Ratz (political party)
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Movement for Civil Rights and Peace
התנועה לזכויות האזרח ולשלום |
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|---|---|
| Leader |
Shulamit Aloni Yossi Sarid |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Ideology |
Liberal socialism Civil libertarianism Secularism Anti-clericalism Green politics Feminism Two-state solution |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Most MKs | 6 (1992) |
| Election symbol | |
| רצ | |
Ratz (Hebrew: רצ), officially the Movement for Civil Rights and Peace (Hebrew: התנועה לזכויות האזרח ולשלום, HaTnua'a LeZkhuyot HaEzrah VeLaShalom) was a left-wing political party in Israel that focused on human rights, civil rights, and women's rights. It was active from 1973 until its formal merger into Meretz in 1997.
The Movement for Civil Rights and Peace was formed in 1973 by Shulamit Aloni, a former MK for the Alignment, 48 hours after she had left the party. As a member of the Israeli peace camp it opposed the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza strip and called for a peace settlement with the Palestine Liberation Organization from its birth. The party advocated secularism, the separation of religion and state, and civil rights, most notably women's rights, a topic that was very close to Aloni. It was also a notable fighter against corruption and for a written constitution, and Aloni was the initiator of the Knesset sub-committee for basic laws (Israel's equivalent of a constitution). For a while it also supported electoral reform.
In its first test, the 1973 elections, the party won 2.2% of the vote and three seats in the Knesset, which were taken by Aloni, new American immigrant Marcia Freedman, and Boaz Moav. The party soon gained the popular name Ratz, as it used the letters Resh-Tzadik on the election ballot paper. Following Golda Meir's resignation, the party joined Yitzhak Rabin's government and Aloni served as a minister without portfolio. This was one of the few periods in Israel's political history when no religious parties were part of the coalition. The arrangement lasted for a few months only and when the National Religious Party joined the coalition, Ratz left it.
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