept. 3, some 400,000 people participated – approximately six percent of the country’s population.

“There’s a lot of love,” an unemployed Occupy Wall Street protester named Donna said.

On a Monday evening and in the early morning hours the next day, it was clear what she was talking about. The sound of drums and guitars gave the space the feeling of a carnival. A quick tour of the plaza revealed a surprising abundance of provisions: anarchists with logistical acumen. There was more food than could be eaten, and no one knew from where it had come: deli sandwiches, Pop Tarts, apples, bananas, coffee, and bottles and bottles of Poland Spring. There was talk of donating the excess food to homeless shelters.

Countless supplies had arrived via UPS and from strangers dropping off supplies throughout the day. There were tarps to sleep under, and aluminum foil and cloth blankets for campers. A compost station had been set up for leftover food. Two protesters sat rolling cigarettes from mounds of tobacco, offering regular or mint. I was offered a free umbrella. A similar camaraderie had pervaded the Tel Aviv protests this summer.

In Zuccotti Park, a medical team roved the plaza handing out vitamins. A sanitation crew kept the square clean. Protesters used the bathroom in a nearby McDonald’s.

“They’ve been very nice to us,” said Anya, who came from Iowa for the protest. “The workers are part of the 99 percent.” At 1 a.m., a bounty of McDonald’s cookies and coffee arrived.

A guy named Max was soon sipping McDonald’s corporate coffee. Max said he lived nearby and had just dropped by to check out the scene. “The protesters have…no mission,” he observed. “It’s like they are fighting a ghost.”

The same could be said of the Tel Aviv protests, which nevertheless galvanized an apathetic Israeli generation into political engagement.

The Tablet/JTA Wire Service

Adam Chandler is a contributing editor for Tablet Magazine. His work has appeared in Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post, The Huffington Post, and elsewhere. This article originally appeared on Tablet Magazine, tabletmag.com.