Sunday, March 15, 2015

Meretz-Awakening Song



The truth is, I really didn't think I'd end up voting for Meretz. It's always been an option, of course, but more out of strategic thinking-if Hertzog indeed gets more votes than Netanyahu, he will need a strong coalition in order to be able to build a government, and that won't be possible without Meretz who are at risk of not passing the 3.25% threshold. At first I said it hesitantly-that I'm debating between Meretz and the Zionist Union, that who knows, I might even vote for Kahlon, the joker of this race, but in the end I realized how disappointed I'll be if I wake up on Wednesday to see that Meretz haven't passed the threshold. Even if they do get a favorable number of seats they won't be able to do everything they want, but at least I can trust them to stop some of the extreme right wing madness, at least they can balance things out, even if just a bit.
For me, this song is nothing less than a stroke of genius. For a while, I found it impossible to identify with the left, which is getting more extreme (972, Amira Hess, Gideon Levy, Israeli academics identifying with BDS and the list goes on) just as the right is becoming more extreme. But this song, written by Yammi Wisler from HaBiluyim, is a desired return to what I think the Left used to be and what it could be in the future.

And one day you realize it
As if waking up it suddenly pecks you
That if there is someone who isn't keeping up
That we should go towards the one who is strong

That everyone here is also dependent on the rest
And when will it already be better if not now
And many different opinions is also okay
After all we are all just guests on the planet

And there are those who have difficulty with the way
And there are those who think only of themselves
That the Conflict is a very complex problem
But in the end after all we will live here nation by naton

That the land is just a kind of symbol
And that we all are Abraham's daughters
That it's a mitzvah to compromise in any way possible
If it can save us lives

That there comes a time to say everything without softening the edges:
The solutions will be difficult and strange
But it's better to pursue peace than to refine a cage-
And discover that it's us who are inside

And when we'll stop dealing with paranoia
Suddenly there seems to be enough for all the rest
Such as education and welfare, or medicine for the family
And again it will be possible to breathe like people

Because it can be a place of laughter and samba
Of tourism and green tea and carnival
But instead of this we're still stuck in arguments about God
And that's not what he would have wanted at all

And when the darkness around you only grows
You feel a bloc rising there in the throat
And it's already clear without asking-this bloc is the Left bloc
And it's calling you to one last battle-

Because what is Left-if not to be honest?
Not to beautify the face in the mirror
It's understanding that each person was created in his own image
And there are also others here besides you

Because Left-is doing things differently
Stopping the exploitation and the blood
And if you haven't become wild yet
There's already no other choice
It means that you're Meretz, man.

Vocals: Daphna Keenan, Alon Eder, Yaheli Sobol, Rivka Michaeli, Roei Freilich, Ruth Dolores Weiss, Itamar Ziegler, Nissim Tzadok, Liora Rivlin, Yammi Wisler

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