Israel's "Tent Protests"

Photo Credit:

 Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

Who/what: The protest began with a woman, Daphne Leef, who was forced onto the streets (literally) because of the rise of the cost of living due to the corrupt housing market. The rise forced her to claim the identity of a lower socioeconomic class than she formally was. She pitched a tent in the street because of the loss of her home. Others joined the caused and within weeks hundreds to thousands of individuals pitched tents to protest housing costs being increased.

Where: This physical protest occurred in the Rothschild Boulevard of Tel Aviv, Israel. However, a tool for the protest was Facebook (where a lot of the momentum of the movement was gained). This movement spread to all over the world (particularly through Jewish communities and younger generations). 

When: June of 2011. This is when the protest began and lasted for 6 weeks. The tents were taken down after those 6 weeks, but the protest for the lowering the cost of living in Israel towards the government continued for years (even some practice this body rhetoric today).

Why (is it interesting/relevant): The housing marking/food market in Israel began raising the cost of their products by around 43% (at one points) (Gordon). The Israeli people in lower income communities became very upset by the regulations of the government and it's capitalist nature that made the economic state not favorable. It's intriguing how the whole world

Identity: The protest started with a woman who couldn't afford to live in her flat. The audience her Facebook page and other sites identified with her lower-income status with the Israeli culture. The protestors (from around the world) had signs mostly in Hebrew to target the Israeli government.

Works Cited:
Gordon, Uri. "Israel’s ‘Tent Protests’: The Chilling Effect of Nationalism." Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest. 1 August 2012. Web.