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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] What is Happenning in Istanbul? | İnsanlik Hali
  • Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2013 23:17:57 -0400

On Sun, Jun 2, 2013 at 10:57 PM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>wrote:

>
> What is Happenning in Istanbul? | İnsanlik Hali
> http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/
>

The copy:

← İstanbul Uzaktan Muhteşem
Görünüyor!<http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/istanbul-uzaktan-muhtesem-gorunuyor/>

What is Happenning in
Istanbul?<http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/>
01/06/2013<http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/>
tarihinde
yayımlandı by sumandef <http://defnesumanblogs.com/author/sumandef/>






2063 Votes


Taken from Occupy Gezi’s Facebook page.

To my friends who live outside of Turkey:

I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five
days. I personally have to write this because most of the media sources are
shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the
only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.

Four days ago a group of people who did not belong to any specific
organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them
there were many of my friends and students. Their reason was simple: To
prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of
building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are
numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood!
The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning.
People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put
their tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning
when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the
ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.

They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines.

No newspaper, no television channel was there to report the protest. It was
a complete media black out.

But the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray. They
chased the crowds out of the park.

In the evening the number of protesters multiplied. So did the number of
police forces around the park. Meanwhile local government of Istanbul shut
down all the ways leading up to Taksim square where the Gezi Park is
located. The metro was shut down, ferries were cancelled, roads were
blocked.

Yet more and more people made their way up to the center of the city by
walking.

They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all different
backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all gathered
to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park:

The right to live as honorable citizens of this country.

They gathered and marched. Police chased them with pepper spray and tear
gas and drove their tanks over people who offered the police food in
return. Two young people were run over by the tanks and were killed.
Another young woman, a friend of mine, was hit in the head by one of the
incoming tear gas canisters. The police were shooting them straight into
the crowd. After a three hour operation she is still in Intensive Care
Unit and in very critical condition. As I write this we don’t know if she
is going to make it. This blog is dedicated to her.

These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives. They have
no «hidden agenda» as the state likes to say. Their agenda is out there. It
is very clear. The whole country is being sold to corporations by the
government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways,
dams and nuclear plants. The government is looking for (and creating when
necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against its people’s will.

On top of all that, the government control over its people’s personal lives
has become unbearable as of late. The state, under its conservative agenda
passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion, cesarean birth, sale
and use of alcohol and even the color of lipstick worn by the airline
stewardesses.

People who are marching to the center of Istanbul are demanding their right
to live freely and receive justice, protection and respect from the State.
They demand to be involved in the decision-making processes about the city
they live in.

What they have received instead is excessive force and enormous amounts of
tear gas shot straight into their faces. Three people lost their eyes.

Yet they still march. Hundred of thousands join them. Couple of more
thousand passed the Bosporus Bridge on foot to support the people of Taksim.

No newspaper or TV channel was there to report the events. They were busy
with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the
world”.

Police kept chasing people and spraying them with pepper spray to an extent
that stray dogs and cats were poisoned and died by it.

Schools, hospitals and even 5 star hotels around Taksim Square opened their
doors to the injured. Doctors filled the classrooms and hotel rooms to
provide first aid. Some police officers refused to spray innocent people
with tear gas and quit their jobs. Around the square they placed jammers to
prevent internet connection and 3g networks were blocked. Residents and
businesses in the area provided free wireless network for the people on the
streets. Restaurants offered food and water for free.

People in Ankara and İzmir gathered on the streets to support the
resistance in Istanbul.

Mainstream media kept showing Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the
world”.




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