There many ways to demonstrate. A mass jam session is surely a unique way. I attended such a demonstration on today’s sunny afternoon in Tel Aviv.
Officially we were making noise, as opposed to being silent. This kind of fun protest is a good way to bring important issues to people’s attention. Despite very low publicity, about 100 showed up. More pictures.
Update: Here’s a video of the event by Carmel.
What’s the story?
Hundreds of women are held against their will in central cities in Israel, and “employed” as prostitutes. The authorities know where they are, and don’t act to release them. The media usually ignores these cases.
Those who oppose have “unexpected visitors” who rape them. In many cases, they get drugs so they can work harder. Hard work means 13 hours a day, 7 days a week, no vacations. The salary usually goes to cover the “transfer fees”, document faking, and who knows. When they paid their due, they get approximately 4.5 dollars per visit.
An estimated 3000 women are brought every year to Israel for prostitution. The industry rolls billions of Shekels, which makes the people involved in it very powerful. The industry is prospering due to high demand: about a million “visits” every year. Israel is now on the US blacklist of human trafficking.
The big problem is the authorities. Prostitution is legal here, but human trafficking, rape, and imprisoning are definitely against the law! The police usually tackles only the “small fish” and doesn’t take care of the big dealers. Punishments don’t pass 2 years in prison for such terrible crimes.
Cops, which are sometimes the clients of these “bordels”, cooperate with the pimps many times. The poor women are afraid to approach the policemen. When they do have the courage to complain, they are treated as fellans, not as victims. Legal help from the state? Not here.
The information came from a leaflet that the organizers handed out. More information (in Hebrew) is here.
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