I was an Israeli journalist in Paris for 16 years. I witnessed countless demonstrations. Some violent, even very violent. Trade union conservatism in France hindered the various governments from realizing the reforms people wanted. It was not simple. At the end of a demonstration, it was unclear who had won: the citizen or the state. After all the two are intertwined. France, with its long tradition of social protest, was suddenly seeing a new kind of protest. Unlike the 1968 protesters who wanted to change society, crowds were now gathering to preserve the status quo. My impression is that Saturdays protests were historic, not hysterical. Like in France, tens of thousands of good citizens took to the streets not to demand that the country change, but to preserve what the hardworking middle class is entitled to. Lets be frank. There will always be rich and poor, in every society and every country throughout history. But a society that wishes to keep up an appearance of success among its friends internationally cannot give up its cornerstone: the middle class. A healthy society is measured by the strength of its middle class, which most of us belong to. We don't want to be like our neighbors, who have only two classes, upper and lower, a situation that led to the Arab Spring. Although we did just join the club of countries rocked by mass protests in 2011, ours were non-violent (this is no Tahrir Square) proving that our democracy is still resilient, beautiful and healthy. The Israeli government is proud of its impressive economic record. Rightfully so. Saturdays historic mass protest suggests that maybe the people aren't as keen on an impressive economy if it comes at the expense of their pocketbooks. The country is important, but so are its citizens. We must realize that Greece was a model welfare state -- until it went bankrupt. Ireland, Italy and Spain have hit hard times as well. Let's not mention the frightening debt piled up by the United States. We are not living in simple times. Israel needs change, but we need to do it carefully while looking both ways. It's bad to for the middle class to be dragged downward, but a free fall is much worse. Peace and security without social justice is just as bad as social justice without peace and security. We want it all, and we deserve to aspire to that. But between you and me, a nation calling for social justice is far preferable to a nation holding signs that say "will work for food." Its better to go into overdraft at the end of the month, a long-standing Israeli tradition, than to do so at the beginning. Obviously, both options are bad, but the second is worse. Once upon a time, governments labelled social-justice protesters as "not nice," in the notoriously offensive words of Golda Meir. This time its different. The protesters appear to be "you and me" trying to work it out with a government that also represents "you and me." We need to look after our pocketbooks, but let's also look after our state, for all of our sakes.
