{"id":14545,"date":"2011-09-04T02:58:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-04T09:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=14545"},"modified":"2011-09-08T01:39:47","modified_gmt":"2011-09-08T08:39:47","slug":"march-of-the-million-in-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=14545","title":{"rendered":"March of the Million in Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: Inbal Zach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Drums, pots and pans, tambourines, a really good brass section and the voices of the people \u2013 Israel in all its diversity, different ages, backgrounds, spirituality and politics, coming together in to say: the people want social justice. That was the sound of September 3, 2011, the sound of people who believe that change is possible.<\/p>\n

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Making history\/Photo: Inbal Zach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was one of the most peaceful, friendly demonstrations I have ever seen. Walking from Habima Square toward the main gathering place in Kikar Hamedina, people cheered on the protesters from their windows and balconies. The newspapers report that over 450,000 protesters were out on the streets, the largest demonstration in Israeli history, but the response in Tel Aviv suggests that the support for the protest is even greater than these numbers. They called it the \u201cMarch of the Million\u201d and many protesters carried signs or wore Tshirts proclaiming: there are millions like me. I hope they’re right.<\/p>\n

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There are millions like me\/Photo: Inbal Zach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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There are millions like me\/Photo: Inbal Zach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many were inspired by Israeli songs in creating their signs. The changing mood can be seen in Aviv Gefen’s anthemic Anahnu Dor Mezuyan (We’re the Fucked Up Generation 1993) transformed into “Anahnu Dor Metzuyan” – We’re an excellent generation. Both Yaakov Rotblit’s Shir Lashalom (The Song to Peace, lyrics: Yaakov Rotblit, music: Yair Rosenblum) and Ehud Manor’s Ein Li Eretz Aheret (I Have No Other Country, lyrics: Ehud Manor, music: Korin Alal) express the spirit of the protest from the balconies and on the street.<\/p>\n

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We're an excellent generation - the voice of youth\/Photo: Inbal Zach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Don't say: the day will come\/Bring the day (Yaakov Rotblit)\/Photo: Inbal Zach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I will not stay silent because my country changed her face (Ehud Manor)\/Photo: Inbal Zach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The quiet, lyric resolve of this poetic protest song is the backdrop for a powerful video made by Asaf and Michal Klein Shafir in the week before the rallies:
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Image credit: Inbal Zach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drums, pots and pans, tambourines, a really good brass section and the voices of the people \u2013 Israel in all its diversity, different ages, backgrounds, spirituality and politics, coming together in to say: the people want social justice. That was the sound of September 3, 2011, the sound of people who believe that change is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}