First, an addendum to June 11. over 70 lawyers defending the park were taken into custody at the courthouse yesterday. They were later released, but another perfect example of trying to strike fear in people’s hearts.
This footage
is around 2 AM June 12 at the park, very soon after I had left. Following the
gas attack, it started to rain. While that’s good for clearing the air, it’s
difficult for people sleeping in the open air. I went back to the park in the
morning, people were trying to re-group and re-establish an order. All the
while, they were also trying to keep themselves dry and their belongings from
flying away in the storm. Honestly, it looked a little depressing. But after a short
nap at home and an afternoon at the office, a much drier and cheerful park
awaited me. The evening was crowned by a concert
- first by the statue, then in the
middle of the square, and finally almost inside the park, above the steps. The
piano was moved around by a bunch of guys who picked it up and carried it up and
down. After the stress of Tuesday, sitting on the ground in the middle of the
square and listening to “Imagine” (a few times too many perhaps, but still)
with friends around me was priceless. At this point, people had gotten gas
masks and hard hats. My mom bought my hat, and a friend lent me her mask. It
was surreal – several thousand people hanging out in a park with gas masks,
goggles and hard hats. One thing I heard over and over again was the anger and
discontent about even having to own - and wear - this equipment. We’re regular
citizens, not militants.
The news of the day were the negotiations in Ankara in the
evening. The PM had called several people from the park and a group of artists.
None were chosen by the park protestors, and they said so before going in. From
what we heard, it was a long, emotional and ultimately fruitless meeting. When
they came out, the spokesperson announced a possible referendum, which was
never discussed in the meeting. We also later found out that there is no legal
infrastructure for a referendum to be held. One of the negotiators, who
declared he’d never been to the park and would refuse to go, gave a speech
after the meeting which entertained everyone. I could only follow it from
social media, but here it is
– he’s not making much sense. This is the star of the famous “Valley of the
Wolves” series and films; I have no idea why he was invited.
I was able to go home fairly early at night, and got the
longest sleep of the last few weeks. It felt good…
On Thursday (June 13), the fear campaign continued. There
were rumors (perhaps a few real cases) of people being searched, and those with
hard hats and / or gas masks being detained. No confirmation though.
A second set of negotiations were called for 11 PM – this time,
the list included members of the Taksim Solidarity, and the artists had
actually been to the park. But again, it was called by the PM’s office with no
proper representation. Waiting for the negotiations, the filmmakers issued a
press statement, and I was busy trying to help with its translation. Hence, I
missed the highlight of the day: human chain formed by the mothers. The previous
evening, the mayor had called out to the mothers of the “young” protestors in
the park, telling them to pull their kids back, essentially. The mothers
responded by showing up themselves and forming a human chain around the park http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC12hhSmRPI
. Very touching…
I felt that we were approaching the end of things, one way
or another (how very prescient of me…). So I went for a walk with a friend
around the park. Not so much inside, because it was really crowded again, but
along the edges, in the darker areas that are forgotten. In retrospect, I guess
I wanted to etch the memories of this utopian space in my brain before it was
gone forever. At some point, I went back home and wrote my report for June
10-11.
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| Police and the people |
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| Morning concert |
Friday morning, I had signed up for the 6-10 shift again. It
was a nice and cool morning; we cleaned out the tent and I headed to the
square, where I heard the piano concert was on again. Davide was playing by the
statue, with a small audience that included a few drunk people and more than
your usul share of the crazy. Around the statue, young police officers were in
dialogue with protestors who surrounded them (pic below). It was a heartwarming
sight, but the officers’ superiors soon replaced them with older, more
experienced, and more distant colleagues…
As I headed back to the park, it started to rain. Soon it
was a heavy rain and we were trying to keep everything dry. Soon, the summery
shoes I was wearing were wet and I was cold. Not long after the rain stopped,
there was an announcement that dry mats and blankets were available in the
headquarters. And someone showed up at the tent, offering us new, dry pairs of
socks – an offer I truly appreciated and picked up immediately. I ended up
staying there until the afternoon, and when I went to the radio for my weekly
show, all we could talk about was the park again. And having played the film
version of “Do you hear the people sing,” the week before, this time we played
this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FctAww-4p9k. And cried, of course.
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| Rain in the park |
After the (again fruitless) negotiations of the previous
night, the park had organized seven forums in various locations to discuss the
options. This is an ultra-democratic system, but of course, not very practical.
Taksim Solidarity held a meeting later, with all the input from the forums. It
apparently went on from 8 PM until 4:30 AM, with no clear outcome. They
announced the next morning that people intended to stay, but there was also
talk of converging some of the smaller groups into larger tents and leaving the
decision to individual groups. It was seen as the beginning of a negotiation
process, to be continued for some time…
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