Send Winter Has Its End reporters to Turkey

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Thursday, 13 June 2013 05:47

Written by Winter Has Its End

Images and news reports of the ongoing rebellion in Turkey have swept the globe. Right now, a new movement has emerged and is quickly developing. What began as a defense of the last green space in Istanbul has quickly become a nation-wide uprising, reminiscent of the Arab Spring or the Squares movement in Europe. Hundreds of thousands, or more, are in rapid motion. It is sight lifting – and shocking.

This movement is at its beginning, and will continue to evolve in the days to come. You can look at what at the recent raid on Taksim Square by the Turkish state (link). Winter Has Its End plans to send a team of revolutionary journalists into the fray to give a first hand look at the quickly changing and critical situation on the ground.

WHIE has assembled a bi-lingual team (English and Turkish), prepared to do photography, interviews, video, and dig deeply into what is unfolding with both daily reporting and in-depth analysis. In the past, Winter Has Its End has covered Greece's own Squares Movement in 2011, as well as the 2010 General Strikes in Nepal, and the 2012 regroupment of Nepal's revolutionaries.
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The team needs funds urgently to send people to Turkey in the next few weeks, to cover this movement in all its complexity, twists and turns. Our minimum total costs for such a trip will be roughly $10,000 for plane tickets, food, shelter, equipment and to pay expenses back home while journalists take time off of work. Donating more will enable us to bring a larger team.

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Glen Greenwald shreds US govt/NSA disinformation machine

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Monday, 10 June 2013 21:01

Written by MSNBC/Glen Greenwald

Glenn Greenwald Blasts MSNBC Host’s "Misleading White House Talking Points" About The NSA Leaks

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Spanish: Maoist Communist Party on Turkey Uprising

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Sunday, 09 June 2013 18:14

Written by kasama

¡Resistamos y luchemos! – Declaración del MKP (Partido Comunista Maoísta Turquía – Kurdistán Norte) 3 Junio 2013

Nota – El siguiente texto y declaración del MKP Turquía-Kurdistán Norte han sido extraídos del blog Maoíst Road (La Vía Maoísta) y tomado del blog Democracy and Class Struggle (Democracia y Lucha de Clases). La traducción al español es responsabilidad de Gran Marcha Hacia el Comunismo. Madrid, junio 2013.

(La serie de sucesos de resistencia y rebelión de masas que está teniendo lugar en Turquía, ha despertado gran curiosidad entre las personas de izquierda de todo el mundo. Pero con excepción de algunas discretas noticias e imágenes, la falta de declaraciones concretas de organizaciones de la izquierda turca nos ha dejado a todos un poco confusos y perplejos. Por lo tanto consideramos nuestra responsabilidad publicar una reciente declaración de una de las organizaciones de Turquía, el Partido Comunista Maoísta (MKP) – Turquía y Kurdistán Norte, que esperamos pueda arrojar alguna luz sobre las recientes revueltas de masas en Turquía.

Presentamos a continuación una versión traducida de la declaración original en turco del MKP que se puede encontrar aquí
Consejo Editorial de TND (Toward a New Dawn) [Hacia un Nuevo Amanecer] (traducida por el camarada Gediz y ha sido corregida ligeramente para mejor comprensión)

Democracia y Lucha de Clases agradece a los camaradas de TND por ponerlo a disposición de todos.

¡RESISTAMOS Y LUCHEMOS! – MKP (PARTIDO COMUNISTA MAOÍSTA – TURQUÍA- KURDISTÁN NORTE) 

3 Junio 2013

El Partido Comunista Maoísta Turquía-Kurdistán Norte ha emitido una declaración sobre el incesante movimiento popular de masas.
"¡En tanto que las masa sean torturadas, abatidas a tiros y masacradas, los proletarios revolucionarios no pueden ser espectadores!"

"¡La lucha codo con codo está creciendo con las masas resistentes y alzándose!"

¡A nuestros camaradas que están luchando!

¡Aquellos que deben estar dirigiendo están actuando hoy como seguidores de las masas!

Los comunistas y revolucionarios están hoy atravesando otro examen. Es la hora de la lucha abnegada sin desestimar al movimiento como espontáneo. La definición del movimiento revolucionario o de la ola revolucionaria es que la práctica que las masas manifiestan.
¡Las masas son revolucionarias, su reacción es democrática, la rebelión y alzamiento es legítimo!

Como requiere nuestro papel de dirección, tenemos que estar en primera línea de la lucha con las masas incluso aunque se desarrollara con nuestra ausencia.

¡Resistiremos, lucharemos y pagaremos el precio!

¡En tanto que las masas sean torturadas, abatidas a tiros y masacradas, los proletarios revolucionarios no pueden ser espectadores!

A Nuestras Apreciadas Masas:

Las masas que están llenas de odio debido a la presión y violencia reaccionarias han sacudido a la clase dominante y al Gobierno turco.
Avanza el alzamiento en masa causado por el intento de destrucción del Parque Gezi para beneficio de la burguesía.

Una vez más, las masas que gritan han mostrado a los voraces neoliberales que el pueblo puede tomar su destino en sus propias manos. La fascista opresión salvaje del Gobierno del AKP no ha logrado detener la resistencia.

Las masas continuaron luchando y no cejaron en sus demandas democráticas incluso aunque resultaron heridas, detenidas, golpeadas y torturadas.

Pese al silencio de los escritores burgueses y los vendidos medios de comunicación turcos, la resistencia fue capaz de atraer la atención y apoyo del mundo.

La presencia de ingentes masas se ha convertido en la pesadilla para el AKP y la clase dominante opresora y reaccionaria, que ni siquiera reconoce sus propias leyes. ¡En el tercer día, las masas que comenzaron protestando por la destrucción de la naturaleza se han transformado en revolucionarias y las masas clamaban victoria por haber forzado al AKP a dar marcha atrás!

Los defensores de la reaccionaria y corporativa burguesía feudal y burocrática han seguido su tradición histórica y tratado de rebasar las demandas democráticas de las masas utilizando la violencia y un baño de sangre. Por el contrario, la creciente determinación de las masas ha hecho que el movimiento crezca y continúe pese a pagar un precio por ello.

Miles de personas en decenas de distintas ciudades se han unido como una sola en las calles para juntarse con la Resistencia del Parque Taksim Gezi.

La historia de las clases reaccionarias ha sido siempre la de oprimir y explotar a las masas y su propensión a causar cualquier tipo de dolor en ellas. A fin de mantener su gobierno y dominación, nunca se han abstenido de utilizar la violencia reaccionaria contra el pueblo oprimido y pobre.

Las clases reaccionarias organizadas que están recibiendo los beneficios del capitalismo siempre han mirado con desprecio a las masas y les han causado dolores bárbaros. Han promovido la alienación entre el proletariado y le han forzado a vivir en el hambre y la pobreza.

Pero el pueblo le ha recordado a la clase reaccionaria que son el pueblo los que son los verdaderos héroes y que con su propio destino en sus propias manos a través de las acciones revolucionarias, han causado que el sistema se ponga boca abajo. Las masas revolucionarias han demostrado de un modo inolvidable que la burla de la clase dominante, como "los tres o cinco con las piernas al aire" o "los saqueadores" carecen de base. ¡Este hecho histórico se ha materializado por completo en contra del fascista AKP a través de la resistencia de las masas, de las etnias y grupos marginados en Turquía-Kurdistán Norte!

El líder del AKP y la "República turca", el presidente Erdogan, insultó y humilló descarada y arrogantemente a las masas alzadas afirmando que eran "docenas de saqueadores". Incluso llevándolo a más amenazando: "Como partido puedo congregar a un millón".
Desafortunadamente para él, ¡una vez que estos "saqueadores con las piernas al aire" despierten, ni las amenazas ni los colmillos de vampiro apestando a sangre les detendrán!

El mismo belicista de doble cara Erdogan que criticó la dictadura de Assad por brutalizar a su pueblo, se ha hundido lo bastante como para llamar a sus propias masas "una pareja de saqueadores".
¡Lo que le hace tan andrajoso no es otra cosa que el mido de su propio pueblo alzándose!

El gobierno de doble cara del AKP está utilizando tácticas de "sacerdote-ejecutor" [una referencia a la masacre de los aztecas por los españoles] para reprimir las llamas del alzamiento mientras trata de contentar a sus propias masas.

Mientras Bulent Arinc, el portavoz del Gobierno Cemil Cicek y un par de dirigentes del AKP han tratado de suavizar a las masas diciéndoles que la demanda popular es democrática, Erdogan no está dando ningún paso atrás mostrando sus colmillos.

El proletariado y las masas no son lo suficientemente crédulas para dejarse engañar por estos trucos. Todas sus tácticas se golpearán contra una muralla de bronce y demolerá vuestro poder. La resistencia no ha terminado, continúa. La pesadilla de los reaccionarios que calificaron a las masas como "saqueadores" continúa. Quien es el saqueador y quien es el héroe ya se ha demostrado y continuará poniéndose al descubierto.

En Conclusión:

Nosotros, proletarios revolucionarios, no estamos absolviendo a los partidos fascistas burgueses tales como el CHP. El MKP ve la rebelión democrática de las masas como una reacción revolucionaria y saluda los alzamientos del pueblo oprimido.

¡Hemos jurado luchar contra la tiranía codo con codo con las masas y es nuestro deber revolucionario!

Con idéntica actitud, condenamos la tortura y violencia fascistas utilizadas contra el pueblo, y a cerrar filas para oponerse a esta opresión fascista. A fin de lograr un movimiento revolucionario más eficaz, adecuado y organizado, bajo la dirección del proletariado, ¡llamamos a todas las fuerzas democráticas y revolucionarias a unirse! Por esta razón, llamamos a todo el proletariado de Turquía-Kurdistán Norte, al pueblo pobre oprimido y a los camaradas a hacer combatir a la clase dominante reaccionaria al igual que al sistema capitalista.

Sabemos que con nuestra Guerra Popular y su fuego abrasador, seremos capaces de destruir este sistema reaccionario. ¡El gobierno del pueblo y construir el socialismo y finalmente el comunismo se logrará a través de la Guerra Popular!

Es nuestro deber y necesidad desarrollar la lucha revolucionaria uniendo las rebeliones de todas las masas democráticas y revolucionarias con la ideología del marxismo-leninismo-maoísmo bajo la bandera del proletariado.

¡Ningún obstáculo se puede alzar ante las masas populares! La fuerza reaccionaria hará que se materialice la fuerza revolucionaria.
La fuerza revolucionaria que se materializa en las manos de las masas es legítima y necesaria.

Porque es el método que se alzará contra las clases reaccionarias y conducirá a la democracia, la libertad y la sociedad comunista.
Las masas que se unen, resisten y luchan no serán derrotadas.
¡Igual que esta, todas las fuerzas reaccionarias y las clases que se apoyan en ellas están condenadas tarde o temprano a perder!
¡Son las masas revolucionarias y sus acciones revolucionarias las que escriben la historia!

¡Viva la legítima resistencia democrática y la lucha del pueblo!

¡Viva la rebelión revolucionaria unida del pueblo!

¡Viva la guerra popular!

New pamphlet: A fresh start to change everything - Nepal's revolution

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Saturday, 08 June 2013 04:40

Written by Eric Ribellarsi

Nepal's Maoists have re-emerged as a coherent and determined revolutionary force, charting a new course in the face of betrayal and encirclement from powerful states hostile toward their movement. Special thanks to Ish Daniels for assembling this collection of new pieces on Nepal, just in time for the Left Forum.

Download it here, or order it in full color!

Chokwe Lumumba voted mayor of Jackson, Mississippi

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Wednesday, 05 June 2013 19:19

Written by MXGM

As a part of a larger plan to develop broad people's power for Black liberation, Chokwe Lumumba has successfully been voted mayor of Jackson, Mississsippi. A comrade from MXGM said to us: "now the real struggle begins." To read about the larger political plan of NAPO/MXGM, check out the Jackson-Kush Plan.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 4, 2013

NATIONAL CONTACT:  Kali Akuno

PHONE:  323.422.6025

LOCAL JACKSON CONTACT: Chokwe Antar Lumumba

PHONE: 601.629.7684

Chokwe Lumumba Elected Mayor of Jackson, MS with Clear Mandate

The People of Jackson Have Spoken: “One City, One Aim, One Destiny”

With more than 85% of the vote, the people of Jackson clearly voiced their support for Chokwe Lumumba’s vision of a unified, democratic Jackson.  Lumumba, an attorney with a long record of grassroots activism and leadership in Jackson and nationwide, offered his heartfelt thanks to residents for their faith and confidence in his candidacy.

“I want to thank each and everyone who made this victory possible. I am grateful for your vote and your trust.  I am committed to upholding that trust,” says Lumumba .  “ This has been a team effort from the very beginning.  We have always said, ‘The people must decide.’ And the people have spoken for a revitalized Jackson that works for all of us, not just the few. ”

The hotly contested race drew national attention as Lumumba is considered one of the most progressive candidates ever to be elected mayor of a major city – particularly in the South.   The Mayor Elect was outspent by more than 4-1 by his primary opponent as well as the target of vicious attack ads.  Despite the challenges, Lumumba stayed focus on issues of economic justice, democracy and the underlying root causes of Jackson’s social problems.

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Video on the Turkish Rebellion

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Monday, 03 June 2013 23:56

Written by Doug Enaa

Incredible seven minute video on the rebellion that has engulfed Turkey.

RESISTANBUL! Spirited Rally Sends Solidarity to Turkey from the Boston Common

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Monday, 03 June 2013 18:30

Written by Joe Ramsey

This article originally appeared on Open Media Boston here.

Braving temperatures well over 90 degrees, as many as 500 people gathered on the outer edge of the Boston Common on Saturday, across the street from the Massachusetts Statehouse, to demonstrate their solidarity with the protests currently under police attack in Turkey.

Massed in a giant circle on the Common steps, the demonstrators weren’t there to address local politicians or passerby, so much as one another. A spirit of militant resistance was in the air, as attendees declared themselves on the side of those who, at that very moment, were facing down water cannons and tanks, tear gas and police batons in Turkey.

It was an impressive turnout for a rally called just the day before via Facebook. The initial call was put together by an improvised group calling themselves BostonBullular (a phrase meaning People of Boston in Turkish). It quickly took off with over 800 “joining” the event.

And most showed up.

The vast majority present appeared to be themselves from Turkey, and most were young, with few over forty in the crowd. Many said they had come to Boston from Turkey to study, whether as undergraduates or graduate students, in medicine, biology, engineering, or even business.

Though several of the organizers identified themselves as various stripes of socialist or communist, for most in attendance, this was their very first political demonstration, not just in the United States, but ever. The exuberance of the crowd suggested people not just opposing the governmental abuses of the moment, but affirming the newfound power of their own voice. There was outrage and sorrow, but also discovery and joy.

Many held aloft home-made signs, some painted in beautiful full color. Others wore Turkish flags as capes, or clasped strings attached to red and white balloons inscribed with the crescent and star of the national flag. The chanting was almost exclusively in Turkish, with only an occasional English refrain thrown in—“Hey hey! Ho ho! Tayyip Has Got to Go!” or “The People, United, will Never be Defeated!”—perhaps out of respect for the small but supportive non-Turkish allies.

The most frequent chant by far was for the resignation of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, and for the dissolution of his Justice and Development Party (NKP) government, whom protesters hold responsible for the escalating police repression. Several people held signs mocking Tayyiq as a “Sultan” (playing off his recent calls for restoring the ‘glory’ of the Ottoman Empire in contemporary Turkey). Others denounced him as a “Dictator,” picturing him as a long-fanged vampire, or else encircled in red and crossed out.

One protester likened him to “Hosni Mubarak #2,” conjuring the specter of not only another repressive ruler, but of a leader who, after having seemed untouchable for decades, fell from power rapidly in the face of popular uprisings.

Could Taksim Square be the new Tahrir? Could this be the start of a “Turkish Summer” to follow the “Arab Spring”?

In the shade of the towering, historic trees that line the Boston Common, new arrivals knelt to make signs from stacks of cardboard. The signs held high gave a sense of the grievances and aspirations of the demonstrators:

“Istanbul is not alone. We are with you!”
“Stop Police Brutality.”
“Fight Fascism Everywhere.”
“Democracy without freedom of expression is a joke.”
“Down with Sultan Tayyiq”
“Down with Dictatorship!”
“Shame on Turkish Media”
“RESISTANBUL.”

This last—and quite witty—phrase, which originated with the 2009 anti-capitalist protests against the International Monetary Fund meetings in Istanbul, has now become a Facebook page for those in solidarity with the revolt.

The nature of their protest occurring in a cherished Boston public park was not lost on organizers, several of whom held signs that said:

“Imagine if they demolished the Boston Common to build a shopping mall!”

This, after all, was what many saw Tayyip and his government as planning to do in Istanbul, by bulldozing the last remaining green spaces in Istanbul: Gezi Park. The main protest leaflet, under the title “RESISTANBUL” explained the connection further, outlining the origin of the uprising, and its significance. It was read aloud both in Turkish and in English mid-way through the rally:

“Since Monday, May 27th, 2013, citizens of Istanbul from all backgrounds have been staging a peaceful resistance in Gezi Park. Gezi Park is the city’s most central public park, comparable to Boston Common and Central Park in New York. The protestors’ goal was to protect the park, its trees, and landscape from a large project that would transform a public park into a shopping center. The demolition of the park should be recognized as yet another incident of the government’s ongoing appropriation and privatization of public and common resources with no respect for public opinion and judiciary process, and a lack of participatory democratic culture.”

[A video of the statement being read both in English and in Turksih can be found online at the “Bostonbullular” Facebook page.]

Of course, it was the police assault on Gezi Park and on the peaceful protestors there that set off the current uprisings across Istanbul, and across Turkey. As with the outbreak of the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, police brutality provoked widespread outrage, fanning rather than stamping out the flames of resistance. Images of Turkish police beating, gassing, severely injuring, and even killing protesters have gone viral across social media, in Turkey and beyond.

Protesters actively checked smart-phones throughout the rally, reading live social media posts from friends and family on the street in Istanbul and elsewhere. Some held signs with one hand while checking their phones with the other. There were reports of nearly 1000 protesters arrested, and of just as many seriously injured, including several who were in critical condition, and several actual deaths.

At one point the rally chants were interrupted by a man who quieted the crowd to ecstatically report that Tayyip Erdogan had resigned, provoking great cheers from the crowd. The report was soon disproven, but followed by more accurate and equally encouraging information: with hundreds of thousands of people now converging on Taksim Square and Gevi Park, the police had been ordered to retreat from the area. The mobilized people had held the park, saving their city’s green space, at least for the moment.

Online memes of trees growing into human fists and hands becoming like trees proliferated, as Turkish artists and activists gave the uprising symbolic “roots” in the besieged forest of Gevi.

“They destroyed a tree and awoke a Nation!” One protest sign declared, painted in full color.

But the “Resistanbul” statement made clear that the attack on Gevi Park was not an isolated incident of police brutality. As they wrote

“This is not the first time protests have been met with excessive state violence. Most recently, the Turkish police used unreasonable force to disperse May Day protestors again attacks a group of peaceful demonstrators in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. This disproportionate reaction and outrageous violence by the government against its own citizens cannot be justified in any way.”

Everyone I reached out to at the demonstration spoke quite fluent English, but Turkish remained the tongue for chanting. I relied on a friend for rough translations:

“Tayyip Resign! Tayyip resign!”
“We Stand Shoulder to Shoulder, Against Fascism!”
“Taksim is everywhere. Resist Everywhere!”

As indicated in the statement above, by invoking Taksim, protesters connected he rally to a site which for years has served as a common rally point for marches and demonstrations in Istanbul, including annual May Day marches. These International Workers’ Day marches routinely lead to violent clashes with police, who have attempted to suppress May Day marches since 1977. Thus, to call for Taksim everywhere, is effectively to challenge the Turkish state directly, that is: to call for revolution. Capturing the militancy of Taksim, other protest lyrics practically dared the government into confrontation with a defiant people. For instance, one song declared (translated):

“Bring on your gas. Bring on your gas. We won’t obey you any longer. Take off your mask, take off your mask. And we’ll see who is the stronger.”

This was no appeal to the “powers that be,” but a declaration of the people’s own power and daring.

The chants appeared to be among the very same that were being shouted in the streets of Turkey. Thus this demonstration, as one man told me, was less an appeal to US media or authorities than a virtual extension, a “microcosm,” of the protests there, a way to symbolically participate in the uprising. No doubt many photos and video-footage from the Boston rally would find their way home to those struggling on the streets of Istanbul, perhaps helping to spur them on.

Despite the police violence, people I spoke with indicated that if they were back home, they would most definitely be in the streets as well. Perhaps it was the Turkish street as much as anyone who was the intended audience of the rally.

Here in Boston however, the protest stayed in the park, retaining the form of a giant, close-knit human circle. People stood facing one another, together chanting and singing, clapping, pumping their fists, calling out to one another, to whoever was there to hear them.

Contrary to local Boston CBS coverage of the event, available here, the primary focus of the protesters here was not just a secularist opposition to the religious aspects of the Islamic Justice and Development Party, but to a constellation of detested policies: related to economic development and foreign policy, as well as social and cultural matters.

Several protesters expressed opposition to the government’s conservative social policies—which have included restrictions on consuming alcohol, and even bans on kissing in public. But just as important to people were the government’s suppression of independent journalism and the shameful slavishness of a mainstream Turkish media that has been bought off or intimidated by the state. (Turkey currently imprisons more journalists than any country, with a constitution that makes “insulting the nation” a crime.) Similarly, several people I spoke with indicated outrage about the Turkish media showing “stupid” TV programs or features on “Miss Turkey” instead of covering the civil war that raged in the streets.

Just as crucial was protesters’ sense that the entire city of Istanbul is being “sold off,” that their public property and common heritage is being privatized for the benefit of corporations, to appeal tourists, for the sake of “economic growth.” The threat to the trees of Gezi park—and to the forests that are threatened to be bulldozed if a new (third) bridge is built across the Bosphorus River—was seized upon by people as a metaphor for the common rights and the beauty that the current regime would strip from them for the sake of its model of “growth.”

Still others told me they object to Tayyip’s increasingly interventionist foreign policy, which they believe is making Turkey a junior partner to Western Imperialism across the Arab World. This has had the effect of exacerbating ethnic and sectarian divisions within the country, while exposing Turks to potential violent retaliation. Several people I spoke with saw Tayyip’s close relationship with the US administration not as a solution, but as part of the problem, again likening him to the “new Hosni Mubarak” of the region. Others were concerned the US is getting Turkey to do its dirty work in the Syrian civil war.

All in all, despite rallying near the Statehouse, the sense on the Common was not of a group calling on others to do something so much as a community rallying itself for the task that must be done, for the struggle that only the people themselves can move forward.

Proposals to march on the Turkish consulate, located just down the street from the Common, were considered but apparently shelved. Instead, after more than an hour of rallying, protesters left the steps for the park, packing up signs, and gathering on the grass in the shade of the Boston Common. There many stayed to take in a Turkish music concert and sing-along.

While some may have hoped for a more militant, street-oriented march-action, the park sing-along was an appropriate finish. After all, the uprising in Turkey was kicked off by the defense of a public park. And even at that very moment, while street battles were raging across Turkey, hundreds of thousands of people, gathered in Gezi, were enjoying victory and some much needed recreation, having successfully defended Taksim square from police and from privatization—at least for the moment.

After an hour of shouting in the hot June sun, protesters in Boston soaked in the shade, the trees, the music, the soft grass, and each other’s companionship, these shared common things now newly revealed: the roots of raised fists.

Joe Ramsey is a writer, editor, organizer, and activist who lives in Somerville. He is a co-editor of Cultural Logic: an electronic journal of marxist theory and practice www.clogic.eserver.org and writes about revolution, social movements and radical culture, past and present.

Hundreds of thousands in Taksim as revolt spreads throughout the country

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Category: News & Analysis

Created on Sunday, 02 June 2013 07:26

Written by Halkin Gunlugu

The following are poorly (Google) translated reports from Halkin Gunlugu, a revolutionary democratic newspaper in Turkey. Please help us by sharing better translations of this report and other reports. -eric ribellarsi

Taksim Square, hundreds of thousands of people! (Photo News) (UPDATED)

Today we gathered in Taksim, thousands of people marched. Today, thousands of people gathered at noon walk through Istiklal Street clash with police. Taken by the police to the hospital many people are affected by the gas, the mass of Room at Tower resolutely resisting the police. While still in the streets in mass conflict entered a construction area in Taksim

NEWS CENTER (06/01/2013) - Taksim police attacks began again today.

Today in the morning at times brutally attacked by the police against the people gathered in various districts of Istanbul, Taksim flock walks. 

Today, thousands of people gathered from around noon on Istiklal Street in Taksim, "Governor resign", "the Prime Minister to resign" slogans marched. Police set up barricades blocking the course of the mass Taksim Square. Police mass gassing alleys squeezed the gas. Too many people are affected by gas piped to hospitals in ambulances. Streets in the mass gathering, the police attacked the audience was drawn towards the Tower Room. Istiklal Street is preparing the pots clashed with police in the mass gathering.

Demanded the resignation of the governor and the police chief is

Although the police attacks in Taksim in Taksim Platform of Solidarity held a press conference. Since the removal of the blockade that lasted until May 1 Taksim Platform, the release of detentions and demand the resignation of the Governor of the Chief Constable. Buyers who accept the call to maintain the resistance until the platform, today at 15.00 in Taksim Square, made a call to action. If you can not be reached in the resistance of the magnification of the place where everyone, as long as the demands are not accepted at 19.00 has announced a mass action would perform.

Entered the construction site of the mass in Taksim

Tower B has been drawn mass attack police with stones. TOMA'lara audience throwing stones at the police attacked by spraying with water and throwing tear gas bombs, mass resistance had thrown a step back. Although the police dispersed the mass attack. Search for police clashed in the streets as news of mass taken. Police clenched gas and water cannons, numerous people have been injured in the police.

Despite intense resistance to water and gas in clashes with police while bored audience, the police took over the crowd TOMA'ları. Affected by the mass of dense gas and water was taken towards the tunnel.

From the audience gathered together again marched to Taksim Square. In the field of construction continues to break through police blockades and mass resistance. Audience of several thousand people, breaking down barriers in the field of civil resistance, while maintaining the thousands of people gathered in Taksim Square. Police attacked with gas bombs made extensive audience. Affected by the mass of the gas bomb, Harbiye direction towards the outlet Elmadağ taken. Dispersing gas bombs at Taksim Square, Istiklal Street, a portion of the mass was pulled down sections. Thousands of people gathered on the streets in search started walking towards Taksim Square. Tens of thousands of people break through the barricades of the mass re-entered the Taksim Square. The mass resistance continues.

We will continue to developments.

Taksim wave of resistance is spreading across the country

4 days trip in Taksim Park actions faced police attacks, clashes last several quarters continued throughout the day and night. Attacks on police actions across the country performing, overflowed into the streets across the country the masses

NEWS CENTER (06/01/2013) - in order to support the actions of protest in Taksim, Istanbul, Konya, Dersim, Mersin, Izmir, Marmaris, Turkey, Ankara, Izmit, arranging protests, Izmir, Ankara and Eskişehir attacked the police actions. DHF actions across the country, taking the place of DGH members and fans, fighting continued throughout the night.

ANKARA:

Mass action in Ankara Tunali Hilmi Street, about four thousand, Jinnah Avenue, and Ataturk Boulevard collected. Mass protest against the AKP "live like a tree single and at liberty and brotherhood like a forest" banner joined by opening act.

Conflicts audience gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy began attacking police gas bombs. Later that night, gradually increased the number of masses of people gathered. Red Crescent spreading in almost every street clashes continued for hours. Mass of the Constitutional Avenue roadblocks, set fire to their barricade. Park Street fighting is still going on with the Kuğulu Akay and Konur. 2 people were injured in police attacks.

Resistance to any destination in Taksim each!

ZM:

 Izmir, with the participation of thousands of people attacked the police action.

The call of the revolutionary democratic institutions at 18.30 in Alsancak, thousands of people came together, walked Gündoğdu Square. From here, closing the road to traffic moving mass of the AKP Konak District building, "the government to resign", "I fight falls Taksim thousand greetings", "Every place in Taksim any resistance," shouted.

The act of sitting in front of the AKP police tear gas and water cannons attacked the audience. Following the attack, there were clashes between the police and alleys scattered audience. Mass of clashing with the police, "Taksim lights lit in Izmir", "Long live the revolutionary solidarity" shouted.

ESKİŞEHİR:

Last night, at 19.00 Park Eskişehir Islands-meat coming together of thousands of people protested against the terror of the fascist state in Taksim. Odunpazarı'na audience tried to march to the police attacked the clashes. About 20 people were arrested in clashes continued throughout the night in Eskişehir. To protest the continued resistance of the mass arrests, the police had to release detainees. Today announced that the islands will continue the resistance meat Park.

Mersin:

KESK call mass coming together, is located on Istiklal Avenue Playground in the sit-in was free. During the act, "Hands off our trip to the park", "shoulder to shoulder against fascism" slogans.

Fighting shoulder to shoulder against fascism

DERSİM:

Travel from Taksim Park, together with the Dersim attacks by the revolutionary-democratic political parties, mass organizations and the press release was protested walk. Behice Boran walking in front of the building on the Avenue of the provincial head of the AK Party group here, the street closed to traffic, chanting slogans against the AKP. In a press release in which the AKP protest, clashed with police and resisting mass struggle was hailed in Taksim.

İZMİT:

Park in the central district of Kocaeli, Izmit, collected from the Republic of mass action was organized through social networking sites. Action during the "shoulder to shoulder against fascism" slogans were protesting the police attack on Travel Park, trying to keep the audience.

Konya:

Mass organized through social networking sites, Culture Park, gathered in Taksim to protest attacks on the police statement said.

Adana:

Mass of about 600 people, while an action come together in Taksim Ataturk Park were protesting the police attacks.

YALOVA:

 Hi Taksim resistance Yalova

Yalova, university students, public at night 02:30 from 06:00 hours up to Yalova met Uğur Mumcu Taksim Square, hailed the resistance. DGH'nin is the component of the group came together in Yalova University Student Platform statement on behalf of the call, the AKP 'advanced democracy' has fallen mask specified. Response to the statement made by the public against the military forces of the AKP, the police, attacked by relying on gas and TOMA'lara, indicating that the resistance struggle and the nature of a mere reflection of the people's anger was said to be accumulated. During the mass action, "shoulder to shoulder against fascism", "will win by resisting", "Every place in Taksim each resistance", "no force can defeat a people organized" shouted. Ugur Mumcu Square today convened a mass march group to perform.

A Squares Movement in Turkey?

Details

Category: News & Analysis

Created on Friday, 31 May 2013 23:57

Written by RT

A new movement is unfolding in Turkey, beginning as a demonstration against the demolition of park in Istanbul, but rapidly transforming into a challenge of the legitimacy of Turkey's ruling government. It is already being compared to the Rgyptian and Tunisian revolutions and the Occupy movement in the United States. Turkey is a society with major communist revolutionary forces, and sits as the central geostrategic bridge between the Arab world and Europe. A revolutionary crisis could rapidly spread from Turkey throughout the entire region. Kasama will continue following these events as they unfold. -eric ribellarsi

The following article first appeared on RT.

12 people have been seriously injured and hundreds suffered respiratory problems after police attacked protesters with tear gas and water cannon in an attempt to break up an Occupy Gezi Park rally in central Istanbul.

The clashes erupted after police carried out a dawn raid against protesters Friday, the second in as many days. Demonstrators are angry at government plans to cut down trees in Gezi Park, next to Taksim Square,  to make way for a replica Ottoman army barracks and a shopping mall. They say it is the last green space of any size in the center of Istanbul. 

Six of the injured are suffering from serious head trauma. A 34-year old Egyptian tourist is undergoing an operation after suffering a brain hemorrhage, Huseyin Demirduzen, from the Istanbul Medical Chamber board, told Reuters. While a member of the opposition Peace and Democratic Party is in intensive care in a serious condition. 

Hundreds more suffered respiratory problems due to the effects of tear gas, Demirduzen said. Several people were injured after a wall they were trying to climb in an attempt to get away from clouds of tear gas collapsed underneath them.

Late Wednesday the main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu from the Republic People’s Party (CHP) made a surprise visit to the protest camp of several hundred demonstrators and promised that members of his party would take turns to help the protesters stop an attempt to bring back the bulldozers.

In the first raid against crowds on Thursday, police used a Mass Incident Intervention Vehicle (TOMA) to disperse them before seizing and burning some of their tents, according to the Hurriyet Daily News. 

The Peace and Democracy Party described the police intervention as “state terror” in an e-mailed statement. Amnesty International also said it was concerned with “the use of excessive force” by police after what started as a peaceful protest.

The protest at Gezi Park started on Monday after developers tore up trees but has now become a broader demonstration against Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“This isn’t about trees anymore; it’s about all of the pressure we’re under from this government. We’re fed up; we don’t like the direction the country is headed in,” Mert Burge, an 18 year-old student, who came to support the protesters after he heard about the use of tear gas via twitter, told Reuters.

In Ankara, the Turkish capital, police also used tear gas to disperse protesters trying to reach the headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in support of the anti-government supporters in Istanbul.

Erdogan has said he wants to introduce an Ottoman cultural revival. As well as a more assertive foreign policy, more conservative policies are also being gradually introduced at home.  He is also authorizing a slew of multi-billion dollar projects aimed at reflecting Turkey’s reemergence as a major power including a third airport in Istanbul, which will be one the world’s biggest and a shipping canal as big as the Suez or Panama canals.

Tayyip Erdogan defended the decision concerning the Gezi Park, saying “Whatever you do, we’ve made our decision and we will implement it, we will revive history there.” Although the government has denied that the mall is part of the plan, insisting it needs the space to widen a nearby road and ease traffic congestion, according to RTE News.

While the Istanbul deputy of Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) Sirin Unal tweeted his support of the police’s heavy-handed response.

“Obviously there are some people in need of gas. If you leave there [Taksim Square] I hope you will have a good day, the system needs to be obeyed,” he wrote.

On May Day police clashed with tens of thousands of demonstrators in Istanbul and there have been several smaller protests against a tightening of alcohol sales and displays of public affection as well the government’s stance on the neighboring Syria conflict.