Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Gezi: Losing the Fear, Living the Dream [Part 1 of 20]

Click here to access article by Rüzgar Akhat from Reflections on a Revolution.
Had I not experienced it myself, I would hardly believe that the apolitical people of Turkey, cowed by a history of coups d’étât, peer pressure and civil authoritarianism backed up by a vicious security apparatus would fill the streets of the country and resist for months after. We were there to protest the authoritarian front that found its voice in Erdoğan, and the intolerable assertiveness of a corrupt government. But the demonstrations spread so swiftly that I, along with many others, was puzzled and unable to grasp how and to what end things were happening.

Now, looking back, I have even more questions than I started out with. Of one thing I am certain: the resistance sparked by Gezi was a proud stance against neoliberal insolence....