Post by Teddy Bear on Aug 13, 2011 23:21:48 GMT
For the last 4 weekends hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters have taken to the streets across the major cities in Israel to protest the high cost of living. In Tel-Aviv alone last week, 250,000 took part in a rally there. Out of a population of 7.7 million, this is quite a hefty chunk of the population, which would compare to a demonstration of well over 2 million people in London if it was happening in this country.
What is remarkable is none of the demonstrations have resulted in any kind of violence or looting or civil unrest, though its clear that many of the public are suffering as a result of the financial pressures involved.
Now if I was somebody like a politician, or social expert or academic in the field, or even a journalist trying to report on this phenomena, especially in light with what has been happening across cities in England recently, then I would examine what is different between society there and here.
Doesn't that make sense if you want to learn something about what is really going on in our society and what might need to be done to properly address it?
But what has the BBC subjected us to?
Anyone wanting to know how the BBC want us to believe is the cause of the violence and looting that we have been subjected to need only watch last week's special Question Time on the topic, and which we commented on here.
Since the BBC prefer to carry on their spin and blame the rioting here for all the reasons that fit their left-wing agenda, the last thing they want to do is to draw comparisons between the real protesters in Israel, and what they were originally trying to brand as protesters here in the UK. Until the number of complaints they received for doing this made them refer to them properly as the looters and thugs that they are.
So as not to make any comparison to events in Israel and events here, in case you might arrive at the real reasons for what is going on in this country, thus making their attempts at bias and propaganda useless, they compare it to the Arab Spring.
They don't however make the observation that nobody in Israel has been killed, attacked or even injured, no property has been damaged, unlike any Arab country that has been affected by its 'Spring'.
We should think of events in Israel as a 'Middle-Eastern' phenomena with no bearing to anything we need to think about in our 'civilised' culture or 'culcha'.
I notice the BBC doesn't even carry an article on the demonstration that took place in Israel today, though it's covered by the other major media companies. instead we have their comparison to Arab Spring based on what happened last week.
Just in case you miss the comparisons
, here's what they put into the article to make sure you 'get it'.
Like this one - Last weekend's protests were among the biggest Israel has ever seen
Demanding change, they were fed up with the ruling elite and said their government was no longer listening to its people.
But this was not Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. This was Israel.
Or this one - Just as their counterparts did five months ago in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Israeli demonstrators have taken over the heart of Tel Aviv.
And this one - Partly promoted through social media, comparisons are inevitably made with the Arab Spring.
And if you haven't quite got the message yet, this one -
As the Arab Spring leads to an Israeli Summer, there is no threat yet to the survival of the Netanyahu government.
In other words - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK"
What is remarkable is none of the demonstrations have resulted in any kind of violence or looting or civil unrest, though its clear that many of the public are suffering as a result of the financial pressures involved.
Now if I was somebody like a politician, or social expert or academic in the field, or even a journalist trying to report on this phenomena, especially in light with what has been happening across cities in England recently, then I would examine what is different between society there and here.
Doesn't that make sense if you want to learn something about what is really going on in our society and what might need to be done to properly address it?
But what has the BBC subjected us to?
Anyone wanting to know how the BBC want us to believe is the cause of the violence and looting that we have been subjected to need only watch last week's special Question Time on the topic, and which we commented on here.
Since the BBC prefer to carry on their spin and blame the rioting here for all the reasons that fit their left-wing agenda, the last thing they want to do is to draw comparisons between the real protesters in Israel, and what they were originally trying to brand as protesters here in the UK. Until the number of complaints they received for doing this made them refer to them properly as the looters and thugs that they are.
So as not to make any comparison to events in Israel and events here, in case you might arrive at the real reasons for what is going on in this country, thus making their attempts at bias and propaganda useless, they compare it to the Arab Spring.
They don't however make the observation that nobody in Israel has been killed, attacked or even injured, no property has been damaged, unlike any Arab country that has been affected by its 'Spring'.
We should think of events in Israel as a 'Middle-Eastern' phenomena with no bearing to anything we need to think about in our 'civilised' culture or 'culcha'.
I notice the BBC doesn't even carry an article on the demonstration that took place in Israel today, though it's covered by the other major media companies. instead we have their comparison to Arab Spring based on what happened last week.
Just in case you miss the comparisons
, here's what they put into the article to make sure you 'get it'.Like this one - Last weekend's protests were among the biggest Israel has ever seen
Demanding change, they were fed up with the ruling elite and said their government was no longer listening to its people.
But this was not Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. This was Israel.
Or this one - Just as their counterparts did five months ago in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Israeli demonstrators have taken over the heart of Tel Aviv.
And this one - Partly promoted through social media, comparisons are inevitably made with the Arab Spring.
And if you haven't quite got the message yet, this one -
As the Arab Spring leads to an Israeli Summer, there is no threat yet to the survival of the Netanyahu government.
In other words - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK" - "Don't think UK"
Israel's 'social protests' rattle Netanyahu government
By Wyre Davies
BBC News, Tel Aviv
Last weekend's protests were among the biggest Israel has ever seen
Demanding change, they were fed up with the ruling elite and said their government was no longer listening to its people.
But this was not Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. This was Israel.
If the Israeli government had hoped the street protests, which began three weeks ago, would lose momentum and fade away, it has not happened.
An estimated 300,000 people from different backgrounds joined the latest marches across the country.
Just as their counterparts did five months ago in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Israeli demonstrators have taken over the heart of Tel Aviv.
Revital Len-Cohen is an educated woman, a lawyer whose husband works in Israel's booming high-tech sector. By her own admission she never thought she would find herself protesting on the streets.
But Mrs Len-Cohen has a young son with severe learning difficulties. She has had to give up work and gets little or no support from the state.
That, she says, is why she has spent a week in a small tent on the street.
"I'm really desperate. This is a country where we pay our taxes and do our best but we're now in a position where I'm having to beg from my parents to survive," the mother-of-two told me as she sat under the hot, midday sun.
Non-political
People here have many different grievances. Each part of the protesters' tented city, along Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, is home to a particular group with an axe to grind.
Just along from a group of tents where Mrs Len-Cohen and other parents of disabled children sleep, is a group of students.
A little further on are families who cannot afford the spiralling cost of renting even the most basic of homes.
Students, mothers, doctors, anarchists - all protesting about the cost of living.
The informal campsite has taken over a prestigious area of Tel Aviv
Critics say their demands are unrealistic, especially when there is a deeper, global, economic crisis.
Others insist this is a battle for the soul and direction of Israel.
They say their "movement" is deliberately non-political. It is not about Israel and the Palestinians but normal Israelis concerned that their country is losing all sense of moral and collective responsibility.
Partly promoted through social media, comparisons are inevitably made with the Arab Spring.
The goals, circumstances and even the conclusion may be different, but the genie of protests is out of the bottle.
Caught off-guard
Israel is a country where a tiny minority of families and individuals control a hugely disproportionate amount of wealth.
That in itself is not unusual: income disparity and unfairness can be found in most countries, those who criticise the demonstrators' "naivety" point out.
But Israel is a young country founded on strong ideals of social responsibility and cohesiveness. The demonstrators in Rothschild Boulevard want their country back.
By the government's own admission, it was caught somewhat off-guard as the protests grew. There was, initially, incredulity among ministers in the governing coalition.
Protesters' banners call on the prime minister to "go home" mimicking those seen in Arab uprisings
In many ways Israel's economy has been immune from the global crisis. The much-vaunted high-tech sector is still growing and official unemployment levels are much lower than in other developed countries.
Belatedly, Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has acted. He has promised to reassess his government's priorities. But whether that means, for example, diverting funds away from the bloated defence budget towards social policy, remains to be seen.
Mr Netanyahu has also appointed a "panel of experts" to meet protest leaders and assess their demands. The panel is led by Professor Manuel Trajtenberg, from Tel Aviv University.
He is reported to have initially rejected the offer, fearful it would become just another, ineffective Israeli inquiry - kicked into the long grass, its recommendations never to be taken up.
It was only when Mr Netanyahu promised to change his own fundamental positions that the respected professor changed his mind and agreed to lead the task-force.
As the Arab Spring leads to an Israeli Summer, there is no threat yet to the survival of the Netanyahu government.
However, with protests spreading to Jerusalem and other major cities, pressure is building.
Even bigger marches are planned for the coming weeks.
By Wyre Davies
BBC News, Tel Aviv
Last weekend's protests were among the biggest Israel has ever seen
Demanding change, they were fed up with the ruling elite and said their government was no longer listening to its people.
But this was not Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. This was Israel.
If the Israeli government had hoped the street protests, which began three weeks ago, would lose momentum and fade away, it has not happened.
An estimated 300,000 people from different backgrounds joined the latest marches across the country.
Just as their counterparts did five months ago in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Israeli demonstrators have taken over the heart of Tel Aviv.
Revital Len-Cohen is an educated woman, a lawyer whose husband works in Israel's booming high-tech sector. By her own admission she never thought she would find herself protesting on the streets.
But Mrs Len-Cohen has a young son with severe learning difficulties. She has had to give up work and gets little or no support from the state.
That, she says, is why she has spent a week in a small tent on the street.
"I'm really desperate. This is a country where we pay our taxes and do our best but we're now in a position where I'm having to beg from my parents to survive," the mother-of-two told me as she sat under the hot, midday sun.
Non-political
People here have many different grievances. Each part of the protesters' tented city, along Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, is home to a particular group with an axe to grind.
Just along from a group of tents where Mrs Len-Cohen and other parents of disabled children sleep, is a group of students.
A little further on are families who cannot afford the spiralling cost of renting even the most basic of homes.
Students, mothers, doctors, anarchists - all protesting about the cost of living.
The informal campsite has taken over a prestigious area of Tel Aviv
Critics say their demands are unrealistic, especially when there is a deeper, global, economic crisis.
Others insist this is a battle for the soul and direction of Israel.
They say their "movement" is deliberately non-political. It is not about Israel and the Palestinians but normal Israelis concerned that their country is losing all sense of moral and collective responsibility.
Partly promoted through social media, comparisons are inevitably made with the Arab Spring.
The goals, circumstances and even the conclusion may be different, but the genie of protests is out of the bottle.
Caught off-guard
Israel is a country where a tiny minority of families and individuals control a hugely disproportionate amount of wealth.
That in itself is not unusual: income disparity and unfairness can be found in most countries, those who criticise the demonstrators' "naivety" point out.
But Israel is a young country founded on strong ideals of social responsibility and cohesiveness. The demonstrators in Rothschild Boulevard want their country back.
By the government's own admission, it was caught somewhat off-guard as the protests grew. There was, initially, incredulity among ministers in the governing coalition.
Protesters' banners call on the prime minister to "go home" mimicking those seen in Arab uprisings
In many ways Israel's economy has been immune from the global crisis. The much-vaunted high-tech sector is still growing and official unemployment levels are much lower than in other developed countries.
Belatedly, Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has acted. He has promised to reassess his government's priorities. But whether that means, for example, diverting funds away from the bloated defence budget towards social policy, remains to be seen.
Mr Netanyahu has also appointed a "panel of experts" to meet protest leaders and assess their demands. The panel is led by Professor Manuel Trajtenberg, from Tel Aviv University.
He is reported to have initially rejected the offer, fearful it would become just another, ineffective Israeli inquiry - kicked into the long grass, its recommendations never to be taken up.
It was only when Mr Netanyahu promised to change his own fundamental positions that the respected professor changed his mind and agreed to lead the task-force.
As the Arab Spring leads to an Israeli Summer, there is no threat yet to the survival of the Netanyahu government.
However, with protests spreading to Jerusalem and other major cities, pressure is building.
Even bigger marches are planned for the coming weeks.