What do facts have to do with the summer 2011 protests? – Structuring reality

The attempt to present the 2011 social protests as a demand for improving the standard of living is nothing but cheap demagoguery that reveals the political leadership's detachment more than anything else. This article argues that these protests are a sign of the maturity of Israeli society and a historic event. They demonstrate mature insight on the part of an educated Israeli public that sees itself as part of the developed Western world. For the first time in a generation, the Israeli public is complaining about the absence of a guiding ideological foundation for the general social choices being made in their name by their elected representatives. Post-2011 Israel is a country where the public is forcing its elected officials to engage in a debate about the ideas of neo-liberalism and demanding that they take a clear stand about available ideological options and act accordingly.