Israeli Farmers Go On “Food” Strike

November 23, 2010 - 8:31 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Environment, Immigrant Moments, Social Justice 

"israel farm protest"

Before the trend of Thai workers to Israel, the country counted on cheap Palestinian labor as farmhands. Since the recent Intifada about 10 years ago, and its associated security concerns, there has been a shortage of Palestinian workers, causing an influx of the more-than-willing Thai worker to do what Israeli hands will not. A lower wage and back-breaking work, the average Israeli, even those desperate for work, a recent TV show in Israel showed, is not happy working on the farm. Thai workers after all will work harder and do it for well below the minimum wage.

Despite offering those out of work Israelis a go at working on the farm, it turns out that they don’t have the will and stamina that Thai workers offer, causing a serious demand for migrant workers into the country.

The Israeli government wants to limit migrant workers to Israel. Migrant workers make their cash in Israel – a pretty closed economy – and then wire it back home. In Thailand farm workers might make $50 a month, and in Israel about $750 to $1,000. When in need they don’t have the luxury of taking out loans through the Internet like an online cash advance, or by going in “minus” in their bank (about half of all Israelis are in the red). Read more

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Foto Friday – Israel Thai Style

December 26, 2008 - 12:17 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, Foto Friday, General, Life 

Asaf Friedman is a professional photographer who, for the past two years, has been documenting the lives of Thai guest workers in Israel. The project is now a powerful exhibit, entitled “Israel Thai Style.”

Friedman trained his lens on the workers’ private lives and, in particular, how they spend their leisure time. Theirs is an invisible community that most Israelis not only never see, but don’t even know exists — though it literally touches the lives of Israelis every day through the fruits and vegetables put on the table.

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“I always see them at the town squares as they wait for their employers to pick them up, riding their bikes in the middle of the road, caring for the unfortunate, working in agriculture and construction, and doing the work that not one aside from them is willing to do. When a troop of Thai workers crossed the field across from my house to pick potatoes for several months; that was the first time I really saw them. Questions began to arise – who are these ‘foreign workers’? What other identities do they have, aside from that of a laborer? What do they do when they go ‘home’? What do their lives look like and to what extent does their foreignness characterize them?”

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To answer his questions, Freidman got to know some Thai workers who brought him into their private sphere. In gaining access to the caravan neighborhoods scattered throughout the country, Friedman was amazed to discover a world that, without his knowing it, had existed right under his nose.

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“My interest is to document, through the camera lens, a collection of rituals and situations from the everyday private live of the Thai migrant workers in order to expose the cultural and social capital they bring with them. Although the exhibit doesn’t directly or explicitly relate to the fundamental significances of the presence of migrant workers in Israel, it could open a small window through which we might think about, reflect on and discuss them.”

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Freidman looked at the seamy side of celebration as well, including cock-fighting, pig slaugtering, gambling, and amateur beauty contests for both genders. “Cock-fights in an enlightened country like Israel seems very brutal and in fact goes against a lot of conventions in a progressive society. It’s important for me to emphasize that this is a very popular sport in Southeast Asia, and Thailand specifically.”

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Although not overtly political, Freidman does intend for his work to be a statement. “Israel’s migrant workers represent a component, albeit a transparent one, within Israeli society. The significance of the migrant workers presence affects not only the structure and organization of the labor market in Israel, but also exposes other basic aspects of social and political life in Israel.”

“Israel Thai Style,” is on till December 30 at the Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv and can also be accessed online at Friedman’s website.

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