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their outlook on Palestine seems very reasonable.<br>
<br>
Price controls on basic goods seem very utopian but are not reasonable<br>
and will lead to scarcity of basic goods as enterprises are forced to <br>
abandon production due to losses.<br>
<br>
Nationalization of failed private industry is a hoot, and very
paradoxical.<br>
<br>
The present situation in China is that State Owned Enterprises are
accurately viewed<br>
and mocked derisively as being extremely inefficient with lazy, inept,
and uncooperative employees, <br>
generally low productivity, and management by very corrupt people
thirsty for kick-backs<br>
and filthy lucre.<br>
<br>
Imagine that the Illinois state government managed industry.<br>
<br>
Imagine that the state of Illinois managed education...<br>
<br>
<br>
On 12/31/12 4:57, David Johnson wrote:
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<h1 class="entry-title">Daam Workers Party: Election platform for the
19th Knesset, 2013 (abridged)</h1>
<div class="entry-meta"><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author">Posted
on</span> <a moz-do-not-send="true" title="15:59"
href="http://en.daam.org.il/?p=301" rel="bookmark"><span
class="entry-date">18/12/2012</span></a> <span class="meta-sep">by</span>
<span class="author vcard"><a moz-do-not-send="true" class="url fn n"
title="View all posts by Da'am Workers Party"
href="http://en.daam.org.il/?author=1">Da'am Workers Party</a></span> </div>
<div class="entry-content">
<p>As Israel goes to elections for the 19th Knesset in January 2013,
two critical issues cry out for attention. The first is the political
stalemate which will lead to a third intifada and a terrible
confrontation with the Arab world. The second concerns the austerity
program and drastic cuts to the national budget which will lead to
unemployment, poverty and the collapse of public services.</p>
<p>On one side, the Palestinians refuse to accept the occupation. On
the other, a growing swathe of the Israeli population opposes the
rampant capitalism that has taken over the country. The popular
protests that erupted in the summer of 2011 are evidence that change is
possible. The Daam Workers Party was actively involved in the protests,
and struggles daily for social change among Jewish and Arab workers.</p>
<p>Daam offers the Israeli public an agenda of revolutionary change
around these two issues: an end to the occupation and the creation of a
society based on equality and social justice. A solution to the
Palestinian question and peace are preconditions for the creation of a
just society in which a person’s ethnic background will not prevent her
full participation in society.</p>
<p><span id="more-301"></span></p>
<p><strong>I. The Palestinian question and the Arab world</strong></p>
<p>1. Daam calls for an end to the occupation, the creation of an
independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, and the
dismantling of the settlements.</p>
<p>The Oslo Accords thwarted the possibility of reaching a solution
based on two states. A feasible peace agreement must include an end to
the occupation, the dismantling of the settlements and the
establishment of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders with
East Jerusalem as its capital. The economic crisis in the West Bank and
the powerlessness of the Palestinian Authority (PA) will, sooner or
later, lead to a third popular intifada targeted at the corrupt symbols
of the PA. Israel will not be able to ensure political or economic
stability without a real solution to the Palestinian question.</p>
<p>2. Daam supports the Arab Spring and the struggles of the Syrian
people, and calls for peace with the future Syrian government based on
an end to the occupation of the Golan Heights.</p>
<p>The democratic revolutions in the Arab world are key to changing
Israel’s relations with its neighbors. The Arab Spring offers a message
of democracy and social justice, and constitutes an opportunity for
building healthy and equal relations between Israeli society and the
Arab world surrounding it. Daam stands with the Syrian people in their
struggle against Assad’s regime and adds its voice to the voices of the
Syrians who call for an end to the dictatorship.</p>
<p><strong>II. The economy</strong></p>
<p>Daam is a socialist party which sees employment, not profit, as
the natural right of every human being and the source of a flourishing
economy and society. Daam is active in organizing workers in trade
unions and in achieving collective agreements to ensure the full rights
and job security of workers.</p>
<p>1. Privatization: Daam calls on the government to nationalize the
public services and the industries that are being shut down.</p>
<p>2. Taxation: Daam calls for raising corporate taxes and reducing
the taxation of workers.</p>
<p>3. National budget: Daam calls for increasing the national deficit
to promote employment, welfare, education, housing and health; for
abolishing the “Arrangements Law”; and for reducing the defense budget.</p>
<p>4. Cost of living: Daam calls for reintroducing price control on
basic goods, for subsidizing public transport and for implementing the
cost-of-living bonus agreement which was cancelled.</p>
<p>5. Employment: Daam is active in unionizing workers and in the
struggle for collective agreements to cover all workers in the various
branches of the economy, and calls for an end to employment via labor
contractors.</p>
<p>6. Migrant labor and asylum seekers: Daam works to stop the
employment of migrant laborers under terms limiting their basic
freedoms, and supports the granting of asylum for refugees. Daam calls
for regulating the employment of migrant laborers, refugees and
Palestinians from the occupied territories, by unionizing these workers
and employing them in keeping with Israeli labor law. Daam opposes the
detention and deportation of migrant laborers and refugees, and the
violation of their rights.</p>
<p><strong>III. Gender discrimination</strong></p>
<p>Full equality between the sexes: Daam works for the advancement of
women in all fields of life, including politics, economics, culture and
society. The advancement of women requires developed social services
and the reduction of poverty, which disproportionately affects women.
Daam woman activists are a dominant force in the party leadership, and
stand at the forefront of the struggle for social and political change.</p>
<p>1. Women at work: The Workers Advice Center (WAC), which is a
trade union affiliated with Daam, struggles for equal opportunities for
women at work. It demands augmented enforcement of legislation intended
to ensure equal pay and employment terms for men and women, and greater
efforts to prevent discrimination because of pregnancy and birth. Daam
calls for government support for a long school day, subsidies for
daycare centers, the recognition of childcare costs for taxation
purposes, and assistance for single-parent families. Daam opposes the
raising of the retirement age for women.</p>
</div>
<p>2. Personal status laws and human rights: Daam calls for the
complete separation of religion and state, for the provision of civil
marriage, divorce and burial services, and for complete personal
freedom in the choice of a partner.</p>
<p>3. Violence against women: Daam calls for increasing the
enforcement of legislation and punishment regarding the trafficking of
women, prostitution, sexual harassment and sexual assault.</p>
<p><strong>IV. The environment</strong></p>
<p>Daam calls for an end to the privatization of public and natural
resources, and for the maximization of the public’s share in these
resources. Daam calls for increased investment in public
infrastructure, improving public transport, and closing city centers to
private vehicles in favor of clean public transport. Daam will act to
return the water corporations to local authorities.</p>
<p><strong>V. Israel’s Arab citizens</strong></p>
<p>Since the State of Israel was established, its Arab citizens, who
today make up some 20% of the population, have suffered
institutionalized discrimination which exposes the limitations of
Israeli democracy. The lack of infrastructure and the discrimination in
the allocation of resources have created poverty and caused the
unraveling of the social fabric in Arab towns and villages. The Arab
leadership takes advantage of the conservative and patriarchal
character of Arab society to maintain its control over the Arab
population. The segregation and distrust between Jews and Arabs is an
obstacle to confronting the government’s capitalist policies. Daam
offers an alternative agenda centered on internal change within Arab
society. It promotes openness towards progressive forces within Jewish
society. In its struggle against racism in Israeli society, Daam seeks
full and unconditionally equal rights for Israel’s Arab citizens.</p>
<p>1. Employment: The employment of Israel’s Arab citizens, in
particular Arab women, is one of Daam’s central demands and a
fundamental aspect of its activities. Daam calls for affirmative action
in the employment of Arab citizens in government bodies and public
companies, preferential terms for the building and development of
industrial zones in Arab towns, increased public transport between Arab
towns and industrial/commercial centers, and an end to the import of
migrant labor (see above, II.6).</p>
<p>2. Housing and development: Daam demands an end to the demolition
of houses in Arab towns, an increase in land designated for
construction around Arab towns, an increase in the land under the
jurisdiction of local authorities in Arab towns, and an end to racist
legislation that in practice prevents Arabs from living wherever they
choose. Daam also calls for public construction in Arab towns, for
state recognition of “unrecognized” Arab villages, and an end to the
policy of dispossession of Arabs in the Negev region.</p>
<p>3. Education and public services: Daam demands an end to
state-sanctioned institutional discrimination towards Arabs in the
allocation of resources for development, education and social and
cultural services; it calls for the appointment of educational staff
according to capabilities and not familial ties or political
considerations. Daam seeks an increase in the number of social workers
and psychologists allocated to Arab areas, and in the budget for
infrastructure and a long school day. Daam works to involve residents
in its activities in schools, to oppose violence against women, and to
invest in pupils in both formal and voluntary frameworks.</p>
<p>4. National service: Daam opposes making the granting of equal
rights for Arab citizens conditional on national service or any other
condition.</p>
<p>Daam opposes national service because it makes basic rights, which
should be granted to every citizen, conditional on service to the state
which consistently discriminates against Arab citizens. The neglect of
Arab youth, plus the lack of employment, education, culture and an
appropriate public sphere, creates poverty and violence. National
service will not solve this problem or create jobs. Israeli society
makes no attempt to integrate Arab youth, and thus young Arab citizens
have no motivation to serve the state.</p>
<p>- Translated from the Hebrew by Yonatan Preminger</p>
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