TEL-AVIV-JAFF, ISRAEL-PALESTINE, May 8 — Thousands of Jewish and Arab workers, many of whom live in public housing apartments, marched today to protest the racist policies of the public housing companies. The marchers demanded housing for all (regardless of ethnicity) and an end to the evictions of Arab workers from their homes by the “Amidar,” “Amigur” and “Halamish” companies. Chants also called for a revolution and for an egalitarian society. A speech by a PL’er linking the racism in housing to the bosses’ financial interests and calling for a workers’ revolution was welcomed by loud applause.
Exploiting Jewish Workers
Israel’s public housing companies, at least partially state-owned, were established in the 1950’s and 1960’s to house the masses of Jewish immigrants brought from all around the world to serve as a labor force for the Zionist regime and its capitalist backers. Construction was shoddy at best, but the apartments were very cheap and affordable for most Jewish workers.
The public housing companies are also responsible for administering the homes confiscated from Palestinians who were deported in the 1948 war. Many of the lands on which Palestinian-Arab workers live today inside the “Green Line” (in the western part of Israel-Palestine) are officially owned by these companies.
Since the “Monetary Reforms” (neo-liberalism) of the 1980’s, the bosses cut the funding for public housing, leaving the apartments to rot and crumble on the heads of their impoverished working-class residents while the public housing company bosses and officials draw fat salaries. Workers who cannot pay the rent to a regular landlord can no longer rely on public housing. Indeed, getting a public apartment is nearly impossible. Some workers were forced to squat in public-owned apartments to have a roof over their heads.
Recently, there’s been a wave of attacks by the public housing companies on residents in general and Arab residents in particular, trying to milk these poor workers for money and to forcefully evict them, typically under racist excuses. For example, one lawyer in the employ of the “Amidar” Public Housing Company said in court that “this land belongs to us [the Jews] and the Arab residents should be grateful to us for allowing them to live there [on their own land] for decades.”
Real Estate Bosses Profit from Evictions
The real reason for these evictions is to sell off the land to real-estate tycoons who will reap profits from its development. Many of the lawyers employed by these tycoons are former public housing officials who have kept information about the residents with them when they switched to the new, well-paying private-sector jobs.
The marchers have shown these racist vultures that, despite all this racist crap, thousands of workers from all nations, ethnicities and creeds can unite and fight against these bosses. The slogans marked the way forward for the struggle - a struggle for an egalitarian society free from racism, exploitation and homelessness. We in the Progressive Labour Party have a name for such a society - communism. And the only way to bring that about is for workers to unite, struggle, have a revolution and smash all bosses!
