[Peace-discuss] [Sdas] Israel Could Deteriorate Like Argentina (fwd)

[parenti susan rose]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2002 00:03:35 +0100
From: Marianne Brun <manni at snafu.de>
To: sdas at onthejob.net
Subject: [Sdas] Israel Could Deteriorate Like Argentina



----------
Von: portsideMod at netscape.net
Antworten an: portside at yahoogroups.com
Datum: Sat, 05 Jan 2002 19:54:48 -0500
An: portside at yahoogroups.com
Betreff: Israel Could Deteriorate Like Argentina

w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m

      January 4, 2002



      Israel could deteriorate just like Argentina
    Professor Luis Roniger, who served as moderator for a panel discussion
on the Argentinian crisis at Hebrew University in Jerusalem on Thursday,
      opened with a question that seemingly had nothing to do with events in
      Buenos Aires: "Can it happen here?"

      "The interest that the crisis in Argentina has raised in Israel is not
      connected to concern for Argentinean Jews, but rather to the fact that
      every Israeli today is asking himself this very question," he
immediately explained.

      Professor Roniger, a Hebrew University sociologist who has done
research         on Argentinean society, continued by pointing out the
      similarities between the two societies: "A widening social gap,
      deepening poverty, rising unemployment, lack of growth, a state
      education system which is being destroyed, lack of confidence
      in leaders."

      "In light of these phenomena," Roniger added, "it is appropriate to
ask         whether we should prepare ourselves for similar developments?"

      The discussion, which was organized by the Latin American department
at         the Truman Institute, dealt with the Argentinian crisis, but the
      comparison between Israel and Argentina hovered in the hall for the
      duration.

      Professor Ra'anan Rein, head of the Institute of Latin American
History         and Culture at Tel Aviv University, also addressed the
question. "The             message of events in Argentina reaches beyond the
its borders.
      What failed in Argentina is the very same economic recipe proposed by
      all economists and among us as well. The crisis there raises interest
      in Israel because we are also victims of this neo-liberal
      obsession, according to which all privatization serves both the
      market and the economy."

      In Rein's opinion, what took place in Argentina was a "civil uprising"
      based on an "unstable multi-class coalition." The poor took to
      the streets because they were starving, while the middle class and
      upper-middle class demonstrated because they were worried about
      their savings. "The television lied to us," said Rein. "It mostly
      showed the looting, the fires and the broken shop windows, because
      that makes good film. It hardly showed us the tens of thousands of
      people taking to the streets with pots and pans, with no platform
      or leadership, in order to send the political class to hell. They
      weren't able to send the ruling political class home, because
      this requires a social revolution."

      Professor Morris Tuval, from the Economics Department at Hebrew
      University, offers a different analysis. He says that it was not the
      neo-liberal model that failed, but rather its distorted
implementation.
      "The privatization was sweeping, but was not preceded by the
preparation
      of an institutional infrastructure, and no laws were legislated to
      guarantee its fairness," Tuval explained.

      "Something that shouldn't have been done was done there. The economic
      principles were disconnected from the social principles and from all
the
      rules of business integrity."

      Tuval also made a comparison between Argentina and Israel. "The
      linkage of the peso to the dollar," he explained, "was an
      exorbitant attempt to use the high value of the currency as a tool
      for stabilizing the market. High interest rates discriminated
      against small and medium-sized factories. In short, they were
      doing something similar to what Yaakaov Frenkel was doing here."

      The name of the former Bank of Israel governor was not mentioned by
      accident - Frenkel was one of the closest advisors to former
Argentinian
      Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo, whose government was ousted by
pressure
      from the masses.

      Dr. Leonardo Sankman, from the Latin-American studies faculty at
Hebrew
      University, believes that the election of President Eduardo Duhalde,
"a
      man from the populist wing in the Peronist Party," is likely to
      signal the beginning of a positive change.

      "With no disrespect to the middle class," Sankman said, "this drama
will
      not end without hearing the voices of the Peronist workers
associations"
      to which Duhalde is linked. Sankman expects a split in the Peronist
      movement: the right-wing will join forces with the conservatives,
while
      the groups connected to the professional unions will establish,
together
      with the leftist parties, "a coalition that will turn the Peronists
into
      social democrats that will provide the wide base required
      for implementing economic measures."

      The forecast from Dr. Mario Schneider, from Hebrew University's
political
      science department, is more pessimistic. "It is difficult for me to
see
      how the new government can appease the poor and also the middle class,
      while at the same time successfully bring stability to a devastated
      system."

      By Aryeh Dayan, Ha'aretz Correspondent


-- 




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