What started with one little tent on Rotshield Boulevard (Tel Aviv) has become a huge camp with kitchens, debates and concerts. Religious people, students, hippies, single mothers and young families have installed their tents together. As well in Jerusalem, Beer Sheva and Kiryat Shmona the protest is settled.
The homeless that usually live in the streets suddenly got thousands of neighbors. They have one thing in common: they are not willing to leave until there are structural changes. Or until of course Israel decides to start a little war and all the demonstrators have to join the army. This is the scenario I hear whispering among the tents.
The Hippie community has a role in this protest that should not be underestimated. I’ve been following them since a couple of months, hoping that they will ever be able to create a response against their right wing, repressive government. That is exactly what is happening now. They were the first to set up their tents and wigwams and cheer up the streets with music, colors, laugh sessions, vibes, peace, love and unity. With their “boombox” they’re passing through the streets and organizing spontaneous street raves.
We went to take a look in a camp near the bus station. This is where the real protest is taking place and it is quite different of the mainstream Zionist protest on the Rotshield Boulevard. “They think the diapers are too expensive”, is what we hear over there. “Refugees of Darfur and Ivory Coast are being dumped in the street without any form of reception service. The only thing that the city council does for this neighborhood is trying to hide us as much as possible and to discriminate. Criminality here is enormous, you have to try and pass by here at night.”
The protest in Tel Aviv is about the middle class and not about the poorest of the poorest. Roughly speaking: the only blacks you see on Rotshield Boulevard nowadays are those cleaning the toilets and the streets covered with protest flyers.
I asked some of the activists if their protest has something to do with the conflict. “There is no connection at all”, was the answer. About the conflict the opinions are very diverse. “We are here with right, left, religious and non religious and protest all together against the government.” But then again Ophir tells me: “We have decided to turn us against the government. This has to be done first. Afterwards we can show solidarity to others that were against the government as well.”
From the Palestinian side I got a lot of resigned and cynical reactions. “Puke! 150000 Zionists for “Social justice” (lower prices) while the ethnical cleansing of Palestine continues undebated. Palestinian children are imprisoned for resistance. Villages like Nabih saleh are gassed. The apartheid wall expands on & on. And if the current “Prime minister” goes. do you believe that the replacement will be any different?” According to a status update from Frank, a Palestinian activist (23 likes). While Nariman, a Palestinian woman, sounded more optimistic about the protest: “They’ve now opened their eyes, hopefully they will now see the injustice against Palestinians as well.”
It seems the protest movement is struggling for a less criminal neoliberal climate, a human real estate market, honest food prices and a government that listens to their people. These are also the reasons why I will set up my tent. But can we speak of a revolution that will bring social justice to the poorest of the poorest when nobody mentions a word about the inhuman and degrading occupation of Palestine?
I do hope that the protest movement will be heard. I hope that the one love vibe will stay in the streets for a while. I hope that right wing leaders will wake up and choose for humanity. I do hope that diapers will get cheaper and houses affordable. I hope that after this they will start protesting as well for the poor and the refugees that are sleeping in the streets of the Promised Land. I hope that after this, the protesters will have the courage to look over the wall to the oppressed Palestinian people that are demanding humanity since decades. They say I’m a dreamer.
