Joining the tents: Tel Aviv’s baby carriage protest

By Ami Kaufman July 28, 2011 | Edit

The baby carriage protest that took place yesterday, for me, was the most important one yet in the ongoing revolution Israel experiencing.

It was much smaller in numbers than previous demos, certainly than the large one held last Saturday and than the next ones coming up. But it was the people who were in it who made it so important.

It was the families. The people who can’t come and live in the tents on Rothschild, even though this revolution is for them much more than for those young students. It’s for people like me, married with two kids, who can’t support our families. There were thousands of us, who filled up the boulevard on all sides.

So, the baby carriage demo organisers made a smart move. They planned it for the only time parents could come. At 17:30. A bit after we pick the kids up from kindergarten, and a bit before they get hungry for dinner. It was a window of opportunity of about an hour.

And thousands of kids, parents and strollers took to the streets all over Israel. That hour was used up to the max. We yelled “Children – not only for rich people!”, and “Let’s remind the PM who pushes the cart (baby carriage)” and more. Even my kids had a ball, playing with the yellow balloons handed out.

It was the biggest stroller traffic jam in history, on one of the hottest and muggiest days yet, but everyone was smiling and hopeful.

It was an honor to be part of.

Joining the tents: Tel Aviv's baby carriage protest

Emma playing with the yellow balloons handed out at the protest (photo: Karen Kaufman)

Lea dealing with the heat (photo: Karen Kaufman)

Me and Lea, and the thousands (photo: Karen Kaufman)

And one of my favorite parts of the demo yesterday was when a Kleizmer band from Safed came to play “If I were a rich man”, which in Hebrew is called “If I were Rothschild” – and this happened just meters from the epicenter of the protests: Rothschild Boulevard.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1TGA9hVS4[/youtube]

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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