MARLBORO — We are all the 99%, a sign that you would expect to see at one of the many American protests sparked by Occupy Wall Street, floats above a crowd of demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Israel.
More than 30,000 marched in Tel Aviv on this particular Saturday, demanding social justice.
The demonstration is just one part of a larger movement started on July 14 by Daphni Leef, who called for the creation of a tent city after she searched in vain for an affordable apartment, noticing that rent in Tel Aviv had doubled in five years.
Like the Occupy Wall Street Movement, its Israeli sister movement, dubbed J14 by the media, has been criticized for lacking a unifying theme.
However, the feeling on the ground is not one of chaos.
Several highly organized large groups attended, including: Hadash, the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, a coalition of both Jewish and Arab socialist groups; Maki, the Israeli Communist Party, one of the many organizations represented in the Parliament by Hadash; HaShomer HaTza'ir, HaNo'ar Ha'Oved VeHalo'med (HaBonim Dr'or outside Israel) and several other Socialist Zionist youth movements.
The people called for a variety of socially progressive changes centered around the distribution of the national budget. Parents pushed small children in strollers, asking for affordable education for children under five.
The state provides free mandatory education for all Israeli citizens and permanent residents ages 5 through 18. The protestors did not mention the lack of sufficient schools for those over 5 in Palestinian East Jerusalem.
The Socialist Zionist youth movements called for an increased budget for education, medical care, and welfare. Mental health workers chanted demands for increased wages and greater government support for public mental health services. The single most common issue for individual protesters was affordable living: child care, rent, college tuition, food, and other daily expenses.
There was a small counter protest by fewer than a dozen from a budding libertarian movement, which is against a “welfare state” and called for a free-market economy.
Some sported shirts with a picture of a teacup that said “Kosher Tea,” in English. A group of American tea party members gave them the shirts and counseled them on how to run their organization.
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Although the group of J14 protestors was comprised largely of young people, this representation is in line with the demographic of Tel Aviv.
The group that was most obviously missing was religious Jews. Several protesters who expressed a desire for them to join weren't optimistic that they would.
It might not be in the best interest of the religious, as two pieces of the budget that could be cut to fund social spending are those that subsidize religious study by many Orthodox men, and the creation of settlements outside the green line, the border between Israel and the occupied territories. Most of these settlements have ideological roots in religious nationalism.
The American occupy movement was on the minds of many, as J14 is considered part of the international struggle against a common enemy, along with protest movements in Germany, Greece, and Italy.
That enemy, as Albany, N.Y.–born protestor Dara Levy-Bernstein put it, is “Western imperialism and capitalism.”
Another protestor carried a sign in English, “Occupy Oakland,” to show solidarity with the international movement and bring attention to the police action against protestors there.
Bringing attention to the social problems in Israel was also a common theme among protestors. Many complained that the people have been distracted lately, and there was a noticeable drop in attendance at tent city sit-ins as well as in the frequency of demonstrations.
The recent exchange of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, more than five years after he was captured, has resulted in a media frenzy that leaves little media spotlight for anything else.
Protestors are cautiously optimistic, as they feel the government is responding, although not strongly enough. The Israeli Cabinet formed a committee charged with responding to protestor demands, but their recommendations did not satisfy the demonstrators. On Sunday, the Cabinet increased taxes for corporations and the wealthy, a small step toward appeasing J14.
Although Israelis consider the movement young, it is older than its American counterpart. Perhaps J14 can serve as an inspiring example for Occupy protestors in America, who are struggling to gain media recognition and government attention.