Highlight of the day,rather, frustration of the day: PM declared
in Algiers that they “will build the barracks.” No understanding, no empathy,
no reason. Luckily, the stock market went downhill after his declarations; that’s
the only thing left that might convince him that he’s doing something wrong. He’s
back in Ankara as of tonight, was supposed to land in Istanbul by 11 PM, but
they keep on delaying it. The Interior Minister gave a speech full of blatant
lies. Claimed no police attacked the Swan Park in Ankara, and when people
pointed out that was untrue, he claimed that they had it wrong. OK… He also
claimed that the injured young man who fell off the construction site of the
cultural center the other day was pushed by the protestors. If he could only
come to Taksim, he would see how people apologie to one another even if they
push each other by mistake – this isn’t just a lie, it’s slander in its worst
form. But this is the man who was the head of Istanbul Police Force when Hrant Dink
was murdered. Enough said.
As far as my personal observations go, it was yet another
peaceful and happy day. Morning walk through Cihangir, site of many gassings
over the weekend: not even any graffiti on the walls, all seems normal. Protest
march with academics from Tunel to Taksim: big crowd, very supportive
onlookers, all in all a good experience. Taksim is the same, too many party
flags around the square and on the cultural center I think, but the park remains
a party-free zone. I mentioned the main food and medic center, there are many
more at this point, and a well-drawn plan of the whole area. More organized
than anything this government has ever done. I didn’t stay very long, it was
getting even more crowded than last night. I was afraid people would lose
interest after the weekend, but I’m (happily) proven wrong.
In other news, one of the AKP members (may be a minister,
sorry, not sure) declared that CHP (the main opposition party) should apologize
for organizing the protests. We’ll say it again and again – this is a
grassroots movement, not connected to any political organization. If CHP were
strong enough to organize such an event, we wouldn’t even need to have these
protests. It is amazıng how much they don’t/can’t/won’t understand the nature
of what is going on.
And on a sad note, a police officer died today, falling off
a construction while pursuing some protestors. I’m no fan of the police, but this
is a pointless way to die (if there ever were a non-pointless way…). My only
hope is that it will be a sign of how nonsensical the whole situation is.
Things seem to be pretty calm in Istanbul and most of the
country, with some tension in Ankara. The creativity boost continues with
tweets and slogans, and most significant input for today comes from Kardeş Türküler. PM made a statement about the
noise protests held around the cities, where people bang on pots and pans. This
song is a reaction to that.
We do realize
that we are living in very different times. History is being written. Nothing
may change directly at the end of these protests, they might even still re-build
the barracks, but I want to believe that something has already changed in the
way we look at each other and in out faith in ourselves.
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