Mass Protests, Social Unrest Engulf Turkey
Submitted by x359437 on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 3:36pm
By Tom Levy, July/August 2013 Industrial Worker
NOTE: This piece was written at a high point of the protests. Since then, two “general strikes” have been called by two of the leftist union confederations in Turkey. Unfortunately, these strikes never spread beyond a small unionized core. Nightly protests are still occurring, but the numbers are significantly down. In their place a movement of popular assemblies has taken root.
In Istanbul, IWW members have been helping to organize workplace assemblies that specifically look at using the momentum and experience of mass protest movement to galvanize politically conscious, democratic, and community-oriented workplace organization.
What began as an occupation to save one of the few remaining green spaces in Istanbul has sparked a movement that has swept across Turkey. Millions of previously unpoliticized students and workers have taken to the streets night after night to set up barricades and fight the police in dozens of cities around the country. Police brutality has led to hundreds of casualties. As reports of deaths begin to filter in, the protests continue to escalate, and calls for a general strike are beginning to be heard (at press time).
While such widespread disturbances are always going to be impossible to predict, tension in Turkey has been building for some time now. The current government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is neo-liberal, openly Islamic and increasingly authoritarian.
The main parliamentary opposition against Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been from parties in the “Kemalist” tradition of Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first leader of modern Turkey. Throughout Turkey, there is a serious cult of personality around Ataturk, and, to his supporters, he represents secularism and a European-style social liberalism that stands between them and an overtly Islamist government.
The primary discourse of the movement still seems to be a Kemalist one. Turkish flags have occupied a prominent place within the protests despite the fact that the vast majority of the protesters come from the ranks of the previously unpoliticized. But it often seems that Ataturk is all things to all people with protesters expressing grievances that run the gamut from increasing religious fundamentalism, social issues, erosion of civil liberties, and government corruption to economic concerns. That said, the number of Turkish flags seems to be diminishing. Whether the current protest discourse can expand to include a deeper understanding of class issues and move beyond knee-jerk nationalism, it’s way too early to tell.
Some in Turkey have begun calling this the “Turkish Spring.” The Western media has begun comparing Taksim Square to Tahir Square in Egypt. To this author, such pronouncements seem premature. Erdoğan has been defiant, and, despite the brutality, this is not the full force of the state. Things will probably have to get a lot nastier, and, by that point it won’t be a matter of saving Gezi, but the resignation of the current government. A lot of that, of course, will depend on the ability of the protesters not only to maintain momentum but to develop more sophisticated tactics against the police.
As it stands now, the movement is everywhere. It dominates social media (although there are reports that Twitter and Facebook have been down). It’s the only thing people are talking about on the buses, and there is a constant chorus of supportive car horns.
Like much of the Occupy movement, protesters’ tactics so far have been much more radical than their proclaimed aims. The protests in Istanbul may have started out peacefully, but any pretence of that is gone. People show up prepared. There’s an expectation that protesters will be tear-gassed, and they come with surgical masks, handkerchiefs, homemade gas masks, and a variety of home remedies for tear gas exposure. Even the first-time protesters know the score: they go on the internet to find out how to recover from a tear-gas attack and protest in the full knowledge they’ll probably go to bed with burning eyes and an aching head. Once a public space is claimed for the protesters, a bonfire is lit. Protesters begin chants and bang loudly on whatever is available. Graffiti is everywhere.
Currently, the main tactic seems to be waves of people arriving, getting tear-gassed, and then being replaced by a subsequent wave. This is bolstered by bonfires and barricades. But energy and determination aren’t enough. The police response will continue to be heavy-handed, and simply occupying a public space won’t be enough for the movement to win. It’s going to have to be able to score victories against the police.
Fortunately, as the 2010 student movement in the United Kingdom has shown, the previously unpoliticized are very capable of learning on their feet and devising effective tactics to continue the fight. The fact that the pretence of peaceful protest has been rightfully abandoned seems to suggest that the space for effective resistance is that much wider.
As this piece goes to press, there is a public sector strike scheduled for this week. Calls for a general strike have already begun to be heard. Whether and how this materializes is anybody’s guess, but a movement that expands from the streets to the workplaces is surely the best bet for bringing down a government. The author wishes to stress that although he is based in Ankara, he does not speak Turkish. As such, the above are simply his opinions and observations on a fast-moving and ever-developing situation.
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