The Art of Protest
Orsan Senalp reports on the massive June Days mobilisation in Turkey and highlights the music produced in solidarity with the protests, including some of the best known musical and video products of the June Days.
Last Saturday (22 June) hundreds of thousands gathered in Taksim Square to commemorate martyred comrades of the resistance. However while people were leaving the Square peacefully at 8 pm, police once again attacked over crowds and until morning, people clashed against police.
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands met in Kadiköy to commemorate the 20th year of the Sivas Massacre in which Islamist fascist groups surrounded a hotel in Sivas city and killed 40 progressive intellectuals and artists, who had been there for a festival, by burning them.
In Ankara as well, tens of thousands gathered to protest government and police attacked over people. In Izmir, Eskisehir, Bursa and many other cities and towns people insist on their rights and liberties.
Taksim Solidarity, a coalition composed of over 120 mass organizations including the union DISK, declared that struggle will continue until the fundamental demands are achieved. On Saturdays, people will gather in main squares of cities and everyday at 9 pm, there will be mass meetings in public parks in each district where people discuss and share their ideas as a democratic platform of the direct democracy.
From the other hand, Prime Minister Erdogan organizes counter mass meetings against the mass mobilization, aiming to consolidate its support and polarize the society. He repeatedly lies and insults protesters by exploiting religious and national feelings of the society and by claiming that protesters were drinking alcohol in mosques and attacking women wearing headscarves which is proved to be wrong. Additionally, the government started a”witch hunt” and arrested over 100 people.
It is estimated by Taksim Solidarity that almost 10 million people participated to the protests. Yesterday the Ministry of Interior stated that in 79 cities (there are 81 cities in Turkey), 2.5 million people joined demonstrations. However it is clear that alone in Istanbul over 2 million gathered in Taksim Square. However if it was even 2.5 million, this also demonstrates the fact that this is the biggest challenge to the authoritarian-one man rule of the AKP Government.
The June Days of the mobilization of the society in Turkey also provided inspiration to the art and many artistic groups showed their creativity to support democratic and peaceful uprising of people.
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2 responses to “The Art of Protest”
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Well done …and thanks for posting this.
It is very effective. There is nothing quite like music to bring out the emotions and passions of a people’s struggle.
I agree Alan, yes thanks.
Many on the left have called for ‘civil disobedience’, as a tactic in our current struggle, including the leaders of the Peoples’ Ass. If this is going to be anything other than empty threats, or use of us as fodder, those who call for it have a responsibility now to prepare and train people in tactics to respond to kettling, tear gas, water cannon, etc. as some of the Turkish protestors had obviously not had – understandably due to the spontaneous and fast-moving nature of their uprising.
People and organisations in the peace, environmental and other more recent movements and organisations, have a long and proud history of non-violent direct action, including training people in the techniques to make this most effective and safest for all who take part. This involves setting the terms of engagement, predicting the possible responses from the opposition and includes challenging macho, aggressive and violent behaviour of some participants (and are often plants / agent provocateurs) who play into the hands of the state’s coercive forces and ‘justify’ repressive violence.
OK, the state usually needs little reason or excuse to go into repressive mode, but as Ray G has rightly said a few times (I paraphrase) if you share a cage with a tiger, don’t poke it with a stick unless you are prepared for the consequences.
I wonder if McClusky, Rees et al have approached these colleagues and asked for help in this crucial preparatory phase? I hope so, but if not they will be responsible for the harm caused to peaceful protestors that Jasmin warns of: http://leftunity.org/the-peoples-assembly-the-fight-back-begins/