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Political Movement By Apolitical Activist: Gezi Park Protests
Abstract
Gezi Park Protests leaving its mark in the June of 2015, is understood from so many perspectives by national and international academicians. On the one hand, some social scientists recognize this movement as apolitical action by analyzing the identity of activist, on the other hand, some of them claims that this movement is a political one by pointing out that the aim of the movement is against the Ak Party Government especially Erdoğan himself. This study aiming to understand Gezi Park Protests puts forward that having apolitical identity of activists is not enough to recognize the movement as apolitical one and also claiming that having political action cannot be explained by the idea that the movement is just against the Ak Party Government. This study justifying that this movement cannot be explained by the idea of domestic political conflict and separation as Turkey is a part of global capitalist order, focuses on dimensions of crossing national borders. Beyond the evaluation of Gezi Park Protests as an international conspiracy, interpretation of this movement as a part of the growing public protests against the system on a global scale is a more plausible perspective to understand the multidimensional social reality.
... The Gezi Park Movement started on the 27th and 28th of May 2013 with a protest by environmental activists against bulldozers ready to excavate the park and its trees (Polat and Subay, 2016). This was the catalyst for a much wider movement that had been efflorescing, in different forms, for a long time as a response to the new urban policies imposed by State and the market (Elicin, 2014;Gül et al., 2014;Lelandais, 2016;Örs, 2014). ...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain how abstract space of the State – universally and specifically within the context of Middle Eastern cities – aims to homogenise the city and eliminate any anomaly that threatens its power structure.
Design/methodology/approach – Through a historical and discourse analysis of these policies and processes in the two case studies, this paper presents a contextualised reading of Lefebvre’s concept of abstract space and process of abstraction in relation to the alienation of political public spaces.
Findings – The paper proposes that regardless of these homogenising strategies being applied universally, they fail to respond to contextual particularities and therefore they – in a contradictory manner – may themselves produce a space of resistance and difference.
Originality/value – This paper focusses on Iran, the case of Tehran and Turkey, the case of Taksim Square and Gezi Park in Istanbul. Recent policies and strategies have been proposed and implemented to reduce, alienate and possibly neutralise the impacts of urban and political protests in these cities and socio-political contexts.
Bu çalışma, Gezi eylemlerinin sürdüğü dört şehirdeki (İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Eskişehir) eylemcilerle gerçekleştirilen birebir derinlemesine mülakatların analiz edilmesine; eylemler süresince ve eylemler epey sönümlenmişken eylemler hakkında üretilen söylemin siyasal bir değerlendirmeye tabi tutulmasına; siyasi partilerin eylemlere ilişkin söylem ve politikalarındaki değişim ve sürekliliğin tahlil edilmesine ve son olarak da eylemlere ilişkin bütün bu katmanların ürettiği-üreteceği muhtemel siyasi yansımalara ışık tutmaya çalışmaktadır.
Gezi Park Protests, at which both domestic and international level many social scientists try to interpret, is one of the biggest social opposition movement in Turkish political history. This movement marked to June 2013, according to some social scientists, is emerged with specific motives of Turkey and is completely unique to the country. However, accordingly some social scientists, this resist is a social opposition movement created by modern world system included to Turkey. The subject of this study is to analyze Gezi Park Protests in the framework of Walllerstein's Modern World System Theory and his approaches about crisis of this system. Wallerstein who claims that Modern World System has two big systemic crisis, points out 1848 revolutions had reshaped the world and ended, however second systemic crisis 1968 has not yet ended. Wallerstein, considers many worldwide social movements since 2008 as a continuation of the crisis of 1968, analyzed Gezi Park Protests in this framework and considered as a continuation of 1968. The point makes a difference between the social scientists, considering Gezi Park Protests as 1968 in many respects, and Wallerstein is his more holistic approach revealed that Gezi Park Protests is a rebellion against the structure and geoculture produced by neoliberalism.
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