On video: about 80,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv against the legal revolution (photo: Yotam Ronen, Shlomi Gabai, Sima Sasson, Network 13, the Black Flags, Crime Minister)
The revolution will not be televised, as the poet Gil Scott-Heron wrote about another struggle.
The revolution will not start after the news.
The revolution will not disguise itself as a frivolity and fake songs in front of the scrutinizing eyes of Ofira Essig and Tsadi Sraffati.
The revolution will not come up with a brave story that will be quoted in Walla!
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The revolution will not open a cash register, will not make a caesarean, and will not fill Menorah.
The revolution will not come to you under the auspices of Club Hotel Lotraki Greece.
The revolution will not use emojis, will not tweet and will not ask you to download an app.
You won't be able to record the Bis Max revolution, and you won't be able to watch it on VOD in the middle of the night when your conscience won't let you sleep.
The revolution will not return after just one advertisement.
The revolution will not be imitated in a great country.
The revolution will not be broadcast.
The revolution did not get wet yesterday in the center of Tel Aviv.
Yes, there were tens of thousands of people who suffered a heavy defeat in the elections, who made a last lap with the flag (and one more flag that no one asked for) precisely in the square named after a great Jewish winner.
Tens of thousands of umbrellas were opened together in the Bernstein Orchestra Square, creating a particularly beautiful image, probably from the drones that photographed this human carpet from above for the media. The sunken garden designed by Danny Karvan in the heart of the square was seen in the photos like the structure of the Kaaba cube, around which crowds of Muslims walk during the pilgrimage ceremony Mecca. A fitting comparison to the place that replaced Rabin Square as the bastion of Tel Aviv democracy, between the National Theater and the Culture Hall. The Mecca of secular culture.
It looked like the Kaaba cube structure in the pictures.
Hamima Square, last night (photo: official website, Amir Goldstein)
Those who saw the pictures on TV could still mistakenly think that this is a determined group of people who are coming to fight for the image of the country.
But on the ground, on the roads full of potholes and puddles in the center of Tel Aviv, it was not an optimistic demonstration.
Actually, it wasn't really a demonstration.
More like a sad farewell party to democracy.
Everyone already understands that the D9 has started, and come to pay their last respects to the remnants of democracy.
All in all, democracy has been good to us for 75 years, and perhaps we have taken it a little for granted every now and then - and here is its last dance - and what is more appropriate than to do it with a huge demonstration in the heart of the first Hebrew city?
This is how we would like to remember her, with 80,000 people cheering for the President of the Supreme Court outside the Yevri Leader concert, and several thousand more trying to make their way to go down west, towards gate 2 of the Dizengoff Center, and stand in line for a high-sugar drink in an American explosion with blue-and-white prices.
Last September I covered the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace in London.
According to the estimates of the local police, about a million people were present at the historic event, who flooded the streets of the English capital.
I know it's not true, but I can swear that there were a lot more people in the center of Tel Aviv yesterday.
If you give me a polygraph test I will come out telling the truth, even though I know it's not possible.
It's not the amount of people so much as their physical being.
The blocked streets, the public transportation that stopped functioning in the city center, and above all the crazy crowding that miraculously did not end in disaster - all indicated an unimaginable number of participants.
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Unlike the huge demonstrations in Balfour, there was no optimism here (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Even compared to previous demonstrations across the country, something about yesterday's demonstration felt more crowded, angrier, more desperate.
As in rock concerts in Israel, this time too everyone was too crowded.
If at a rock concert it is still possible to understand the desire to get closer to the stage even at the cost of losing sufficient personal space, what makes people squeeze so much in a demonstration, to feel the slurred speech of the stranger next to you or to feel the shards of your neighbor's cough in the dry weather, without any justification?
No one took responsibility for order on the spot, certainly not the police who demonstrated a large presence on the sidelines of the demonstration, probably looking for protesters with rude signs and flags of the wrong colors - but inside the square itself, people could easily pass out without anyone being able to offer help.
It could easily have ended with casualties.
Compared to the huge demonstrations in Balfour two years ago, there was no particular optimism of change.
Rage, which often characterizes such demonstrations (left and right), was not part of this demonstration either.
There was mainly an inexplicable sense of mission, mixed with classic Tel Aviv FOMO of an "event you have to be at".
Something we will tell our grandchildren about.
In between, Walt's nervous messengers drove, reminding us that despite everything, life continues to exist around us.
If it weren't for the rain and the roadblocks, the number of demonstrators could have been even higher (Photo: Reuven Castro)
The comparison to huge events abroad is always funny, but anyone who has been to a football game or concert abroad knows the procedure.
Inspectors arrive to help direct traffic, and public transportation is seriously reinforced.
In Israel, for some reason, the solution is always the opposite.
All the roads are closed, public transportation is diluted and we pray that everything will pass peacefully so that God forbid the police will not have to engage in their duty: to maintain public order.
Take for example line 25, which travels towards the center of Tel Aviv, which was already full to capacity at the university, its starting station.
When the loaded bus arrived at the nearby Ramat Aviv Mall, the driver opened the doors for the dozens of people at the station, but no one could get on due to overcrowding.
Of course, this did not prevent the already sparse Saturday evening schedule from becoming even less efficient, when several buses that were supposed to pass through the area simply did not arrive for some mysterious reason.
Perhaps this explains the fact that the Minister of Transportation drives in the National Guard and does not see buses?
It is not clear whether the people who were waiting for the buses that did not arrive managed to get to the demonstration in the end or not, but it can be assumed with a fairly high degree of certainty that if it were not for the winter weather and minor technical problems such as "how can you get to the center of Tel Aviv if the center of Tel Aviv is blocked to traffic and the public transport in Israel is a fiction" , the number of demonstrators in Orchestra Square could have been even higher.
Maybe this is the year when we will understand what democracy really is (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Demonstrations are usually a joyful event by their very nature.
The commitment of people to a certain issue, even if the issue itself is quite depressing.
This collective mobilization of people who take advantage of their democratic right to give free rein to their voice and their opinion, has something refreshing and pure about it, even if the goal for which they are protesting is completely hopeless.
Last night, despite the impressive attendance, it was the saddest demonstration I've ever been to.
This time it seemed as if it was important for everyone to arrive precisely in the pouring rain, which added Hollywood drama to the whole event, in order to express at least once their disgust and disgust at the sabotage that the new Netanyahu government is carrying out to the separation of powers system in Israel.
or to the gay community.
or for the separation of religion and state.
Or for the waste of huge budgets by dark extremists.
or for entrusting senior cases to convicted criminals.
Or some are still stuck with this segment of a prime minister with three indictments.
There's not really a lack of reasons to protest, when you really think about it.
The word that came up the most is "democracy".
In the speeches on the stage, in the chants in the audience and in the signs held by cute children who were carried on the shoulders of their parents.
The word "sinkhole" did beat the word "governance" for the title of word of the year for 2022 - but already in mid-January it is quite clear that "democracy" will be the word of the year for 2023. Leftists are protesting for this word, rightists are sure that they deserve to govern by virtue of it - but this The year in which maybe, finally, we will understand what democracy really is.
In order to fight a corrupt and powerful government - a similar force must be exercised from the other side (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Another nice demonstration of the polite camp that knows how to express itself nicely
And perhaps it is easier to understand what democracy is not.
Democracy is the rule of the majority, not the tyranny of the majority.
Democracy is not two cats and a mouse voting together on the question of what to eat for lunch.
In 1938, a year before World War II broke out in Europe, the 38th President of the United States, Roosevelt, sent a sharp message to the American Congress, with a sting to what was already taking place in those days in Europe. where he becomes more powerful than their democratic state itself.
This, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of the government by an individual, by a group or by any other private ruling force." In Israel, each side of the political map is sure that the other side wants to take democracy away from it. Most of the time, it is just false feelings. We will see that now, for the first time, one side has the power to threaten the country's democratic freedom - and it certainly intends to use this power.
Those expecting a civil war or civil war may be disappointed.
The party that lost the elections may join a demonstration once a week, but the feeling of defeat is already in the air.
In order to fight against a corrupt and powerful government, a similar force must be used from the other side.
Not sure that this crumbling camp has that ability.
One hundred thousand people took to the streets across the country yesterday, which is quite an impressive number - but if it's a one-time event, it won't change anything for anyone.
In order to drive real change, a hundred thousand people need to take to the streets every day, and not just on Saturday night.
It is desirable that they also go out to vote in the elections and not waste their votes on spineless politicians.
The demonstrations should reach the centers of power, and not the Tel Aviv comfort zones.
The rebellion should be more focused, more determined and more painful - without being dragged into violence of course.
In the meantime, it was another nice demonstration of the polite camp that knows how to express itself nicely.
A demonstration of the just, but not the wise, camp.
There were some inspiring moments in the audience, like parents with children coming to fight for their future.
But by and large, it was a demonstration of strength by tens of thousands of desperate people who simply wanted to be desperate together, in a kind of Leviticus Enoch toga, according to which one can be content with making despair more comfortable.
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