Taking it all in Perspective
Nov. 12th, 2006 02:20 pmNow that the "Pride Hoopla" is over, I'm wondering what the Aftermath will be.
Will the Religious Right here let up, or will they just wait for next year to start all over again? Has the GLBT community actually managed to go a step forward towards legal, financial and political equality, or have we opened ourselves up to even more criticism from if not the Religious Right then at least the more conservative parties and groups in Israel?
Is the Israeli Queer Community actually on the Israeli Social agenda?
A more important question, is there even a general social agenda in Israel? Not that I've noticed since PM Olmert has not done anything worth note except War and the killings in Gaza.
Going to the Pride Rally, I felt a great sense of belonging and solidarity with everyone else there, and I felt my family really understood what it was all about, but something I didn't mention in my previous post; While walking from the parking lot to the Stadium, seeing all the police-men and women standing around, talking on the walky-talkies, being civil enough to direct us to the stadium and seeing the security people searching our bags and waving the metal detecting wand over us... there was a sense of disquiet in the air.
There was an incident in which a man wanted to disrupt the rally, but he was taken away very, very quickly by the police as well as the illegal parade started in Gan Ha'Paamon which began a scuffle between the marchers and the religious right who were in the area.
From what I gathered the marchers were stuffed into a Police Van, kept in custody and were interrogated and then let go with an open file in the police, those with prior records were obviously kept for longer, but I understood that the police used excessive force.
Not a good thing.
The rally was a bit of a cop-out, because a parade should have happened and would have had it not been for the violent incident in Gaza, causing the death of so many civilians, because of that the police had to be deployed near the Al-Akza Mosque and in all the check points because of suicide bomber threats.
I understand why there couldn't be a march and I'm very happy there was something, because complete cancellation would have made me feel very angry at the GLBT leadership in Israel, far more than anyone else. I hope next year we'll march as we were supposed to, in Eilat (because of the party), in Tel-Aviv (because of the venue) and in Jerusalem (because it's our capital and that march is for human rights).
And that was the point of the Pride Rally, to remind everyone that this country is based in Democracy and that it (at least in theory) valued its inherent Human Rights.
Israel is quite progressive in it's treatment of the GLBT community; we serve in the Army, there are certain spousal laws (marriage in this country is a primitive institute and I'm speaking as a secular woman, not even a queer one) and are protected by law against unlawful treatment and defamation, you can sue if you were mistreated for being gay, lesbian, bi and/or gender variant.
So Israel isn't totally backward, but Israel must progress and I don't know if we're going in that direction, because in previous years there were marches and last year a man was stabbed simply because he decided to march, he could have been a straight ally, but he was a gay activist and this year we had a closed rally and party in a stadium.
We'd better be there next year.
Will the Religious Right here let up, or will they just wait for next year to start all over again? Has the GLBT community actually managed to go a step forward towards legal, financial and political equality, or have we opened ourselves up to even more criticism from if not the Religious Right then at least the more conservative parties and groups in Israel?
Is the Israeli Queer Community actually on the Israeli Social agenda?
A more important question, is there even a general social agenda in Israel? Not that I've noticed since PM Olmert has not done anything worth note except War and the killings in Gaza.
Going to the Pride Rally, I felt a great sense of belonging and solidarity with everyone else there, and I felt my family really understood what it was all about, but something I didn't mention in my previous post; While walking from the parking lot to the Stadium, seeing all the police-men and women standing around, talking on the walky-talkies, being civil enough to direct us to the stadium and seeing the security people searching our bags and waving the metal detecting wand over us... there was a sense of disquiet in the air.
There was an incident in which a man wanted to disrupt the rally, but he was taken away very, very quickly by the police as well as the illegal parade started in Gan Ha'Paamon which began a scuffle between the marchers and the religious right who were in the area.
From what I gathered the marchers were stuffed into a Police Van, kept in custody and were interrogated and then let go with an open file in the police, those with prior records were obviously kept for longer, but I understood that the police used excessive force.
Not a good thing.
The rally was a bit of a cop-out, because a parade should have happened and would have had it not been for the violent incident in Gaza, causing the death of so many civilians, because of that the police had to be deployed near the Al-Akza Mosque and in all the check points because of suicide bomber threats.
I understand why there couldn't be a march and I'm very happy there was something, because complete cancellation would have made me feel very angry at the GLBT leadership in Israel, far more than anyone else. I hope next year we'll march as we were supposed to, in Eilat (because of the party), in Tel-Aviv (because of the venue) and in Jerusalem (because it's our capital and that march is for human rights).
And that was the point of the Pride Rally, to remind everyone that this country is based in Democracy and that it (at least in theory) valued its inherent Human Rights.
Israel is quite progressive in it's treatment of the GLBT community; we serve in the Army, there are certain spousal laws (marriage in this country is a primitive institute and I'm speaking as a secular woman, not even a queer one) and are protected by law against unlawful treatment and defamation, you can sue if you were mistreated for being gay, lesbian, bi and/or gender variant.
So Israel isn't totally backward, but Israel must progress and I don't know if we're going in that direction, because in previous years there were marches and last year a man was stabbed simply because he decided to march, he could have been a straight ally, but he was a gay activist and this year we had a closed rally and party in a stadium.
We'd better be there next year.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 01:28 pm (UTC)Also, gotta love an Indigo Girls quote on a LGBT rights post.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 01:31 pm (UTC)Indigo Girls quote? *looks up, down and sideways* Where?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 01:52 pm (UTC)Kat writes a poem and she sticks it on my truck:
We don't believe in war and we don't believe in luck
Okay, "hyped up" isn't the word. I'll just switch to Hebrew - מתלהמת. It's not a complimet, and it's usually how you come across: too emotional, not quite coherent enough, not really... well, you know what מתלהם is.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 02:15 pm (UTC)מתלהמת או מתלהבת?
כי מתלהב זו לא מחמאה, אבל מתלהם? מה "מתלהמת" מה שוקיסטית?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 04:10 pm (UTC)ותודה.
?לא מקצועי
Date: 2006-11-13 07:14 am (UTC).כך נהוג לכתוב דעות, והיא הרבה פחות מתלהמת מנענע או מעריב
Re: ?לא מקצועי
Date: 2006-11-13 07:30 am (UTC)Re: ?לא מקצועי
Date: 2006-11-13 09:43 am (UTC)אמנם תוכן "הארץ" הוא יותר טוב מזה של "מעריב" ו"ידיעות" אבל אנשים הם אנשים לא משנה איפה מדפיסים את קולם.
חוצמזה, לא אמרתי זאת אתמול, אבל ממתי בלוג צריך להיות מקצועי, מבחינתי מהות הבלוג היא להשמיע את קולי ללא צורך בלצנזר את עצמי, בנוסף הכתיבה האנגלית והעברית שלי השתפרה בצורה משמעותית מאז שהתחלתי לכתוב בל"ג, מה גם שבעזרת הכתיבה בל"ג הצלחתי לפתח זהות פוליטית בעזרת כתיבת דעותיי בנושאים.
:)
אלוהים, להגיד "השתפרת" כבר אי אפשר?
Date: 2006-11-13 06:36 pm (UTC)(אני והביקורתיות שלי, כמובן, מסתייגים מהרעיון שהבעת דעות כל כך מוחלטת מקומה יכירנה בבמה ציבורית. ולא, ל"ג הוא לא במה ציבורית, לצורך עניין זה.)
אכן, הכתיבה שלך השתפרה מאוד וממשיכה להשתפר, בשתי שפות האם שלך. ואכן, ניכר שהאינטראקציה והכתיבה היקנו לך מודעות טובה יותר לדיעות ולאמונות שלך, ואיפשרו לך להגדיר אותן באופן ברור יותר.
כלומר, למען השם, בחורה, אני ניסיתי להגיד שהשתפרת ואיך בדיוק זה הפך ל"אבל כן השתפרתי!"?
(וכן, אני יודעת שהתחביר שלי עף משהו במשפט האחרון. וואלה, גם לי זה קורה לפעמים.)
Re: אלוהים, להגיד "השתפרת" כבר אי אפשר?
Date: 2006-11-13 06:43 pm (UTC)אני לא מסכימה איתך של"ג זה לא במה ציבורית, כל עוד לא נועלים את הפוסטים זה מאד פומבי, אני יודעת שיש לי עוד קוראים שאינם רשומים אצלי כקוראים ואני יודעת שאפשר למצוא את הל"ג ע"י מנוע חיפוש.
נכון זה לא פומבי בצורה של פרסום רשמי, אבל הבלוגוספירה היא גדולה ומאד פרהסית, אז כן הדעות שלי הן כן ידועות בציבור.
כמו גם חייך, רק שתדעי אחותי וגיסי (אלה שגרים בבאר-שבע) הם קוראים מושבעים שלך :) והם הביעו דאגה כלפייך בזמן המלחמה.
Re: אלוהים, להגיד "השתפרת" כבר אי אפשר?
Date: 2006-11-13 06:57 pm (UTC)כן, אחותך השאירה לי כמה תגובות במהלך המלחמה... זה היה ממש מחמם לב.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 02:59 pm (UTC)I disagree, partialy
Date: 2006-11-12 04:03 pm (UTC)http://orbar.livejournal.com/111043.html
I disagree, partialy
Date: 2006-11-12 04:21 pm (UTC)