What Israel’s Right Can Learn from the Left’s Protest Culture

Organizers of the “Kaplan Protests” and similar movements have woven a rich social fabric to fill the void left by fading communal ties. The Right, falling behind in this regard, has important lessons to draw
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What was the secret of the protests’ success against the judicial reform in Israel? This question has often been discussed amongst our circles and should be addressed responsibly and from different viewpoints. Naturally, one could argue that many people genuinely believed the reform was disastrous. One might point to the leftist-progressive elite’s dedication to shaping Israeli discourse, dictating the public agenda through a network of research institutes, its control over academic, cultural, media, and legal institutions—lamenting how the Right often neglected this issue. It would also be relevant to mention the aggressive struggle by the Left against the few conservative think tanks that managed to emerge despite all of this. Lastly, we could address the progressive hegemony at the top echelons of the security and business sectors, which facilitated the subjugation of the elected government.

All these points have been discussed and will continue to be debated. However, given the current situation and the need for a deeper understanding of the societal forces shaping our political landscape, I would like to focus on a different aspect: not the substance of the protests but their form; not the content of organized protest, but its culture. These lesser-discussed elements may, in fact, hold the key to restoring balance within our civic life. I argue that the protests were not merely a vehicle for advancing specific policies or values. More importantly, the trend toward continuous, almost perpetual protest is a phenomenon we see throughout the West today. This multinational phenomenon of protest has become an end in itself, filling the vacuum left by the dissolution of traditional communities, while also representing a search for renewed meaning through communal experiences.

The Loss of Community in the Modern Age

In order to correctly diagnose the intricacies of the communal aspects of modern protest movements, it is only fitting to start with the most potent social earthquake humanity has faced since the advent of agriculture: the Industrial Revolution.

This 19th-century transformation profoundly reshaped Western society. The pace of this change accelerated throughout the 20th century and into the present. Humans, who had always lived in small, close-knit communities, suddenly found themselves isolated and alienated in vast, impersonal cities. Some saw this as an opportunity. Marxism, for instance, seized upon this disintegration of traditional moral constructs tied to specific cultures, nations, religions, and regions, promoted instead a uniform, secular moral code to be instilled through class revolution. This revolution being a system largely based on the binary notion of the oppressed and the oppressor, where the oppressor must be stopped by any means necessary.

Yet other thinkers viewed this transformation as a profound problem. In the late 19th century, Émile Durkheim coined the term “anomie” to describe this uniquely post-industrial phenomenon—a breakdown of ethical and communal standards that left individuals unmoored. In his seminal work *The Division of Labour in Society*, Durkheim argued that the erosion of communal social structures would lead to the collapse of established social norms, resulting in widespread moral and societal confusion.

In the 1950s, sociologist and historian Robert Nisbet, from the University of California, Berkeley, observed similar changes. He noted that the dissolution of local, organic communities—such as the family, neighborhood, and religious institutions—was being replaced by larger frameworks, like the state or even global structures. However, these larger systems inherently lack the social markers that define right and wrong, and an individual’s behavior within them does not always directly influence their social standing. This weakening of community ties, Nisbet argued, led to a decline in personal self-worth and an increased sense of social isolation.

The Rise of Virtual Communities and Protests as Communal Substitutes

These trends, described by Nisbet and Durkheim, have only intensified in our era, especially as interpersonal communication has largely shifted to the virtual realm. Almost gone is the human community characterized by frequent, face-to-face encounters in the real world, which alone (or perhaps primarily) can give a person a genuine sense of belonging to something greater than themselves.

While the Marxist revolutionary idea failed and has largely vanished, a side development of this ideology continues to thrive. Neo-Marxism, the ideological foundation of the woke movement in the U.S. and many other protest movements across the West, has replaced the lens of economic class with that of a more general oppressor-oppressed dichotomy. However, in addition to this shift, neo-Marxism has also adapted to the modern human’s deep-seated need for the lost sense of community.

Looking closely at recent large-scale protests in Israel, it becomes apparent that these were not merely oppositional demonstrations, but rather full-fledged community movements encompassing spiritual, cultural, athletic, and leisure. The protest movement of 2011 (colloquially known as the cottage cheese protests) already showed glimpses of this trend, with its organized tent cities, impromptu performances, discussion circles, art exhibits, and more. The protest against the judicial reform took this to a new level, with meticulously scheduled events spanning weeks and even months, including musical and dance performances, DJ-led parties, art exhibits, and lengthy speeches.

Organizations like Achim Laneshek and Mecha’at Hastudentim evolved from advocating specific public policies to shaping the cultural, spiritual, and communal life of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. As a result, the protest against the judicial reform and in support of “democracy,” as understood by the protestors, was carried out by a crowd that, more than knowing exactly why they were protesting, knew with whom and against whom they were protesting. The demonstrations, especially those in Tel Aviv, became social and cultural events, fulfilling a deep need for community and meaning that many participants didn’t even realize they were missing.

Israel is only part of a broader trend seen primarily in progressive left-wing circles across many Western countries. Ironically, the most prominent recent example has been the anti-Israel protests at elite American universities. These protests were as much about harbouring a sense of community as they were about voicing opposition to Israel. Although different in character from the Israeli movement, they stemmed from the same deep need for belonging. Tent cities were set up on campuses, (one-sided) sharing circles were organized, and leisure and cultural activities—such as drum circles, singing, dancing, and performances by the pro-Palestinian “intelligentsia”—helped recreate a lost sense of community.

These gatherings also established community norms, like requiring participants to remove any visible Jewish symbols before joining the encampments and starting each conversation by stating their preferred gender pronouns. This created a crucial aspect of community life, defining an “in-group” composed of the oppressed and the “awakened” members of the oppressor class who had embraced the community’s ideology. Within this group, mutual support and solidarity were expected. On the other hand, those who did not conform to these exact community guidelines were categorized as oppressors. Even members of the in-group who expressed dissent were swiftly “cancelled,” out of fear that their opposition could introduce the very oppression the community sought to eliminate.

In many ways, these protests, in terms of content and interpersonal interaction, rival other community-sustaining organizations like churches or national youth movements. The progressive left, long plagued by a lack of community, seems to have found solace in the form of protest.

Despite these phenomena, protest-based communities can never truly replace genuine communities. A community built around a single political issue is inherently limited and cannot fully satisfy the long-term human need for connection. If the protest achieves its goals, the community that formed around it dissolves; if the protest fails or loses momentum, its energy wanes, and the crowd disperses. The antagonistic nature of protests, particularly those within the progressive left, makes them more like temporary structures—providing a sense of belonging and solidarity, but only for a short time. As a result, even protests that are rich with cultural, and ideological activities must regularly find new causes to sustain themselves. If there is no judicial reform to oppose, then another rallying point, such as hostages or other political issues, must emerge to maintain the movement.

Nevertheless, in our hyper-virtual age, following the chaos of elections and the COVID-19 pandemic, the mere continuous, human presence (“Every Saturday night at Kaplan”) has created, albeit temporarily, a quasi-community that provided social cohesion and meaning for hundreds of thousands. The protest movement generated regular, significant social gatherings, offering its participants a sense of purpose, cohesion, and belonging that many in the modern, individualistic society have long yearned for. The human community formed out of the protest was so strong that it easily paralyzed entire sectors of the economy and, at times, even parts of the security apparatus.

The Right’s Challenge: Rebuilding Community

The ideological Right finds itself at a crossroads when confronting these dynamics. While family, community (especially within the religious Right), and national bonds remain relatively strong in conservative circles, providing a buffer against the alienation that often characterizes modern Western life, this stability has reduced the urgency to create vibrant, dynamic communal responses in the political and public policy arenas. As a result, the Right’s engagement with these needs has been less energetic and invested compared to the Left.

Nevertheless, the fundamental human need for connection and community persists, and those who address it effectively are better positioned to advance their ideas in the public sphere. This presents a significant challenge for the Right but also offers a valuable opportunity for renewal. There is inspiration to be found in the experiences of nationalist movements worldwide, as well as in the Israel’s own historical traditions of community-building.

In India, for example, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a community-focused organization, was founded a century ago and now operates tens of thousands of branches across the subcontinent. Members meet several times a week for philosophical and cultural discussions, aimed at kindling a sense of national and communal belonging centred on traditional Hindu identity. These efforts are designed to maintain an active community grounded in the traditional values of the Hindu nation through physical cultural interactions, linking citizens with governing institutions and encouraging greater civic and communal engagement. In recent years, the RSS even established a political arm, the BJP, which has since become India’s ruling party Its leaders being raised and educated in line with RSS principles.

Parallel movements to India’s RSS existed in the early days of Israel as well. Political parties invested considerable effort and resources into establishing local clubs and branches throughout the country, even promoting cultural and leisure activities. Sports clubs like Maccabi, Hapoel, and Beitar were founded as social organizations rooted in ideological movements, each aiming to create an active and engaged community within the broader Zionist project. However, over time, the influence of these social organizations has diminished.

Now, as the Left revives communal structures through protest movements, the Right must also invest resources and energy into building a new, dynamic community framework in the public sphere. Providing a stable, balanced, and sustainable response to this communal need could significantly amplify the conservative-national camp’s influence in Israel.

***

Versions of this article have previously been published in Hashiloach 38 and the Jerusalem Post

(photo credit: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Eitan Wachspress

Eitan Wachspress is the Director of Operations of Hashiloach, an organizer of the first Hertog Forum, and oversees the Hashiloach Frontlines online publication

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