Month: November 2011

We are the 99% – Occupy London Stock Exchange

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‘We are the 99%’ is the refrain from Wall Street to London, from Oakland to Tel Aviv. A growing chorus of international resistance to the maintenance of the status quo following the impact of the financial crisis on individuals and societies across the developed world.

As the 99% suggests the frustration lies with growing income inequality and the fashion for austerity that is eroding the broad social benefits that in many ways are the key to the social compact that binds societies together.

In London the protest has seen a tent city arise in the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral, just opposite the London Stock Exchange. Since the occupation began on 15 October 2011 several high profile resignations have ensured from St Paul’s – reflecting conflicts and tensions within the church as it how it should respond to the protest at its doorstep.

St Paul’s appears to be a particularly appropriate site to challenge the status quo, as the edifice embodies the established Church of England, and by implication the State. The question posed ‘what would Jesus do’ – is perhaps at the heart of the church’s discomfort at its new neighbours.

Visit occupy london stock exchange to learn more about the campaign in London.

Jerusalem – old city

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The old city of Jerusalem is an intense experience with the competing forces of so many gods and religions – all vying for supremacy.

The disputed sites, memorials and interpretations create a bizarre overlay on an ancient city of the ghosts of past civilizations. Yet there is also a continuum, such as the ancient Armenian Cathedral, St James, which seems to fuse the Arab and Christian traditions.

Escaping the pressure of too many Gods we headed to the Dead Sea – less than an hour away to experience the slippery, saline water.

Tel Aviv

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A recent wedding took le flâneur to Tel Aviv, a city which in many ways embodies the vision of the founders of modern Israel, reflected in its Bauhaus inspired architecture, signalling a modernist drive to create a new urban ideal.

The city follows the contours of the coast and was built on the sand dunes to the north of the old port city of Jaffa. Exploring the city le-flaneur walked along the beach to Jaffa – and then north again to the Carmel market and Sheinkin Street, lined with fashion shops.

Our first evening in the city brought home a very different perspective though, with a tent city lining the Blvd Rothschild. The tents are part of a broad protest movement that seeks to draw attention to the high cost of living, excluding many young Israelis from living in the modernist community that their grandparents created.

As part of the wedding celebrations we visited the district of Shabazi, the first Jewish district to be built outside of Jaffa and pre-dating the establishment of Tel Aviv by some 20 years. Close to slum status in the 1960s it has increasingly gentrified, becoming one of the most expensive districts of the city.