Wednesday, July 13, 2005
A season in hell
The last two weeks have been crazy as hell…
Almost made me forget I came back from China exactly one year ago.
It started on Thursday, June 30th, with the Jerusalem gay pride parade. I went there to take some pictures, which didn't turn out so well, which isn't really important because the party atmosphere, which was tense from the first place, was interrupted by a fanatic homophobe who stabbed 3 of the participants. I happened to walk by one of them, I saw him bleeding and holding his arm, and I thought to myself – what kind of joke is that? Only when a girl next to him shouted that he's stabbed I realized what I'm seeing and shouted for a police woman walking by. Later I was in a state of shock.
This was a very "small" incident in my terror stricken town, no one died, nothing exploded, and yet it changed something for me. The stabber, an Ultra Orthodox Jew, about thirty, is only the tip of the iceberg in what became a very heated debate over the parade in Jerusalem. For some reason, on the fourth time this parade has taken place it attracted more hostility than ever. It seemed like the only thing that can bring Jews, Muslims and Christians together is their common hate for the gay community. But it's not just about gays – 2 of the 3 who got stabbed are "straits" who joined their friends, just like me. This is a new border line that's drawn between two of the Jewish communities in Israel – those who are afraid of any kind of change, and those who are willing to accept the rights of those who are different than themselves. This line is felt strongly through the pro and against campaigns to the Gaza pullout. Those against it have an orange ribbon tied to their cars or bags, and those for it – a blue one.
To further my surrealist summer, the London terror attack happened on the same day that the most important holiday in my "religion" started – The Jerusalem Film Festival. Appropriately, the opening movie was a special outdoor screening of ""War of the Worlds". Since this year I work for the festival, I only got to see half of it, and I don't think I want to see the rest. As staff I can go to any movie I want, and so far I've seen several, like Kim Ki Duk's 3-Iron (Bin Jip).
Wish me a quiet summer.
Almost made me forget I came back from China exactly one year ago.
It started on Thursday, June 30th, with the Jerusalem gay pride parade. I went there to take some pictures, which didn't turn out so well, which isn't really important because the party atmosphere, which was tense from the first place, was interrupted by a fanatic homophobe who stabbed 3 of the participants. I happened to walk by one of them, I saw him bleeding and holding his arm, and I thought to myself – what kind of joke is that? Only when a girl next to him shouted that he's stabbed I realized what I'm seeing and shouted for a police woman walking by. Later I was in a state of shock.
This was a very "small" incident in my terror stricken town, no one died, nothing exploded, and yet it changed something for me. The stabber, an Ultra Orthodox Jew, about thirty, is only the tip of the iceberg in what became a very heated debate over the parade in Jerusalem. For some reason, on the fourth time this parade has taken place it attracted more hostility than ever. It seemed like the only thing that can bring Jews, Muslims and Christians together is their common hate for the gay community. But it's not just about gays – 2 of the 3 who got stabbed are "straits" who joined their friends, just like me. This is a new border line that's drawn between two of the Jewish communities in Israel – those who are afraid of any kind of change, and those who are willing to accept the rights of those who are different than themselves. This line is felt strongly through the pro and against campaigns to the Gaza pullout. Those against it have an orange ribbon tied to their cars or bags, and those for it – a blue one.
To further my surrealist summer, the London terror attack happened on the same day that the most important holiday in my "religion" started – The Jerusalem Film Festival. Appropriately, the opening movie was a special outdoor screening of ""War of the Worlds". Since this year I work for the festival, I only got to see half of it, and I don't think I want to see the rest. As staff I can go to any movie I want, and so far I've seen several, like Kim Ki Duk's 3-Iron (Bin Jip).
Wish me a quiet summer.
# posted by Effi @ 10:05 AM 
Comments:
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Don't bother with WOTW- I wrote a brief review of it but it wasn't great. What I've heard of 'Bin Jip' is alot better.
It's always sad to think of such extremists living in our midst. I imagine I'd be shocked too. But not surprised- living there, I don't think you're allowed to be surprised, right?
What's this about you moving? Good to hear you speaking some Mandarin, I have been trying to practice recently but not done so well.
Here's wishing you a quiet summer-
It's always sad to think of such extremists living in our midst. I imagine I'd be shocked too. But not surprised- living there, I don't think you're allowed to be surprised, right?
What's this about you moving? Good to hear you speaking some Mandarin, I have been trying to practice recently but not done so well.
Here's wishing you a quiet summer-
Thanks for your wish!
I fear my English is going down the drain together with my Mandarin.. I need another time out, I guess.
Just when you think you get jaded enough - things like that bastard killer - a disgrace to my uniform "soldier" - pop up, and still manages to shock.
I'll write you an email..
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I fear my English is going down the drain together with my Mandarin.. I need another time out, I guess.
Just when you think you get jaded enough - things like that bastard killer - a disgrace to my uniform "soldier" - pop up, and still manages to shock.
I'll write you an email..
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