The emperor’s nakedness
Op-ed: Why do aggressive right-wingers insist on loudly confronting a fringe group of leftist Israeli artists, when the better approach would be remaining silent and letting them go extinct?
The Ministry of Culture sent a short questionnaire to managers of orchestras, theaters, and dance troupes in Israel, in which they were to report whether they avoided performing in West Bank settlements, the Negev, or the Galilee in the past year. If they had, their government grant would be cut. This is all part of Minister Miri Regev’s policy.
That policy is almost correct. Indeed art in towns in the periphery should be encouraged, but the specific areas she chose are slightly strange. Haifa for instance, is farther away from Tel Aviv than the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim (100 kilometers vs. 87 kilometers). And settlements are usually not in worse socio-economic shape than other towns either, so that argument doesn’t hold water.
Culture Minister Miri Regev. An almost-correct initiative. (Photo: Amit Shabi)
The usual division into branches of municipalities says that Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel are equivalent to Gedera and Petah Tikva (branch 6) and Alfei Menashe is equivalent to Ramat Gan (branch 8). These are just random examples, and there are many others like them. It’s clear, then, that the Culture Ministry’s regulation is not a product of sincere care for people for whom cultural products are out of reach. It is a threat pointed at artists whose political views make them want to avoid performing outside the state of Israel’s borders.
Stage artists are often people of a prominent public presence, and so their submission is important to the right-wing government. This is one of the tricks being used to erase from our minds the existence of any difference between Israel and its colony. The purpose is the same as the one represented by the act of erasing the Green Line from official maps.
Will this trick serve the inventive minister’s goals? I doubt it. Most artists aren’t especially political. They care about making a living, and only a small minority are so opposed to the occupation that they would be willing to punish hundreds of thousands of people who chose to build their homes at a comfortable price on robbed land. In this sense, they’re similar to the public at large, some of which is happy with the occupation, and some of which has made peace with its irreversibility. From a utilitarian standpoint, it would have been better for the government to ignore the lone noisemakers. It doesn’t do so because of its need to prove to its right-wing voter base that its representatives are making sure to avenge the insults it suffers at the hands of others.
Why do right-wingers insist on loudly fighting a small leftist group? (Archive Photo: Gil Yohanan)
“Insult” is a key word here. The loud right is controlled by the feeling of being insulted. It seems strange at first, since the loud right is a large group that is growing, while the political leftist artists are a fringe group among the already shrinking Israeli left wing. The correct tactical approach to dealing with these artists should be avoiding conflict and averting your gaze. Basically, the same thing intelligent IDF Battalion commanders do when a reserve soldier doesn’t want to answer a summons for a few weeks of dull guard duty. What their commander will usually do is say something like “Let’s say that your wife is about to give birth, that your business is collapsing, that you’re suffering from lower back pain. We’ll do ok without you, and only call on you if there’s a war or a really important training session. Just do us a favor, and stay away from the media.” Using force only makes the rebels into martyrs.
So why don’t they just let the small number of rebellious artists be? Why do they insist on punishing and banishing them? What is the scary trait this small group holds, that causes an avalanche of scorn to fall upon them – one that does more damage to the scorners themselves?
I think the reason is the doubt that keeps bubbling up in the loud rightists’ stomachs. The institutional and popular violence is allegedly meant to silence the rebellious, but it is in fact a bit of noise that’s meant to quell internal doubts. The emperor knows, in his heart of hearts, that he is without clothes. He fears the moment when the child’s cry will be heard throughout the land, and he will be forced to contend with the lie he told himself.
