Who will be the savior of Israeli writers?

Don’t let the words fool you – only a small group of strong writers will benefit from the law for the protection of literature and writers.

By SAMI MICHAEL
girl reading book 521 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
girl reading book 521
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
The ongoing literary commotion that has reached the Knesset over the law for the protection of literature and writers is of interest to people the world over. The law limits the discounts bookstores can offer on Hebrew books and mandates that the discount offered will not affect the writers’ royalties.
Is the status of Israeli writers so esteemed that the Knesset has decided to put critical cases on hold while it discusses the claim of a few well-loved authors and endeavors to pass a law protecting the country’s literature and writers? Or are writers in such a dire situation that the Knesset is rushing to their rescue? At first glance, it appears that the latter is correct – that Israeli writers have no protection. When employees in other vocations need protection – such as those working for the Ports Authority or the electric and water companies – they turn to their workers’ unions, which handle negotiations in their name and are often successful in talks or following strikes.
Writers here have the Hebrew Writers’ Association in Israel, but since its inception, the association has mostly functioned as a nationalist and ideological organization. First and foremost, the aim of the association was to cultivate Hebrew literature as the organization’s ideological mouthpiece; the financial protection of the writers was a secondary goal. Still, in its distant past, the association had at times made gestures to aid its members, including assistance to those in dire financial straits.
In the free and enlightened world, the goal of writers’ guilds is to support writers on moral and practical issues and ensure their rights are being upheld. But it is no coincidence that the association’s official name has included only Hebrew writers for the past 65 years, since the establishment of the State of Israel: This means that it is theoretically closed off to about 40 percent of the country’s population – immigrants and Arabs, but mainly Arabs.
In every locked fortress, over time, the idea of keeping control becomes the main justification for its very existence.
In this case, the financial status of Israeli writers is not a focus of the Hebrew Writers’ Association. It’s no wonder that many poets and writers reach nearstarvation in their old age.
There was a time when “wellknown” authors chose to steer clear of the association – some on principle, others out of concern that they would be considered emissaries of the establishment – while at the same time pretending to be the torchbearers of progress. Others dropped out for personal reasons.
Outside the fortress’s walls, which have deteriorated over the years, an atmosphere that a former education minister described as a “cesspool” has developed. The interests of Israeli authors have been abandoned as a result of intrigue, lies and arrogance on the part of people who are interested in imposing their desires on others.
Of course, we should not ignore the country’s economic policies, which over the years have become more and more aggressive toward unprotected segments of society. The Israel Tax Authority has been brutal toward the country’s authors, yet no one has raised their voice in anger about this terrible injustice.
Writers work diligently on each book for three or four years – and sometimes even longer. In the first year after a book is published, if it sells well, writers are blessed with a generous income. But the Tax Authority demands murderously high payments for that year, without taking into consideration the painful years when the author survives on little or no income while writing the book.
Without a professional writers’ guild to protect their rights, authors are like abandoned orphans at the mercy of a ruling authority that is hostile toward the weaker strata of society.
A number of years ago, ACUM, a nonprofit administering the rights that its members – authors, composers, lyricists, poets, arrangers and music publishers – assign to it, took on a noble initiative. It was successful in its efforts to achieve a monthly stipend of a few hundred shekels a month for elderly poets and writers. Due to this arrangement, I myself was granted an extra NIS 500 per month. This sum would help many indigent elderly writers pay their electric and water bills, or allow them to enjoy a few meals each month.
And then, suddenly, the Israel Antitrust Authority handed down an edict: This grant was deemed illegal.
There, the “struggle” ended.
BEGINNING WRITERS are helpless against publication costs. They don’t know what their rights are, nor do they have the financial means to hire an attorney – and the Hebrew Writers’ Association does not offer them the assistance they need. As a result, most members sign a contract that offers them appalling conditions.
Has the Knesset rushed to pass legislation to protect literature and writers because of the latter’s miserable situation? I am sure that the MKs who rushed to promote the bill had good intentions, but I doubt that the resulting law, in its current wording, will have much effect. It seems that the people who are supporting the bill are, for the most part, a number of cultured feudal lords who are in favor of the continuation of the dismal status quo.
The reduction in book prices has opened the iron gates of literature to new writers and paved the path for first-time authors. It is only natural that wealthy authors would be in favor of keeping things the way they were when the prices of their books were high.
Instead of supporting a professional writers’ association that would protect writers in their relationship with the publishing companies and the establishment, some occasionally organize initiatives. For instance, a group of authors demanded that their books not be included in discounts offered by the two main book chains, Steimatzky and Tzomet Sfarim. A short while later, one of the leaders of this initiative signed a partnership agreement with one of the large book chains, thereby shirking his responsibility to back the bill, since people were rushing to buy his books at reduced prices.
In this tricky atmosphere, I am once again suspicious of an initiative that focuses on discounted prices, which will aid mostly well-known, established authors whose books readers will buy even at high prices. I am also aware that there are writers who signed the petition to the culture and sport minister out of fear of upsetting the powers that be after having their wings clipped.
In Israel, as in many other countries, only about 5% of the population makes a living by selling books. Most writers do not live off the money they make from writing; they supplement their income with other jobs.
In my case, in addition to being a writer, I have always had a “day job,” first as a journalist, then as an editor, and for 25 years as a hydrologist. I often wrote in the evenings, after a long day of work. It was important to me to make a living independently, and not to be supported by others – and certainly not by the establishment. I wanted to maintain my independence and my freedom of speech.
I HAVE been lucky. I was blessed with a welcoming audience that reads my books – some were borrowed from public libraries and others were bought in bookstores – and therefore I have been able to make quite a good living.
In other words, I enjoyed the fruits of the old-style method before the age of discounted books, as did a small group of other writers.
I benefit less from the discounting of books, since less money makes its way into my pockets. However, it infuriates me that the price of books in Israel is extremely high – and for most people, not affordable.
I want every child who is growing up in a family with weak financial means to be able to buy books at fair and reasonable prices.
Literature should not be the province of the elite only.
In my opinion, the value of literature will not drop one iota as a result of discount campaigns. On the contrary – it will allow a much wider audience access to books.
I don’t understand the behavior of certain writers. How did they, on the one hand, support the social protest, and yet on the other, scream for help when books began to be sold at discounted prices so poor people could buy them, too? However, writers are worthy of having an association to fight for their rights on several levels: to set a minimum amount for royalties that writers receive for the sale of their books, as well as a maximum amount at which publishers are allowed to sell books to stores and chains; to grant subsidies to writers in need – and I know quite a few who are living in shameful conditions; and to expand public libraries, including the purchase of multiple copies of new books, so that readers are not hung out to dry waiting for their turn to read them.
(The Education and Culture and Sport ministries can purchase these books at list price – a big plus for writers.) And writers should be given decent royalties when people check out their books at the public libraries.
Literature has always been the basis of all arts. It nourishes us and has been an inspiration for theater, cinema, music, opera, painting and sculpture. I believe that the Bible would not have been so popular if not for its literary genius.
Why do theaters and the movie industry receive massive government support, but writers are abandoned to the mercy of middlemen? Why do diamond dealers and companies that bring in billions of shekels have special arrangements with the Israel Tax Authority, but when an author finally makes some money, up to 40% of the proceeds ends up going in taxes? Why does the Tax Authority ignore the fact that writers spend years writing books, during which they make minimum wage or less? Income tax for writers should be an average of the previous five years.
Why are some foods free of valueadded tax, whereas the most important “food for the spirit” is forced to bear this burden? It is well-known that when the VAT rate climbs, it is the poor who carry most of the burden – and it is a vicious slap in the face for them. If books received a VAT exemption, or at least a reduction, both readers and writers would benefit.
It’s not enough to name streets and squares after writers who are no longer living. Writers need reasonable conditions while they are still alive.
How is it that a country with a NIS 30 billion deficit due to extravagance withholds funding from a few hundred writers who aren’t screaming the right words in the right places? IT SADDENS me to say that the law for the protection of literature and writers in Israel does not protect all writers.
This law would protect only a very small group of strong writers.
The Knesset will never be able to take the place of a professional guild whose raison d’etre is to protect the rights of all writers regardless of their views or political affiliation. Such an organization would exempt the Knesset from having to pass such a law in the first place – which in any case, after having been stripped down, has become a mockery.
Writers need a writers’ association they can rely on, just as port employees and doctors rely on the sovereign power of their unions. The Hebrew Writers’ Association must not be held hostage by covert and overt agents.
In closing, I have a few words for the stagnating Hebrew Writers’ Association: After the Israel Prize for Literature was awarded to Ida Fink, who writes in Polish, and to Emile Habibi, who writes in Arabic, the name “Hebrew Writers’ Association” has become a racist badge from which I recoil. It shames Israeli literature and Israeli culture. As long as this organization carries this badge, I do not plan on renewing my membership. Translated by Hannah Hochner.