The tent city on Rothschild Boulevard, the flagship location for the social justice protests of this past summer, is slowly becoming a ghost town after the Tel Aviv municipality began dismantling it.
Therefore, the social protest leaders have taken the movement into a new direction and into a new location. Still remaining on Rothschild Boulevard, they are squatting in the abandoned building dubbed "Beit Ha'am” – or the people's house.
Amit Youlzari is the editor-in-chief of the recently established news website JI4.org.il, the official website of the social protest movement that aims to promote independent journalism.
According to Youlzari, moving the protests from the temporary structures of tents, into the permanent three storied building of Beit Ha'am, was a significant and symbolic move.“The owner is a private businessman, not the municipality; and we are here with permission,” said Youlzari. “Amazing people are coming here to create events and provide culture for the community.”The JI4 website aims to keep the momentum going and ensures that the original goals of the social protest movement remain active. The website doesn't promote any political agendas and its contributors are all volunteer writers and journalists. In this fashion, JI4 reflects the ideals of the social protest movement, which aims to help all groups that are in need, regardless of their affiliations.When asked if there are any politicians that currently represent the social justice movement or if he thinks a new party will be created for the next elections, Youlzari said they still haven’t decided which way the movement will go politically.“We want to see the politicians in Israel talking about social justice,” said Youlzari. “We want the next elections, in less than 2 years, to involve social justice issues.”While the website’s traffic has gone down since the last major demonstration in the beginning of September, J14 will remain the online information center when the final tents are removed from Rotschild Boulevard after the holidays.