“There is a mysterious quality to all popular uprisings. Astute
observers know the tinder is there, but never when it will be lit.”
(Chris Hedges/ Days of
Destruction, Days of Revolt: 2012, p. 227)
“Social change comes very quickly and unexpectedly at times…”
(Lester Brown from the WorldWatch Institute, in an interview
he gave to Açık Radyo, 2010)
Here’s my story: Individually
and as a radio station we have been engaged in so many years of action against
climate change in Turkey, and elsewhere. I remember participating in one rally on global warming which happened to be
on the coldest day of the year, I think it was in 2007 – Probably the only day
it snowed that whole year.
Anyhow, I had this small red fire extinguisher with me. Just
as I was entering the square where the speeches were going to be made
(incidentally the same square we’re going to have the GPS
rally next Saturday!) this young cop stops me and, asks, with a slight sneer
sin his lips:
“Hey, you
think you’re going to stop global warming with this?”
“I’ll try to
do my best,” I reply – without a hint of irony.
Well, that’s how things are. Since at least one year some
friends and colleagues of ours have been working like mad to save this small Park
in Taksim square, at the heart of Istanbul city from destruction. Nothing
really happens. The activists, they conduct some small rallies from time to
time, where they invite people, the so-called opinion-leaders, to “adopt” one
tree for themselves. A white ribbon with his or her name written on it, wrap it
around this young tree and everyone vows to protect their “adopted” tree. (I’ve
got one, too.) Nothing much happens. Construction activities by the mayorship
goes on - energetically
Then they make short videos with people. “What does the park
mean to you as an individual?” they ask. “Do you have fond memories of it?”
“Well I got lost in it once when I was 4 or 5 years old,” I
recount. “I cried my eyes out running
around like mad. And it was pretty much the end of the world as I knew it… Then
you know what? This young woman sees me crying, holds me up by the hand, and lo
and behold, together we find mommy in no time at all. I cry once more – tears
of rage this time for mom for having dropped me in the middle of this ‘jungle.’”
“Anyway,” I tell to the activists, “I don’t want to exchange
the memory of my lost innocence in the Park for a bloody shopping mall.”
Time passes., the films are shown, other rallies take
place... Still nothing happens.
Then the cops raid in the wee hours of the morning one day
to support the workers of the private construction company. They seize the
tents of the activists and put them on fire. People start to get angry. They
congregate. In their hundreds. After their peaceful meeting in the park, they
go to sleep. The next morning the cops come again, and raid them. Many
thousands gather this time and this time ”there’s something in the air.” Again
the police raid. This time it is 40 thousand – odd protesters.
Then the Prime Minister makes a declaration, which is short
and curt: “No matter what you do or say, we have decided the fate of the place,”
he says. (That’s a royal “we”, I think.)
And that does it! Something happens this time. The uprising
begins. And the the young people who revolt say, “No, you have decided nothing
of the kind. We decide our own fate.” It is, as South African rebel, Ronnie
Kasrils says “a kind of poetic beauty about rebellion and revolution. It’s the
straw that breaks the camel’s back.” (quoted by Chris Hedges, in Truthdig, June
23, 2013).
Despite gas clouds covering the skies all over Turkey this revolt,
with its barricades and all, has spread like wildfire to almost all the regions
and cities of Turkey, and even has become an inspiration for the “salad
revolution” in Brazil. After the police took the park from the uprising masses
by a vicious gas attack on 15 June, it spread to all the other parks of the
city (and other cities, too) and it has now taken the form of fora, sort of a direct democracy in practice.
It has become a huge revolt of the masses against all kinds of oppression --
reminiscent of the revolution days of Paris 1968.
The mainstream (or corporate) media, with very few
exceptions chose to stay silent, or, worse still, in many cases, chose to
support the oppressive government. PM Erdogan, though democratically elected
and having gained even a 50% percent majority of the vote, proved to be more
and more authoritarian. Nowadays we're basically talking about a one-man rule.
The climate movement which we all are now in the process of
building has always been, wilfully or unwittingly, ignored by the mass media
too. Let’s just look at what happened last night: The US President made a major
(even historic!) Climate speech laying out a package of measures including
capping carbon emissions at existing power plants, double the amount of
electricity produced with renewables, and lead a global movement to address
climate change. And? The media virtually ignored it! (Annie-Rose Strasser,
Climate Progress, June 25, 2013)
To the Gezi Park revolt we guys at Açık Radyo were rather
quick to react. Açık Radyo (Open Radio) has always tried to be a voice for the
"silenced" majority. Since day one we've been doing a
marathon-broadcast without taking a break, on almost on aspects of this
wonderful phenomenon with live shows, interviews, soundbytes, etc.for the past four
weeks. (The beat goes on as I write these lines.)
One of the main reasons we were able to do this is the
strength of the model we have been trying to follow since the beginning, but,
most importantly, for the past 10 years. This is listener-supported
broadcasting. As independent journalist Glenn Greenwald aptly states: This
model is vital in sustaining real journalism: it fosters independence,
democratizes political discourse, invests readers (listeners) in the work that
is done, and keeps journalists accountabl to individuals. (Guardian, June 4,
2013)
I see the Gezi uprising as one of the few examples of mass
revolts which took its starting point from environmentalism. It is a very rare
phenomenon which has started as an ecological protest and encompassed huge
masses of people, especially the younger generation within the framework of a
bigger cause for real democracy. Now it is time to go further.
Now to connect the dots between the two narratives: That of
the Gezi Park protestors (or resisters as they like to call themselves), and
that of the young climate activists – you, who have traveled from all around
the world.They are of course essentially the two sides of the same coin. (Here
"coin" could be quite apt as a metaphor!)
We're talking about taking a stand literally against the
corporate destruction of the ecosystem here, there, everywere...
Let me humbly point at a wonderful link between the two
movements: As you may well be aware by now, one of the very first chants (slogans)
of the Gezi Park rebellion was this: “This is just the beginning, the struggle
goes on!” This has been to date one of the most popular slogans of Gezi.
Now let me refer to a small news report I saw on Commondreams.org last
night: It reads like this: “Despite injunction, protesters erect human blockade
at Toronto pump station. For the
sixth day, protesters have barricaded an Enbridge tar sands pump station in an
effort to halt the "endless resource extraction" and stop construction
meant to reverse the flow of Enbridge's Line 9 pipeline, which soon will carry
toxic diluted bitumen from the Alberta Tar Sands through communities and
watersheds to eventual export on the East Coast of the United States….” And their chant? It goes like this: “To Enbridge, we have this to say: this Line 9 pipeline expansion project will not happen. [...] You are going to be swamped with resistance at every step of the way. This fight is just beginning.”
Yes, I do think the historic moment we're passing right
through in Istanbul will have significant lessons for us all for the present,
and for the near future, too.
Thank you for bearing with me.
Ömer Madra
June 25, 2013-06-26
GPS Panel, İTÜ Ayazağa Campus
