Israel Speaks
Summer 2011 will be remembered in Israel as a summer of social turmoil.
Hundreds of thousands of people have protested daily around the country.
Unlike generally in Israel, these protesters are not united by
political opinion, but by social and economical middle class.
In several cities in the country numerous residents have moved
to tents in order to protest the high cost of living.
Most accusations are directed towards the government and the Prime Minister
but also towards the main share- holders who, in practice, control
Israel's economy.
These demonstrations take place at a time when Israel's economy looks
stronger than ever, particularly, when comparing it to the instability
in the global economy.
Avia Spivak is a professor of econ- omics at the Ben Gurion University
in Beersheva. He is also the former deputy CEO of Israel's central bank.
There were many triggers for the large scale national opposition, -
the first of them being the continuous increase in gas price.
In mid-July a group of students decided to protest the bad housing
situation in the country and the high rents they have to pay.
They moved to live in tents on one of Tel Aviv's main streets.
In just a few days up to 500 tents appeared here in Tel Aviv.
This spread to all over the country.
There is almost no city in Israel without tents and a lot of people.
It started with the high living costs, -
which have continued rising already for almost 10 years.
- Can you tell about your situation?
I live with two roommates in a quite small apartment
located in Herzliyassa, outside of Tel Aviv.
I pay 1600 shekels per month just for rent.
When you add other payments to it, the bill goes up to 2500 shekels.
Just a moment ago my landlord called me and told me she will raise the
rent by another 300 shekels.
I'm a regular employee and I earn 6000 shekels a month.
My rent is close to 2700 shekels. The electricity costs 700 shekels
and the municipality billl is 500 shekels, so I don't have much left.
I have barely 300 shekels per week left for food and living.
How can you advance in life like this? What about studies or family?
I don't believe I will ever buy an a- partment, at least in this situation.
- Why did this happen right now?
I think much of it is due to Face- book because people are much more
connected and more informed.
I believe that a lot of this is thanks to Facebook
and people have also just had enough.
- When did you come here?
Almost in the beginning. I set up my tent among the first.
- What was the reason?
I wanted to be a part of this. Even though I wouldn't be here forever, -
my tent has to stay here.
- Could you describe your situation?
I'm 37 years old and I live with roommates.
I have a profession and I work in a spa, -
where the salaries are also ridicu- lous. The problems of this are known.
I notice how all my money goes to pay for daily necessities.
I cannot even think about buying an apartment.
I love Tel Aviv and I want to live here.
I don't believe I should leave just because it's so expensive here.
People who don't have money should also have the opportunity to stay.
The protest movement began with the high housing costs, but expanded
quickly also to other social issues.
Many citizens feel this is a one-time opportunity to raise up
existing problems and defects.
I come from the education field and I'm speaking against the
privatization of education in Israel.
Once all children had equal opportunities
and due to the compulsory education law education was free.
The rich and the poor went to the same school.
Today there are schools where only the rich can send their children to.
Children have many choices, they can study many different subjects
and there are not so many children in the classrooms.
On the other hand, there are schools with no possibilities to choose from
and the children study only certain subjects.
There is also a major difference bet- ween the centre and periphery areas.
For example, Tel Aviv, which is a rich city, can participate in a child's
education expenses with 1800 shekels per year.
Sderot, located in the periphery, can give only 18 shekels per pupil.
Hence, there are major differences in the children's possibilities.
A few days ago we held a funeral here for public education, -
which has been dying already for 20 years, but we haven't noticed it.
Now that we buried it, maybe it can be resurrected and revived.
We are a group of parents who have children with special needs.
We want to raise up the problems of families and children.
More budget should be allocated, the list of priorities and their relation
to us should be reassessed.
Life is not easy anyway and the government has made our lives hard
through bureaucracy and the lack of support.
I have a child with Asperger's syndrome.
He has been integrated to normal education with only a small budget
allocated to it.
The only way to help him is to carry the burden of the surroundings.
As a result, we use all of our time and money for one child
and the rest of our children receive much less attention.
I'm studying the first degree in psychology.
It consumes a lot of energy and time.
My family's financial situation is very bad.
Most of my life I have worked and a lot of my salary
I have given to my family.
Now I want to study in order to get out of this circle of poverty
because a good profession is the only way to do that.
I also want to lift my family out of the circle of poverty.
It's very hard for those who already have social and financial difficulties.
I gave up my apartment in Tel Aviv and moved out.
However, living far away is much more difficult due to travelling.
It's very hard for me to provide for myself and pay for my studies, -
because my parents don't help me.
Students have become the representatives of this struggle.
Young people have more free time. They can come here and represent others.
This belongs to the entire nation.
We, the students, see ourselves as the ambassadors of the people.
We represent those who cannot be here such as the elderly and the disabled.
The young people also have financial difficulties, but our time is slightly
more flexible. This is the struggle of the whole nation.
We have many demands related to students, -
but we try to represent the entire population, not only the students.
The prices of basic commodities such as milk, cheese, bread and gas have
risen, but salaries have not.
This has caused a some kind of a social awakening
and people are demanding the government to interfere.
This is the result of the government not interfering in the markets
for many years, but now we are demanding it to interfere
in order to increase the standard of living to a normal level.
- Can the situation be solved by solving only one problem?
No, because it is more complicated than that.
It's related to the neoliberal politics which has been ruling here
for the past 30 years, regardless of who has been in power.
The rich have become more powerful and they have been allowed
to do what they want.
Maybe the goal has been increase, but in practise the social gaps
have widened.
In the Western world Israel is on 2nd place on a scale measuring social gaps
and the United States is, not surprisingly, number 1.
- What should happen in the coming weeks for the situation to be solved?
A good question. It began as a spontaneous protest and not
something purposefully organized.
Now they are writing a list of demands and if we will get even some of them
it will already be good.
The change will become evident only in a few years.
I hope the current government will be courageous and say: Enough!
They should stop acting like a private enterprise
and treat us like citizens.
I hope they would listen to what we want in our country.
They should bravely make major changes
in attitudes and priorities; not so much in the small details, -
but in the macro level attitudes. If things will change on the large scale
also the small things will go to their own place.
I believe that most of the politicians really want to change things
in the beginning, but politics in Is- rael is so complicated and everyone
has his own interests that eventually even if they had good intentions, -
the don't know how to act in any other way.
The whole system is corrupted, but this is also our fault.
I don't blame them or demand a change of government.
If we change, our leadership will also change. Each one of us has
a responsibility and we have to be friendly with one another.
We don't have to compete over who is the richest person.
There are rich people in the world with billions of dollars
in their pockets, while so many people are suffering.
Where is the justice?!
If we change, they will also change. However, I do see one important
change in that people don't agree anymore to be slaves.
I hope this is going somewhere.
The relationships between people are not good. We are very egoistic
and think only about ourselves.
I'm optimistic, but the future will show what will happen.
We came here to cheer up the people. Redemption will come through unity.
Today is Tisha Beav, when we remem- ber the destruction of the temple
which was due to the hatred between us.
If the nation of Israel unites, redemption will come.
- Still they blame the politicians.
We don't blame anyone. We are anti-political.
- When will the situation end?
With God's help. The Messiah can come today and sorrow will turn to joy.
The Messiah will appear and the temple will come down from heaven.
Translation: Sonja Mattayev