Protest in Tel Aviv over the rise in housing prices, and tent cities

I'm not sure if it is on the news back in the states, but in Israel it is one of the most debated issues going on at this time. 

Four days ago, about a dozen people pitched tents on Rothchild Blvd.  Rothchild is a very populated road, right next to the main "square" in Tel Aviv, with a dirt bike path that cuts through the middle.  I remember watching the news four days ago and seeing the few people in one small section of the "park", however, things have changed.

Four days later, at least one hundred tents are pitched now in two rows filling the entire bike path.  They are not living in some paradise park, they are living on dirt and in the blistering heat, including the humidity of Tel Aviv.

It was an incredible site to see.  And it's not just "hippies" or people in their twenties, every different age group is represented here.  People with families, kids, and friends are clumped together to fight against the rise of apartment prices in the city.

I spoke with a Russian woman, Shotz Irena, 52, she is the second picture here.  She came to Israel in 1996 because she hoped there were opportunities of work here.  Fifteen years later, she is unemployed and is "...struggling like the current students, it's not fair." She has a degree in economics and single mom of three kids. 

She stapled on her tent the cost of just rent, without food and other expenses, and is saying that there needs to be change now.


I spoke with another person, Or, a 27 year old male.  He said "This is not just about the housing prices, this is something bigger. For me, this is a revolution against the whole system."  What surprised me the most, was that "If it doesn't change, I won't live in Israel anymore."

Or is the perfect example of the youth with a burning fire in his heart and shows how passionate Israeli's are about justice in the system. 

Many Israeli's felt differently about the effectiveness of this type of protest.  Some, like 40 year old Opher, think "This is nothing.  Want it to be effective?  Get one-hundred thousand people in the [Tel Aviv] square." But an Israeli that I befriended with, named Doron, think that this is an amazing show of passion and thinks this will be effective.

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The protest!

I was right about to leave and go home around 8pm when suddenly a group of maybe fifty Israelis started to March down Rothchild Blvd. chanting in Hebrew "For the revolution" and "We are sick of this mess", and "We want change now".  I understood most of the words being chanted, but some were way to obscure for me.

The head of the protest was Zev and he had a megaphone and a huge Israeli flag.

This was an awesome experience because it was my first "photojournalism" test that I've really had.  I didn't see this coming, and had to figure out how to run around and get to the right spots for the perfect shot.  It was a lot of fun, but I was drenched with sweat after about 2 hours of this following the march. 

The march blocked the ENTIRE street, if a car was in the middle of it, it was going to stay stuck for at least 10 minutes.  It was a lot harder taking pictures at night than I thought it was going to be.  My camera has a cheap flash on it, so I tried messing around with that and some other settings.

Anyways, another amazing moment was when the cars would honk.  They weren't honking out of anger, they were honking with praise! In the march, there were people with drums etc. and they would honk with the beat or just honk and wave.  Of course there were those lame taxi drivers who were honking because they were mad, but most of the honks were for the protesters.

Although, the greatest and probably a moment I will never forget, was when they started singing Hatikvah (the Israeli national anthem). It was a unifying experience for everyone involved.  Every single person in that march, plus bystanders started to sing it and I got chills.

I spoke to Zev after and he said that this was just a test to see how many would come out on a Tuesday, the huge numbers are going to come on Friday and Saturday.

I was there for about four hours, and this was after a 10 hour morning shift.  I don't know how I am still awake, it is probably the adrenaline.

It was an exceptional experience to see this today, and I am going back tomorrow morning to take some more pictures and talk to some more people!

Until then,

Yallah Bye!