העם דורש צדק חברתי! - The People Demand Social Justice

In the middle of our final Poland journey preparation seminar this past weekend, our entire group - including all the madrichim - travelled from a kibbutz in the far north to Tel Aviv to participate in one of the biggest rallies in Israel's history. The protest started just 3 weeks ago when a women decided that the prices of renting an apartment in the city was too expensive, and she was going to live in a tent on the very prominent Rothschild Street in protest of this. The protest has now expanded to include a range of issues that have both been protested about earlier this year or are related to the high cost of living in Israel that makes it so hard for even the middle class to get by, and was supported by over 300,000 people in the protests we took part in.

It was a massive privilege to be a part of this cry for a welfare state and a government that cares more about its' people. This year in Israel, from an educational point of view, is all about teaching madrichim to be able to pass that desire onto their chanichim in the Diaspora, so it was very exciting to see that hope shared by the entire country that we live in. It was also a bit scary though. When we arrived in Israel at the start of the year, the Tunisian revolution had already taken place, and it wasn't long before we were all closely following the spread of revolution into other Arabic countries too, including Egypt. Despite the fact that Israel is already a well-functioning democracy and not a tyrannical dictatorship, the chants we heard were clearly calling for a vital change in government that obviously echoed the shouts in past months from other Middle eastern countries. I think it is a sign of true democracy in this country that not only were the protests almost entirely violence-free, but they have been supported by the law system, and entered into dialogue with the Knesset. However, with the cries for revolution growing ever stronger, I wonder just how long it will be before this government, like so many in its surrounding countries, topples too.

To see some great photos and read an article about the protest, see Ha'aretz article about protest here.

People from all walks of life came, and everyone had something to say! Signs were in all different languages and pronounced all different philosophies too.

Although the majority of people feel that the reason there are so many issues in Israel today is because of the free market policies of leaders like Bibi Netanyahu, and the privatization of too many things, there were also many right-wing protesters at the march. One of my favourite signs was the complete opposite of this one - it pronounced "I'm right wing and they're screwing me over too!"

Those inevitable cries for revolution were met with numerous screams of approval from the crowd. This guy climbed on top of a bus stop to pronounce the need for revolution, and hundreds of people around him roared with delight.

Although the protest leaders are struggling to decide what the best solution for a better country is - so far they want changes in housing prices, education, social services, tax rates and the list goes on - they do now how they want to achieve it, and everyone seems to agree with them.

Even the extremist Bratslav Jews turned up to protest  - drums, shofars and dancing to accompany them - alongside communists, rastafarians and mothers with young children in strollers.

This sign holds the government accountable for the state not taking enough action, or listening to the people enough. The names of the 57 government members that recently voted in a bill that masquerades as a solution to the protests, but really just encourages further privatization, are listed here. These politicians are not very popular at the moment, as many people feel they are the epitome of a government that is not listening to its people.

Finally, this was a common theme amongst many signs. While on the left, the monkeys have the faces of members of parliament and are covering their eyes, ears and mouths, the monkeys on the right are the complete opposite. This discord surely cannot exist for long within the country, and it should be very interesting to see how it plays out.