Earlier this week, I heard that a Gay Pride parade was to be held in Jerusalem. Seeing as I've never been to a Pride parade ever, and seeing how the parade has caused plenty of tension in Jerusalem in earlier years, I decided to check it out. 
The streets a half an hour prior to the march. The calm before the gay storm...
This noble Israeli policeman is ready to defend the public from the bloodthirsty gay hordes, akimbo style.
The security stations at the front of Liberty Bell Park, where queers and liberal-minded sympathizers gathered before the march. Boys in one line, girls in the other, patted down, scanned, bags checked. In Israel you get used to these kinds of security checks; it's also something you have to go through at any major bus station.
A "rabbi" talking to the press.
The rowdy drum brigade that kicked off the march.
Anyone good at reading upside-down Hebrew?
A drag king and queen try to hype the crowd up for the march. 
And off we go!
The oft-seen Israeli-gay hybrid flag. To me, it's some of the most tragic irony I've seen yet in this country: a flag of tolerance joined with one of intolerance. Explain? A state that feels existentially threatened by a growing Arab population, a state that has devised ways to keep a Jewish majority at the expense of other people - that seems pretty intolerant to me.
A pretty nifty, epic banner...once again, translation from my massive Hebrew-speaking audience would be nice.
The most disappointing part of the march. This sad old man was the counterprotest, and judging from the fact that this city is the holy meeting place of three somewhat homophobic religions, I expected a much larger anti-gay presence.
The socialist bloc of the march, which was the only one that took the initiative to chant anything. Another disappointment of the march was that it was rather tepid; really it was just a walk down King David St. from one park to another. I didn't want to see bloodshed or rioting, but some passion would have been nice. 
Oh well, I can always entertain myself in other ways.
The streets a half an hour prior to the march. The calm before the gay storm...
This noble Israeli policeman is ready to defend the public from the bloodthirsty gay hordes, akimbo style.
The security stations at the front of Liberty Bell Park, where queers and liberal-minded sympathizers gathered before the march. Boys in one line, girls in the other, patted down, scanned, bags checked. In Israel you get used to these kinds of security checks; it's also something you have to go through at any major bus station.
A "rabbi" talking to the press.
The rowdy drum brigade that kicked off the march.
Anyone good at reading upside-down Hebrew?
A drag king and queen try to hype the crowd up for the march. 
And off we go!
The oft-seen Israeli-gay hybrid flag. To me, it's some of the most tragic irony I've seen yet in this country: a flag of tolerance joined with one of intolerance. Explain? A state that feels existentially threatened by a growing Arab population, a state that has devised ways to keep a Jewish majority at the expense of other people - that seems pretty intolerant to me.
A pretty nifty, epic banner...once again, translation from my massive Hebrew-speaking audience would be nice.
The most disappointing part of the march. This sad old man was the counterprotest, and judging from the fact that this city is the holy meeting place of three somewhat homophobic religions, I expected a much larger anti-gay presence.
The socialist bloc of the march, which was the only one that took the initiative to chant anything. Another disappointment of the march was that it was rather tepid; really it was just a walk down King David St. from one park to another. I didn't want to see bloodshed or rioting, but some passion would have been nice. 
Oh well, I can always entertain myself in other ways.
wow you said it! How ironic that the same folks in "Is-real" can negate something so basic as acknowledgement of existing Palestinian, yet at the same time do mental gymnastics invoking unconventional demands contrary to "Jewishness"....
ReplyDeleteWell your shit rips and i sent these articles to some of my buddies and schoolmates back home and to some of the "born-agains" too.
out.