'Guardian' editorial praises social movement, Leef
British newspaper says social movement should not be treated as a media spectacle, praises movement leader Leef for her inclusive rhetoric.
By JPOST.COM STAFFdaphne leef stav shafir 311(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
British left-leaning newspaper the Guardian expressed praise Thursday for the social protest movement in Israel, and for movement leader Daphni Leef's attempts to make the movement pluralistic and inclusive all levels of Israeli society.The editorial explained that if 7 percent of any other nation had taken to the streets for the sake of "social justice," it would have been publicly acknowledged that the "long-awaited revolution had arrived." And while the international media has tended to treat the movement as something of a summer spectacle because of it's location in Israel, "It should not," the Guardian said. RELATED:
The tents may be down, but the social issues remainActivists to announce new steps in social protestsThe editorial praised the non-violent nature of the protests. "Every one of those protesters deserve credit for building a serious popular movement which did not riot, but which questioned the values of the hypercapitalist age in which we all, to some extent, collaborate," it said.The editorial also showed particular support for protest leader Daphni Leef, for her elloquent grasp of democracy - the editorial quoted a piece from Leef's speech at the most recent mass gathering in Kikar Hamedina - but for managing to include even the lowest sectors of Israeli society, namely the Beduin community, into the social movement."Leef addressed not just the inequality of Israeli society, but the inequalities inherent in it," the editorial said. Click for full JPost coverage
