A capitalist’s take on the tent protests

August 1, 2011 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Politics, Social Justice 

Tent city in Tel Aviv

I’m not quite sure what to think of the tent protests that have taken over the country in recent weeks. On the one hand, the rising costs that have plagued Israel in recent years have hit our family quite personally. On the other, I remember the days before Israel’s so-called capitalist revolution, and I wouldn’t want to go back there.

There’s no question that Israel is one of the most expensive places in the world to live – and that our salaries are way below other Western countries. Our food costs more, the price at the gas pump is outrageous, and even bus fares (at $1.80 a ride with no transfers until recently) are far beyond the Egged rates of 5 cents back I remember back when I first came to the country. And don’t get me started about the price of imported electronics and automobiles with their import duties of 100%.

Now add in the rapidly expanding gap between rich and poor, and the shocking number of families who live at or below the poverty level, and you have a social structure that’s entirely untenable, both in the short and long term.

The protests started with the cost of buying a home and how young couples and students were effectively locked out of the big cities. Although we were fortunate enough to buy our apartment before the ridiculous price jumps (although we still have a mortgage that rivals rents), it pains me that – at least now – our kids have no chance of buying near us. I want to be a saba who lives close enough to be “used” as a regular babysitter. And my kids say they love Jerusalem. Why can’t they have the same breaks us old fogies got?

But looking at it from the other side, pre-capitalist, pre-privatized Israel was a much less pleasant place to live. I was here in the mid-1980’s when you had to go to the bank every day to change shekels to dollars and vice versa to beat the seemingly insurmountable inflation. Yes, cottage cheese and falafel were cheaper, but so were our choices.

Moreover, Israel’s economic miracle, so dutifully covered in Saul Singer’s Startup Nation, was made possible in large part due to the drive towards a more free market economy. When everyone makes more or less the same salary, there’s no incentive to innovate. In 1988, there was no startup culture in Israel. Immigrants were told to “settle” for low paying jobs in fields they weren’t trained for nor necessarily had any interest in. Ten years later, if you had an idea for an Internet application, you had to fight off the venture capital money.

OK, I exaggerate a little, but I don’t think the recent flood of immigrants from North America (a flood compared with 20 years ago at least) would have happened when we were essentially a socialist state. You wouldn’t be able to sit in any one of the fashionable cafes that dot our modern landscape (assuming you can afford that latte) or enjoy an authentic Italian gelato, let alone sushi for goodness sake, back in a time when the idea of a cash-back return was a mere bad joke of a future unfulfilled.

It seems, in fact, that much of what the protesters are calling for is a return to the “good old days” of their parents, when life was easy and cheap. Maybe they should ask their folks what it was really like.

Moreover, more social services mean higher taxes, and we’re already topping out at 50% when you include health insurance and social security. It’s a tradeoff – lower daycare costs but even less take home pay.

Protesting for social justice is popular, but the government’s “intransigence” is not illogical. At the same time, as someone who suffers just as much as the next guy by high prices and a sense that we’ve lost a valued cohesiveness, I too want change.

The Israeli “Spring” is often compared with the uprisings in neighboring countries. I hope we have more success than they did. In Egypt, one autocratic regime has been replaced by another (Mubarak’s army). Protests in Syria, Libya, Iran and Yemen have sadly not gone very far yet.

Of course, we’re not any of those countries – we have a thriving economy, a true democracy, a free press and a functioning judicial system. And now we have a mass protest movement too.

My wish, then, for the heady summer in which we’re swimming, with a still ill-defined paddle, is that our politicians prove wise, devising ways to ease the financial burden on Israel’s populace without breaking the bank and plunging us back to the not so good old days of 1984.

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Camping out for the long haul in Israel

August 1, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, News, Politics, Social Justice 

One inadvertent boost to the Israeli economy due to the current tent city protests over the exorbitant costs of housing and other goods in the economy has been the sale of… tents.

Camping goods stores have posted spikes in their sales of tent and related camping equipment in the last week or so, as more and more Israelis join the tent protest that have sprung up around the country. See Viva’s report from Rothschild Boulevard from yesterday.

That’s not to say that most Israelis need to purchase camping gear – we’re an outdoors people in general, and in the summer, the national parks and beaches are full of tents and backpackers. But I guess what’s fun and relaxation for some people is turning into a life and death matter for others, as the tent protests seem to be only expanding and not winding down.

If you’ve spent three or four nights in a tent on a camping trip, you know how grungy you can feel, with the dream of only taking a shower and collapsing in a comfortable bed. While the huge majority of the tent city protesters aren’t homeless and can pop up to their apartments to shower, relax and eat when they feel like it, the bottom line is that it’s still spending a lot of time outside in the stifling heat in a tent!

It will be interesting to see if the protests persevere as the balmy 90 degree July weather makes way for the real scorching hot August nights.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Up Rothschild Boulevard

July 31, 2011 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, design, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Social Justice, Travel 

Rothschild Boulevard has been in the news quite a lot recently as the site where hundreds of young people have set up a tent city to protest the high price of housing.

The street is one of the priciest locations in the country, so it’s quite fitting that the protesters should camp out there. A few more weeks of shouting, drumming and political photo-ops could serve to drive prices down. But probably not. Because being exclusive is part of the boulevard’s DNA.

Here’s your proof: the street was originally called Rehov HaAm (“Street of the people”) but was renamed, at the residents’ request, mind you, to honor Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.

(BTW: 3D Israel has an amazing panoramic image of Rothschild Boulevard at the corner of Herzl Street. It can be viewed here).

Israel’s Declaration of Independence was signed on Rothschild Boulevard in a building now known as Independence Hall. Before that, it was the home of Meir Dizengoff, the first Mayor of Tel Aviv.

The older part of the boulevard is built in the eclectic Orientalist style, which combined European architecture with Eastern features such as arches, domes and ornamental tiles.

But as it expanded, the street’s architectural style began to change with the times…

…and the Bauhaus or International style accompanied the street’s development northwards towards the orange groves where the Habima National Theater and Mann Auditorium were built, eventually.

Today’s tent city inhabitants sit surrounded by the Bauhaus buildings of Tel Aviv’s White City, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. Many of these buildings are falling to bits, but demand is driving the market, location is everything and the prices just keep on soaring.

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Duplex of Dreams

July 31, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, education, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Politics, Social Justice 

 While the newspapers are packed with commentary on the ‘Tent Protest’ and the fact that some 150,000 Israelis took to the streets Saturday night (July 30) in the name of social justice, seeing the pictures and reading about it just isn’t the same as actually being there.

It was to “see” and “feel” a bit of history in the making that we went to Rothschild Boulevard last night.

As any Tel Aviv resident knows, Rothschild Boulevard is always teeming with people. And wandering up and down this street is an endeavor cherished by all of this city’s dwellers.

Now, the thoroughfare has been transformed into a campground. But this is no regular campsite; these campers are armed with wit, a desire for change and loads of energy.

This is a well-oiled happening. There’s a kitchen tent area, an information center, a communications tent, a yoga space and a barber tent. Some people pitched just a tent while others brought their living rooms with them.

And it was difficult not to be swept up by the enthusiasm as we walked around the tents, reading the handmade signs posted wherever the tape would stick.

Some signs were political, others were hilariously witty. Each sign was in support of one of the social crises at stake: housing, health, education, gasoline, child care, etc.

There were signs we disagreed with, and others that we endorsed.

"Duplex on Rothschild: If to dream about an apartment, then all the way." (Photo: Viva Sarah Press)

“Duplex on Rothschild: If to dream about an apartment, then all the way,” read one sign.

“Looking for a groom with his own apartment,” read another.

 There were also “house numbers” on each tent, but instead of Rothschild Boulevard, the name of the street was listed as Tents Boulevard.

Tents Boulevard instead of Rothschild Boulevard. (Photo: Viva Sarah Press)

Rothschild Boulevard is often the site of outdoor exhibits. In a way, the protest tents are an exhibition of today’s word on the street.

And the word on the street is that social services are constitutional rights. As Daphni Leef, one of the leaders of the ‘Tent Protest’ said: “We do not want to replace the government, we want much more than that – to change the rules of the game and say loud and clear: Social services are rights, not commodities.”

There were tens of thousands of people, but no one pushed. The atmosphere along the boulevard was one of hope.

The protestors are people who love their country but also want social justice. They are people who are not just asking for cheaper rent, but those who want to be able to be able to afford living in a place they call home.

Havdallah on Rothschild Blvd. during the Tent Protest. (Photo: Viva Sarah Press)

A medley of everyone seemed to be represented. A group of ultra-orthodox men held a havdallah service about 10 tents away from a young group of dread-locked Israelis, singing and dancing and jamming on their guitars. An older couple sat on one of the benches lining the paths watching as families with children on their parents’ shoulders walked by.

The pedestrian traffic going to and from the central tent area was non-stop.

I wonder how the founders of the city would react to today’s ‘Tent Protest’ taking over the boulevard that in 1909 was planned explicitly as a central public space.

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Foto Friday – Meet the High-Rises

July 29, 2011 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business, design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Picture of the Week, Politics, Profiles, Social Justice, Travel 

The headlines this week are all about the housing crisis. Initially, the protest against high rents and purchase prices started in Tel Aviv but by the end of the week had spread to country’s the north, south and east. The “Tent City” protesters have talked a lot about the luxury apartments that the municipalities, and by extension, the government, favor. But given that a picture is worth at least 500 words (adjusting for inflation), here are a few of the outstanding projects that really stick in the average non-homeowner’s craw.

Akirov Towers. Most prominent resident: Minister of Defense and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

The Ramat Gan Diamond Bourse, which was first to define the TLV-RG urban skyline.

To the south: the Neve Zedek Tower casting its long luxe lifetyle shadow over quaint and trendy Neve Tzedek, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. To the North: The Yoo Towers, designed by the master, Philippe Starck.

The rest of the country is not free of this luxury high-rise scourge. Worse yet, the farther out you get from the center, the funnier the names get. Meet Haifa’s Sail Tower and Netanya’s Sea Opera.

And Jerusalem’s Holyland, the project that launched a thousand corruption lawsuits!

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