Why is it important make spaces in the street where people can say anything?

Here's two examples of something volunteers in any of our booths would recognize:

🌷 “I spoke with a woman who told me about her anxieties over the situation, her disappointment with Netanyahu (whom she voted for), his lack of any clear decision-making, and the fact that there don’t seem to be any clear objectives [to the war]. At the end of the conversation, she said she was glad she had someone to share her concerns with, because she is in an environment where she finds it difficult to talk about them.”

🌷 “Last week, Shimon from the bakery brought his sister to the booth to meet us and get a flower. She works at the Sarona complex and told me that she feels very uncomfortable expressing her opinions there around all the anti-government 'Kaplanist' protesters.”

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Israel has become a place where people avoid expressing their opinions because they are afraid of how those around them will react. That’s why one of the main goals of “ Let's Talk Democracy” is to create a safe space in the public sphere where every emotion and every opinion can be expressed, and where every idea is taken seriously and discussed—without shouting, contempt, threats, or insults. The stories in this post answer the question: Why is having such a space so important?

A volunteer in Bat-Yam, listening

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🌷 “I spoke with a woman around 70 who was ambivalent about talking to me. I handed her the flower and suggested we talk about the situation. She said the situation was bad, so I asked what was troubling her, and she said:

—‘Look, I’m not a leftist.’

I asked her what being a leftist meant to her, and she answered something like:

—‘A state for the Palestinians, not killing, human rights, equality, and freedom.’

Then she added:

—‘My daughters think all the Palestinians should be killed, but that’s not a solution.’

When she saw that I wasn’t alarmed by the fact that she was ‘a little bit left-wing,’ we got to talking about social media. She asked whether I was on social media, and then said that she uses TikTok and other social networks, where she gets her culture, music, and news. But she doesn’t dare post anything against [the government and Netanyahu], because even if she merely hints at it, people immediately respond with insults. She said that Likud supporters post crude videos full of profanity, and that there’s no chance against Likud because they’re the majority.

I told her that it’s important for us to have face-to-face conversations like the one we were having, and she said that here in Bat Yam she doesn’t dare express her opinion, because everyone is a Likud supporter and they’d ‘kick her ass.’”

This conversation, shared by a volunteer from Bat Yam, illustrates two important things. First, it demonstrates the effectiveness of the Bat Yam booth, which created a safe space in the street where this woman felt she could express her opinion without anyone “kicking her ass.” The second thing it illustrates is the feeling experienced by people who are afraid to speak out—that they are completely alone, facing a hostile majority that there is “no chance” of opposing.

As another volunteer from Bat Yam shared:

🌷 “Yesterday we met a series of people who were opposed to the judicial overhaul and/or Netanyahu even before the war began, and were longing to replace him, but were convinced that they were the only people in their neighborhood who felt that way because everyone else was a ‘Bibi supporter.’ I told them that I’ve been talking with people here for several months, and I can tell them with certainty that they are absolutely not the only ones.”

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One of the important roles of our booths is to show everyone that the reality in the street is far more complex and diverse than what social media might suggest, and that the loudest and most aggressive voices do not necessarily represent the majority. This is something that’s important to make clear to people on all sides of the political spectrum, because the fear of expressing an opinion in Israel is not limited to just one camp.

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A volunteer in Shilat told us about an encounter with a woman who expressed deep distress and burst into tears several times during the conversation:

🌷 “She explained that she had grown up on the left and at some point switched sides, and that ever since, it had been difficult for her to talk with her friends. Over the past year, it intensified to the point where she had to cut off relationships because she could no longer tolerate their condescension toward her.

She explained that she is a teacher, and that her students told her they suspected she was right-wing because she was the only one who didn’t bring an agenda into the classroom. She said that she lives in fear of the protesters and doesn’t understand where all their hatred comes from.

I explained that it wasn’t hatred but fear, but she wasn’t convinced.

At the end, she thanked me for the conversation and said that she could no longer talk about things like this at all, but only because I was patient and pleasant (and, I would add, empathetic), she had been willing.”

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Intolerance within the “liberal” camp also carries consequences. As this volunteer put it:

🌷 “I think this woman is really suffering because everyone around her thinks differently and is unwilling to listen to her (or at least, that’s how she experiences it), and that may also be pushing her further toward the other side. Stories like this remind me that there are also people on the 'liberal' side who are not liberal, and it’s important to work with them too about how to communicate and make room for different opinions.”

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Our goal at “Let's Talk Democracy” is that the booths will ultimately not only be places where everyone feels comfortable talking with us, but also places that encourage people to talk with one another. And at some of the booths, this is already starting to happen.

A volunteer from Rehovot shared:

🌷 “Today in Rehovot I had an interesting experience—a ‘chain conversation’ where I was talking with someone, and then someone else joined in. We all talked together, and they also talked with each other. The first person left, and then a third person came along and talked with the second, and so on. In total, four people were there with us, each engaging in long conversations.”

The volunteer described this experience as part of our vision for “Let's Talk Democracy” in which “we’re not just talking with passersby, but also creating a kind of ‘town square’ where people who otherwise would never do so can talk to one another about politics. We serve as informal ‘mediators,’ guiding the conversation toward something more inclusive, more substantive, and less entrenched.”