tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post5740525284008157535..comments2024-03-24T11:22:15.548+00:00Comments on Lustig's Letter: Turkey: democracy on trialRobin Lustighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00578195216460807588noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-30405636263317675292013-06-07T14:19:35.613+00:002013-06-07T14:19:35.613+00:00Police withdrew from Taksim Square abandoning it t...Police withdrew from Taksim Square abandoning it to crowds of protestors numbering in the thousands = biggest defeat for the AKP Gov't & for PM Tayyip Erdogan ever since the party came to power.<br /><br />Momentous - pitting Westernist-secularist dominant wing against the newly ascendant Islamist wing. Thousands of people out on the streets and squares of at least 48 of the 91 provincial capital cities = nothing is taken for granted any more. This is a mass that defy all the conventions and limitations of the existing legal system regulating political activity.<br /><br />This is a pre-rebellion, a pre-revolt of a whole people against an oppressive government that has overseen processes of brutal CAPITALIST exploitation. Major slogan: “Erdogan resign!” or “Government resign!”.<br />As in almost all the cases of revolutionary or pre-revolutionary outburst around the basin within the last 5 years (Greece December 2008, Tunisia and Egypt 2010-11, Spain 2011), the revolt in Turkey is also a totally spontaneous one uncontrolled by any one sector. <br /><br />Movement is extremely heterogeneous. In class composition, one can easily say that this is a multi-class movement, with the modern sections of the petty-bourgeoisie immersed in a Western life style, the intelligentsia, the upper echelons of the proletariat & youth in the forefront. The working-class proper is not oblivious to the movement, but has not yet thrown weight behind the movement.<br /><br />The fate of the great popular rebellion in Turkey will be decided by the following questions: Will the Kurdish movement join the rebellion or will it implicitly side with the AKP government? Will working-class come forth with their class-based demands?<br /><br />Regarding the working-class, one should face the truth squarely and admit that at the polling booth, the core of the working-class has been voting for Erdogan and that major portions of the class (from the metal workers to road and transport) are regimented by extremely bureaucratic unions that bow before the onslaught of the capitalist class and have recently sought to secure the conditions of their own through servitude to Erdogan. <br /><br />One most recent instance of such shameless capitulation was seen in the heat of the popular rebellion itself. The right-wing leadership of the largest metal workers union refused the terms of the bosses’ organization and had proclaimed a strike applicable in June.<br /><br />However, the working-class does display tendencies toward joining the big revolt. There have been repeated marches on the outskirts of cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya. If only this potential could be harnessed to form an organized movement, the whole situation would promise to change from one of rebellion with uncertain horizons to a revolution with clear ends.<br /><br />The other reserve force is, of course, the Kurdish national movement. The cities of Turkish Kurdistan are as yet quiet. Should they decide to join their brothers and sisters of Turkey, an explosion of unfathomable proportions could shake Turkey, the Middle East & beyond.Gaye Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03881763124748309634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-59342999550748160372013-06-07T08:29:27.322+00:002013-06-07T08:29:27.322+00:00Thanks, a very interesting comparison with Thailan...Thanks, a very interesting comparison with Thailand. Just one thing though—we keep hearing about Turkey's recent economic successes but there's nothing to back this up, quite the contrary.<br /><br />See, for example, <a rel="nofollow">http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-230413.html</a>.<br /><br />And ask a cab driver in Istanbul how much the car's permit costs.<br /><br /><a rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-13/turkey-s-580-000-taxi-plates-drive-free-wheeling-market.html</a><br /><br />Turkey's economic problems are serious. It doesn't look good for Erdogan.Barrynoreply@blogger.com