Leaderless movements, late Capitalism and everything else

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism hosts today a thoughtful meditation by Bill McKibben on the loss of the classical role of leadership, as the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther's King famous speech "I have a dream" approaches. 

Even if Smith has a "liberal" (progressive) approach, she is a very intelligent and thoughtful author and I often enjoy her analysis, even if I do not necessarily agree with all the details. The same can be said about McKibben's piece, which is focused on the ecologist facet. 

McKibben concludes that the paramount leader role has vanished and that instead a multi-headed kind of movement in which many smaller-scale leaders are actually doing the work in a cooperative networked manner is the only thing that can exist now. 

This, as he admits, is "old news" for those with experience in social and political movements. Indeed. In this sense, I include here my own commentary:

When you say that “I could cynically point out that this is also the Wall Street model, where “producers” enjoy more autonomy…” makes good sense because, after all, we exist in a socio-economic-cultural context. In “The Politics of Subversion”, Toni Negri claims that this loss of faith in leaders actually reflects the transition from highly hierarchical and disciplinary Fordism to the more decentralized Toyotism, both of which he relates to Marx’ forecasts in his posthumous manuscripts: the Formal and the Real subsumption of Work into Capital, which also have other implications, including the impossibility of the Stalinist system to survive without never-performed deep reforms. The central motif is anyhow the loss of respect for authority, and therefore the loss of power of authority itself: certain “anarchism” within the ultimate form of Capitalism (but also complete ideological success of Capitalism in many senses). This phase would have been going since c. 1968, a date he picks because of the “springs” of that time, which were full of anti-authority rebelliousness, expressing a radical change in the way we all think. Characters like Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler of De Gaulle (or even Gandhi, I guess) are now impossible because nobody really would take them seriously enough, unlike what happened before. This has pros and cons but is in any case the sign of the time. 

If we are to follow Deleuze and Guattari in “Anti-Oedipus”, a masterwork of the transition to this Toyotist era (already decades old in fact) we can understand that Capital is a corrupting force that decodifies without creating anything of its own in the social realm. In this senses it has two polarities: the schizoid decodifying vector and the paranoid recodifying reaction (drag), which is nevertheless always defeated because it only draws from the past, a past that is quickly erased and corrupted by Capitalism itself.

The real issue is how to go beyond this moral desert that Capital leaves at its wake. In many senses this is something positive because goes beyond what the most ambitious Maoist cultural revolution could imagine, but it also leaves Humankind naked and distructured. The only thing that survives is a naked Humankind in a totally transformed environment, so different from the Paleolithic reality we evolved for. 

In this sense I have been thinking that the novel ideas that are sometimes attributed to Capitalism such as human rights, democracy and such, are in fact not its product but the product of Naked Humankind, devoid of all the old Medieval values. If, as D&G say, Capitalism cannot create anything other than economic flows, then these must be creations of the thin red line, of the popular class struggle within Capitalism that exists since the time of the Sans Culottes. As D&G suggest, Capitalism incorporates ideas and structures from other realities, mostly from the Ancien Régime, which it rots until they fall dead… but it seems to me that also from the new antagonist forces conformed within it. 

If so these institutions (human rights, democracy, etc.) actually should prefigure to some extent the way out of this late Capitalist nightmare. But, of course, they are only part of the solution: in key things like private property, Capitalism can make no concessions or it would risk its own unlife.

Egypt: the third way

Something that is becoming obvious to me in the ongoing Egyptian crisis is that, by forcing the situation from a struggle between the Egyptian People vs. the Government (first Mubarak, then Morsi) to one between two reactionary forces: the Army and the Brotherhood, the revolutionary forces in Egypt have been completely sidelined while creating the pretext for a de-facto dictatorship again.

I have been missing accounts that are not pro-Brotherhood or pro-Military but sufficiently independent and cold-headed. In this sense I welcome very much the effort by The Real News Network to interview independent Egyptian analysts in two successive video-interviews, which I mirror here.

Saudi Arabia: prince crosses lines and joins opposition

Khaled Bin Farhan Al-Saud, a royal prince from Saudi Arabia, recently declared his unilateral abandonment of the House of Saud. He was interviewed by Russia Today:

The royal defection clearly highlights the critical moment by which the Islamist Fascist regime is going through as the popular demand of human rights and social justice spreads through the region and, with growing intensity, inside the worst tyranny on Earth itself.

Saudi Arabia: protests spread to the center of the country

Protests in the most totalitarian state on Earth, Saudi Arabia, began in 2011 and have continued intermittently through 2012 in the oil-rich Eastern Province, closely related to Bahrain. But now the protests (other than some instances of women fighting for their most basic rights) have extended to the interior of the country. 

Hundreds of Arab denizens took to the streets of Buraidah and other cities of Al Qassim province in demand of democracy and freedom for political prisoners, notably Hila al-Qasir, sentenced to 15 years of prison for her pro-democracy activism. 

The demands of the protesters are in essence: democratic reforms, freedom of speech, political amnesty and stopping the intervention in third countries like Bahrain.

Source[es]: HispanTV (via Webguerrillero).

Tunisia: elections called for December under popular pressure

This means that the Enhada Islamist government is nearing its end. However PM M. Laridi has declared that he will lead the government until that day in spite of the strong popular and political pressure for his resignation.

That will allow the Islamists to end their one-sided constitution before general elections, although it is unclear if it will be approved by the Constitutional Assembly, where it requires 2/3 of the votes. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es].

Tunisia: protests and riots after second murder of Left leader

Protests and riots took over Tunis and the mining towns of Sidi Bouzid and Meknassi after Mohamed Brahmi was murdered by Islamists. In February another communist, Chokri Belaid, was also murdered with the same weapon, it seems. 

These crimes aggravate the confrontation between the revolutionary opposition and the reactionary Islamists (Enhada) in power, which practice brutal neoliberalism. 

The protesters in Tunis demanded the resignation of the government and new elections but the Prime Minister Ali Larayedh rejected this possibility, although he announced presidential elections for the end of 2013.

The main labor union, the UGTT, called for a general strike and warned that these murders will lead the country to a bloodbath.

In Sidi Bouzid the demonstrators set fire barricades and also burned down the see of the ruling party, something that also happened in the nearby town of Meknassi. Police attacked them with tear gas. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es] (link 1, link 2).

Turkey: another night of clashes in Antioch

As mentioned yesterday, the city of Antioch has become another focus of the Turkish uprising. This is the chronicle of the night as told by Occupied Taksim (just changed the chronological order and corrected some typos):

22.40 The police attacked the rally organized for Ali Ismail Korkmaz with water cannons (TOMAs), tear gas and stun grenades.

23.00 One protester is arrested. Police is forcing its way through the side streets with scorpions (armed army vehicles).

23.10 The police threatens the people watching the clashes from their rooftops with going up there, they shoot gas cannisters to the rooftops.

23.25 The police and armed vehicles cannot get through the barricades erected by the people of Armutlu. Inhabitants of Armutlu and the protesters throw balloons filled with olive oil to water cannons. Protesters shoot fireworks to the police.

00.35 1 water cannon vehicle (TOMA) is destroyed by a water tank thrown from a rooftop.

01.00 As clashes continue, barricades are being set ablaze.

01.20 Inhabitants of Armutlu throw their furniture out from the windows to help the protesters build barricades.

04.00 Clashes seem to be over in Antioch. 10 slightly wounded, no arrests after one of the fiercest nights.

Egypt: Petras analysis of the causes behind Morsi's failure

Borroka Garaia Da! publishes today a Spanish language article by James Petras (veteran international analyst from the USA) in which he synthetically analyzes the causes behind the fall of Morsi in four points (my synthesis):

1. The economy: Morsi adopted a neoliberal plan of removing subsidies without any kind of investment for job generation. He resorted to loans by the FMI, which demanded that suicidal economic strategy. The government was so undecided that it did nothing worth mentioning in this key economic aspect: neither social redistribution, nor investments... nothing. The result: economic deterioriation.
2. Sectarism: Morsi promoted divisionist fundamentalist policies that only satisfied the most fanatic among his supporters. 
3. Authoritarianism: imposing partisan appointments and abusing the presidential power against the other branches of government, disdaining any possible wider consensus.
4. Collaboration with Zionism and other Western Imperialism: maintaining the illegitimate and inhuman blockade against Gaza Strip, supporting the extremists against the Syrian government, totally folding to the demands of the US Empire.

However he mentions that while the core of the opposition is progressive, there are also important elements of supporters of the Old Regime, who want to reverse the democratic process. 

He thinks that Washington is playing many different cars in the Egyptian turmoil: Morsi, the Mubarakists, the center-right liberals, etc.

The military caste in turn is probably just seeking to weaken any civilian government in order to keep their privileges.

Egypt: an Anarchist vision of the 2013 revolutionary movement

Waging Nonviolence published recently an interview with Egyptian Anarchist Mohammed Hassan Aazab in the context of the massive revolutionary uprising of these last days. I reproduce here some excerpts:

(...)

Who called for the general strike? Are there particular unions involved?

No. The unions are totally ineffective.

So how is the strike organized?

Tamarod [the Rebel Movement] called for the general strike. Actually, it has not been organized in advance; it has been a spontaneous development. It will work by people believing in and supporting it.

Do you think people will follow through?

Port Said will start the general strike tomorrow. I have no idea to what extent people will follow through on it, beyond that. But it’s clear people are absolutely determined to force Morsi out.

(...)

How are anarchists organizing within this particular moment. I got the sense that some of you were involved with Tamarod, but are you playing a particular role?

No, anarchists didn’t sign onto the Tamarod declaration. Tamarod is not revolutionary at all. It was just obvious that the movement connected with millions of Egyptians, so we joined the protests. The protesters yesterday were against the idea of an Islamic dictator, but at the same time, most of them are okay with a civil or military dictator. Fuck any dictator. We’ll never forget. We’ll never forgive.

And you’ve got an anarchist tent in Tahrir, right now?
Yes. We’ve got four tents, actually.

(...)

How can people here best support you all?

By spreading the word that Obama and U.S. government are actively supporting the formation of religious states in the Middle East. The U.S. ambassador said that Egyptians should learn the meaning of democracy! Who the fuck is she to say that?

Full interview at Waging Nonviolence.

Egypt: the "coup" is product of the popular revolution, not the other way around

image from WG

Let my stand on this matter be absolutely clear: regardless of whatever contacts and interactions between the actors involved, when millions walk out persistently in demand of change it cannot be caused by any single nor composite socio-political force but it responds to the real demands, anger and outrage of the People. In Egypt as in Turkey, Brazil or anywhere else.

Another thing is where the processes triggered by such a human tsunami leads to. Probably nowhere without a socialist alternative that can fulfill the popular demands of "bread, freedom and social justice", and this alternative seems so far not in the menu. 

But in any case:

1. Morsi was ruling almost illegally: when the Supreme Court annulled the Parliamentary and Constitutional Assembly elections (on quite good grounds), he did not obey and call new elections, obviously fearing that their pool position advantage (tolerated by Mubarak, sponsored by Saudi Arabia) had been already very eroded.
2. Critically, Morsi was ruling illegitimately, just as Rajoy does in Spain or Erdogan in Turkey. When you do not have the backing of a clear majority anymore, you must put your power at the disposition of the People, calling new elections. It is not and never will be legitimate to stay in power when popular support wanes in such dramatic manner. No matter what laws and constitutions say, they should say otherwise. 
3. Morsi has been an obedient puppet of the USA and its main regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Against the clear will of the Egyptian People he did not even open the border with Gaza in order to alleviate the Zionist siege and he has played always in favor of the Capitalist system of exploitation and therefore has not been able or even willing to solve the dire problems of the Egyptians, which cannot be solved in a Capitalist frame, be it fundamentalist or secular, authoritarian or pseudo-democratic. 
4. The Egyptian Army is highly dependent on US subsidies, being (with Israel and Colombia) one of the top beneficiaries of US military aid. The reason is obvious: the canals (Suez Canal in this case), as well as Egypt being a major regional power, at least potentially. Therefore we should not expect it to bite the hand that feeds them: their main interest is the stability within the Western-Capitalist imperial order, as that is what their master commands. Therefore their intervention is clearly intended to canalize the protests to a stable outcome and nothing else. 
5. Similarly the Muslim Brotherhood is highly dependent on financing by Saudi Arabia and other Arab tyrannies and therefore they will negotiate their place in the new system, knowing that they still have many supporters which will grant them a place under the sun in the new parliament and maybe government. If they do otherwise they will surely fragment and become quite irrelevant. 

The only one who is not dependent on foreign subsidies is the Egyptian Working People. Their demands are clear: bread, freedom and social justice. Will they be met by the new government? I doubt it but only time will tell.

Egypt: some 14 million protesters demand the resignation of Morsi and new elections

14 million may sound like a lot but it is as official as it can be: the figure has been provided by military sources, which have been monitoring the protests from the air in helicopters.

The opposition movement Tamarod claims to have gathered no less than 22 million signatures for the resignation of President Morsi, many more than the 13 million votes gathered by this one in the elections and almost half of the country's electoral census.

In spite of all this, so far Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party, which have become in practice continuity of the Mubarak regime, reject resignation or elections, even if they admit "some mistakes". Morsi has fled from Cairo to some military barracks in the country and denounces the protests as a "coup attempt". 

In spite of eight people being killed in the previous days and reports of some gang rapes, the protests seem to be largely peaceful and enthusiastic, maybe overconfident on their numerical strength. The demand is clearly a government that ensures freedom and social justice, no more, no less, and clearly Morsi and the Brotherhood have failed completely in both accounts.

Sources: Yahoo! News (link 1, link 2), Reuters, NBC.

Egypt: clashes between islamo-fascists and opposition leave three dead

At least three people, two Egyptians and one US citizen, have been killed in clashes between Islamists and the wider opposition in Alexandria, in a situation that evidences that the Egyptian Revolution is not yet finished at all, as the reactionary President Morsi has become Mubarak's continuity, bowing to Israel in all and attempting to use the popular revolution to introduce reactionary measures such as legalization of genital mutilation of women (un-islamic but very traditional in many misogynistic societies, especially in Egypt, ~90% of women affected, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia).

The clashes erupted as anti-islamist popular march reached the Islamist AJP's see in Alexandria, the second largest city of Egypt, where a rival concentration of Islamist militants had been organized as well. Two of the victims were killed by fundamentalist thugs apparently using knives as weapons. 

A third person, also a secularist protester, was murdered in Port Said, as a bomb exploded as a demonstration passed by. 

The protests are just a warm up for those scheduled on Sunday, anniversary of the crowning of Morsi as President of Egypt. 18 22 million signatures have been collected demanding Morsi's resignation, more than the 13 million votes he gathered in the presidential elections a year ago. Egypt has some 85 million inhabitants (incl. c. 35 million minors).

All this: the demonstrations and the signature collection have been organized by Tamarod (Rebellion).

Sources: Russia Today, Euronews, Al Jazeera, Gara[es].

Mapping Red Istanbul

Most people from outside is not familiar with the names of the neighborhoods and streets of Istanbul. Therefore I have tried to map the reports of popular protests by Occupy Taksim for June 15th and 16th (dawn and evening) on the following map:

Red stars represent popular protester activity (larger for more reports), while blue bars represent non-uniformed fascist aggressions. Police and military attacks were not mapped.

Turkey: Erdogan's last stand? The most brutal repression falls over Turkey... but the revolution is stubborn

Gezi Park trees burned by police (→ OT)

As you may already know, Turkish police forces brutally attacked Taksim Square and Gezi Park occupation protest yesterday evening. The details are scary: thousands injured and arrested, burned trees, vandalized clinics, chemical weapons added to water cannons, troops in the streets of Istanbul, journalists beaten...

But the most brave resistance of the People is if anything encouraging. This is far from over. 

Chronicle by Occupied Taksim:

21.09 Police have entered Gezi Park, they are beating people up and taking down the tents. Members of the press are not allowed inside.

21.15 Police continue attacking the people gathered in the streets.

21.30 Police attack and trash medical clinic inside Gezi Park (photo).

21.37 Police have trashed the medical clinic inside Divan Hotel, Taksim

22.00 Thousands of people have assembled in Sarigazi, Cekmekoy and Kartal (on the Asian side of Istanbul) they are marching on Taksim.

Thousands of people have assembled in Bakirkoy.

22.15 Police are attacking protesters in Mecdiyekoy.

Police are assaulting the main gates of Divan Hotel where hundred have taken refugee.

More than ten thousand gathered in Gazi Quarter, marching towards Taksim.

22.19 Ali Çerkezoğlu, head of the Turkish Association of Doctors (TTB), has said "If this attack continues for even one more hour, tonight will be Turkey's darkest night."

22.37 The people of Kurtulus are on the streets chanting, the sound of pots and pans clanking in protest have filled the districts. Many have been wounded due to police brutality.

22.55 The Crowd marching from Gazi Quarter has reached 50,000. The police have broken into the Divan Hotel where the wounded had taken refuge.

23.09 Tens of thousands of people gathered in Kadıköy (Asian side of Istanbul) are meeting with the crowd arriving from Bagdat Street in order to march on Taksim.

23.12 People assembled in Ortakoy (Istanbul) are being atacked by the police. The crowd is not scattering despite the poliçe assault.

23.27 Thousands of people assembled in Bakirkoy (Istanbul), the crowd is becoming ever the more numerous as people are marching through the neighbourhoods.

23.28 Police are attacking the people of Mecdiyekoy with excessive amounts of tear gas and asphyxiating gas. Plastic bullets are being used indiscriminately.

23.33 Hundreds of people in the Gazi Quarter of Istanbul have blocked the traffic on the highway.

23.38 The Dame de Sion High School has been turned into a medical clinic.

23.40 The tens of thousands of people assembled in Kadikoy have reached Uzuncayir (on the Asian side of Istanbul, near the bridge).

23.42 The crowd in Akaretler (Besiktas-Istanbul) are holding a banner bearing the words "The Gezi Martyrs are Immortal."

23.46 The police are attacking the people in Uzuncayir. The crowd is not dispersing despite the brutal assault.

23.52 Thousands of people marching from Nisantasi to Harbiye.

23.54 The people of Gazi Quarter are getting closer to Taksim.

23.55 Thousands forming barricades on Istiklal (photo).

23.56 The German High School has opened its gates for the injured.

23.57 The minister of EU affairs, Egemen Bagis, has said "all those who participate in the Gezi protests will be tried as terrorists.

June 16th: (→ OT)

00.04 The police have blocked the entrances to Kadikoy.

00.05 The people are waiting in fron of the police barricade in Uzuncayir. The crowd keeps growing (photo).

00.06 The police are shooting gas canisters around Taksim Ilkyardim Hospital.

00.07 Head of the Turkish Association of Doctors, Ali Çerkezoglu has said: "As the doctors, we declare that we shall tend to all our citizens wounded in the protests."

00.08 Barricades formed in the fish market on Istiklal Street.

00.15 People are on the streets in Findikzade, clanking pots and pans.

00.20 Sainte Pulcherie High School has opened its Gates for the injured.

00.22 The crowd from Bahçelievler has reached Topkapi.

00.23 The crowd from Gazi Quarter has joined the crowd from Nurtepe.

00.30 Police panzers on Istiklal using water cannons against the people.

 

00.36 More than 50 people injured in Taksim Hospital, 27 injured in Sisli hospital.

00.38 Tens of thousands of people gathered in Osmanbey, chanting "the government must resign." Police are firing blast bombs on the crowd.

00.46 Police have attacked the people in Osmanbey.

00.48  The police are shooting gas canisters in Osmanbey. The crowd is retreating to Mecidiyeköy and Kurtulus.

 

00.54 The people of Gazi Quarter have reached the Sadabad junction, the people of Ornektepe have joined the demonstrators. Police have started shooting gas bombs at the people.

00.55 Detay Muzik, a store located near the place Hrant Dink was murdered is playing Bella Ciao. Tens of thousands are singing along. 

00.58 The police have attacked the people of Ornektepe with gas bombs and plastic bullets. The people are clashing with the police.

01.00 RedHack, has hacked the TV channel of the parliament.

01.02 The people have set the barricade in Nisantasi ablaze.

01.05 Thousands of people are marching on the E-5 highway to join the crowd marching to Taksim from the Asian side.

01.06 The people have formed barricades around Osmanbey Metro Station. The police are shooting gas canisters while the people are responding with fireworks.

01.28 The police have entered the Hilton Hotel.

01.40 The people of Harbiye (photo) are chanting the slogan "Tayyip Must Resign!"

01.41 The people have blocked the traffic on Incirli Street, Bakirkoy.

01.50 The people from Kartal, marching on the E-5 Highway, have passed the Bostanci junction. Tens of thousands are joining the mass.

01.54 The crowd in Uzuncaiyr (near the Bosphorus Bridge) have overcome the police barricade and are marching towards the bridge.

01.58 The police continue attacking the people in Osmanbey.

02.06 After the police assault in Osmanbey the masses have begun marching towards Taksim. The Ramada Hotel has been turned into a medical centre.

02.12 The police have attacked those marching towards the Bosphorus Bridge.

02.15 The police in front of the Divan Hotel are marching towards Harbiye. Military panzers have arrived and are attacking the people.

02.20 The police continue attacking the crowd marching towards Taksim from Osmanbey. The crowd is not retreating and is forming barricades in the alleys. The people are chanting "side by side against fascism!"

02.23 Live streaming TV channels are being prevented by the police.

02.33 The police contiune their attacks on Halaskar Gazi (Sisli). The police are trying to divide the crowd, yet they are unsuccessful.

02.40 The police have attacked the crowd marching towards the Bosphorus Bridge.

02.42 The crowd from Gazi Quarter continue their resistance near Okmeydani, despite the attacks of the police.

02.44 The crowd in Osmanbey are chanting "Taksim Will Bury Fascism."

02.49 The people of Osmanbey are on the streets (photo).

02.51  The police have crossed the barricade in Osmanbey. The people are retreating towards Rumeli Street.

02.59 The people are on their way towards the Bosphorus Bridge from Altunizade (the Asian side of Istanbul).

03.00 The police are attacking people in Okmeydani.

03.03 The police are attacking the people in Altunizade. Excessive use of gas bombs reported.

03.05 The police have used extreme violence against the crowd near the bridge, the people have scatterd to the alleys.

03.15 After the attack on Uzuncayir, it has been reported that a student of Yildiz Technical University has been hit on the head with a gas canister and has been critically wounded.

03.25 The police continue attacking a crowd of 10,000 gathered in front of Taksim Ilkyardim Hospital.

03.31 The people of Osmanbey continue their resistance. The police continue their attacks.

03.34 Soldiers are waiting on the Bosphorus Bridge (photo).

03.44 Thousands of people assembled in Pangalti.

03.48 The police and the military shooting gas bombs at the people in front of the Bosphorus Bridge.

04.00  The police continue attacking the crowd assembled in front of the Taksim Ilkyardim Hospital. The police are not ceasing their assault. 4 riot police have been seen beating a demonstrator to death in Kucukparmakkapi Alley. The protesters have carried the wounded demonstrator to the hospital.

04.30 The police is firing rubber bullets at the moment in Cihangir.

After sunrise:

04.45 Troops are on the streets of Mecidiyekoy.

05.00 Clashes continue around the Bosphorus Bridge.

05.45 Protestors are still on the streets, the police continues its attack in more than 20 quarters.

06.00 The police withdrew from Harbiye, barricades are being erected (photo).

07.00 Taksim Square is being evacuated from civilians.

08.10 Clashes settled down for now, demonstrators will gather at 16.00 at Taksim Square.

09.15 Reports indicate that clashes are still going on in Harbiye (→ live stream).

Further information:

This, repression and resistance, is not, of course, limited to Istanbul, even if the reports I have mostly focus on this iconic city, the largest by far of the Turkish Republic. At least in Ankara there are reports of huge demonstrations and police getting ready to attack them (yesterday night).

→ live stream.


A General Strike has been called for tomorrow, Monday (several scattered sources).

Beating of citizen caught under police tank → OT (video).

Chemical weapons in water cannons (unconfirmed?) → Webguerrillero[es].

Taksim Solidarity demands → OT.

Urgent: Four Immediate Demands of the Taksim Solidarity!

1. The security forces must stop this brutal attack. The government is responsible for everything happening tonight and afterwards.
2. The media must help spread our statements and must protect our people from disinformation.
3. We are concerned about the health of our citizens wounded during the police attacks. The volunteering doctors must prevent the onslaught of the police and the public health institutions must act in accordance with the current needs.
4. Tens of thousands of people are marching towards Taksim from various locations. This cannot, and must not be prevented.

The Taksim Solidarity.

Taksim Solidarity communication → Webguerrillero[es], Turkish original.

Brutal repression at Taksim → WG[es].

Repression against journalists → WG[es], English version.

Russian journalists beaten → OT.

German ZDF TV report (subtitles in English) → OT.

One thing I have clear by now: this is in no way smaller nor substantially different than what happened in Egypt in 2011.  The Turkish and Kurdish Peoples are clearly determined to remove Erdogan from power and they will no doubt succeed in spite of the brutal repression, which cannot continue for much longer without implosion in the structures of the state.

Turkish revolution report (June 13)

Latest report from Occupied Taksim:

Ankara: police attacked the demonstrators at Kennedy Street soon after midnight. Hundreds concentrated in Batıkent under the heavy rain.

Istanbul: Taksim Square was retaken by protesters soon after police had evicted it. The occupation continues as strong as ever. A piano concert was offered by David Mortello.

There were also important marches in many quarters of the bicontinental city: Gazi, Bakirkoy, Kadıköy, Moda, Kartal, Eyüp, Sarigazi. Another popular occupation was initiated at Matepe Square. 

Adana: Atatürk Park has seen major protests in homage to those killed and injured during the first weeks of the revolution.

Zonguldak: hundreds marched against Erdogan.

Memorial to the victims

The same site also has a list of the three mortal victims of police violence so far and the ones known to have been permanently wounded.

Paying homage to the victims of repression seems to have been important in the last protests. In Taksim they did this in their honor:

Mothers for Revolution

As the governor of Istanbul, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, asked parents to call their children back home (even if many protesters are clearly quite mature), mothers of protesters organized their own human chain surrounding with their bodies and hands the square that has been the epicenter of the popular uprising.

They chanted "side by side against fascism", "the government must resign", "don't touch our children" and "Abdullah Cömert is our kid".

Police eviction videos

Videos of the brutal, pointless and brief police takeover of Taksim Square are available here.

Early struggles' video

This video of the early struggles between police and communist protesters in Istanbul has been known to me today, although it is dated to June 1st:

Kurdish banners and dances at Gezi

It is not clearly understood or often explained but it seems clear that the Kurdish community of Istanbul was key in the unfolding of the revolt. Here we can see them at Taksim Square (which is located in a largely Kurdish neighborhood) dancing and showing banners that would be brutally repressed just a few days ago, including one with the face of Oçalan. The video is dated to Jun 5th:

Spanish government supports Erdogan

The reactionary Spanish government became one of the first ones in the European Union to show absolute solidarity with Erdogan[es]. 

Foreign Minister J.M. García Margallo told the EU leaders not teach lessons to Turkey (meaning Erdogan) on how to deal with demonstrations, offering the solidarity of Spain (meaning himself and his rapidly declining party). 

No doubt García Margallo is worried that what today is happening in Turkey may well happen any day (again) in Spain, where the situation is very similar, with a government shattered by the massive reaction against its ultra-liberal policies, corruption scandals and lack of steering power. 

There are way too many parallels between Turkey and Spain, historical and contemporary. I would dare say that their destinies are mysteriously linked even before Lepanto: they grew at similar rhythm, declined at similar rhytm and even have quite comparable geographies and similar attitude of blunt oppression against ethnic minorities.

Naturally García Margallo knows that, at least intuitively, and fears that the Turkish Spring may soon manifest as Spanish Autumn and that he and his pathetic boss Rajoy will find themselves in the same impossible situation as Erdogan.

Turkey: the People does not surrender!

Slingshot granny (source: Webguerrillero)

Tonight and today have seen some of the most intense fight in Turkey since the popular revolt began.

Police attacked Taksim Square overnight, evidencing Erdogan, who had just promised negotiations, as the liar he is.

Chronological report by Occupied Taksim:

23.00 The people of Gazi who have been subjected to enormous violence from the Turkish police blocked the main artery of the city.

23.30 Protesters in Istiklal Avenue forcing their way into the Taksim square.

23.40 People gathered in Kadikoy, trying to pass the bridge between Asia and Europe to get to the Taksim square.

00.02 People write down their blood types on their arms in case they get hurt by the brutal attacks of the police.

00.15 Thousands of people still flow to the Gezi Park.

00.30 Protestors are gathering in the Istiklal Avenue.

00.35 Police started attacking the protestors with blast bombs and tear gas in Ankara, capital city of Turkey.

They also report that the Internet was completely shut down in Turkey for hours. Police has been this morning defending their "conquest" of Taksim Square, with intermittent attacks to the crowds gathered around it. 

Taksim battle (source: Webguerrillero)

The struggles have produced many striking images, some of which well worth a Pulitzer prize:


... some of which have been compiled by Webguerrillero in a gallery:

Watercannon victim

Injured man being hauled away

Ingenuous weapons

Popular fire

More ingenuous weapons

Also determined nonviolence resistance

Water vs. fire

Fire won this time

More images at Webguerrillero: RESISTANBUL[es].

Also 50 attorneys who were staging a sit-in at the Justice Palace of Istanbul were arrested by police (→ Webguerrillero[es], incl. video).

Turkey: Taksim occupation violently evicted

Almost exactly as it first happened a week ago, Turkish police used all kind of means to forcibly evict the popular occupation of Taksim Square. Police used armored vehicles, gas canisters, water cannons and everything else.

The day before the hypocritical, corrupt and beleaguered government of Tayyip Erdogan had announced that they would meet representatives of the protesters to negotiate some sort of agreement on the particular issues of the urbanistic-environmental conflict that triggered the uprising. 

Even though police did manage to remove the banners from the center of the plaza, citizens fought back, some violently and others with peaceful means.

According to the bourgeois secularist opposition CHP, at least 20 people were injured today in this police intervention, most of them by the inhalation of toxic gases. Gürsel Tekin (CHP vice-president) declared that:

This attack shows that either the negotiation with the Prime Minister is a lie or that the attack was performed by forces out of Erdogan's control.

Source: Webguerrillero[es].

Turkey: clashes continued tonight in Istanbul and Ankara

A week after the popular uprising began in Turkey, the situation continues tense, with further clashes each night between police and protesters. From Occupied Taksim:

Istanbul:

23.30 With the nightfall once again clashes started in the Gazi Neighborhood.
Protestors resist the police with stones, slingshots, molotov coctails and fireworks.
Clashes between the protestors and the police continue.
01.00 The people of Gazi went back to their houses, announcing a meeting for tomorrow.

Ankara:

00.03 Once again the police started launching brutal attacks on demonstrators on the Kennedy Street, Ankara.

00.30 The police left the Kennedy Street.

00.40 The police continues its attack in the city center.

02.00 The police withdrew from streets.

Turkey: protests keep their numbers and spirit, police attacks at night

Protests have continued today in Turkey, with demonstrations going on for hours in Istanbul (best covered city) even before the massive meeting at Taksim was scheduled to take place.

Similarly in Ankara, after a day of peaceful protests, with tens of thousands gathered in Kugulu Park, police has begun their attacks against the citizens concentrated at Kizilay Square with tear gas and water cannons. As result the concentration moved to Dikimen (also in Ankara).

In Adana, a major port to the South of the state, police had barricaded the streets as of 21:45 local time, preparing to attack the uprising population.

Martyrs

So far only two mortal victims have been confirmed among demonstrators (some initial reports were more alarming). They are Mehmet Ayvalıtaş and Abdullah Cömert.

Mehmet, 19, was murdered by a fascist cab driver who run over him with his car on June 3rd, Abdullah, 22, was shot dead by a policeman using rubber bullets. He was dramatically determined to fight for freedom in his country, as we mentioned earlier.

Policemen are killing themselves

At least six policement have shot themselves since these riots began, denounced the police union, blaming the extreme conditions they are enduring, doing overtime day after day, of as much as 120 hrs without stop, sleeping on their shields or on cardboard pieces like homeless people, not getting adequate food and suffering the counter-attacks of protesters, who are hating them more and more.

Erasmus students assume compromise with the Turkish Revolution

In spite of the risks that imply for them and their careers, several dozens of students within the Erasmus program, from Europe and Egypt, have publicly declared their compromise to spread the word about what is happening in Turkey, defeating bourgeois censorship. 

Working class profile of the uprising

Olga Rodríguez explains[es] that this revolt is not only about middle class secularist youths, irritated by the Islamist involution, much less about alcohol. 

She puts the example of Ümaniye, a worker neighborhood in the Asian side of Istanbul, where 10,000 people set up barricades just a few days ago. That is not "middle class". It was in Ümaniye where a car killed Mehmet Ayvalıtaş, a manufacture worker and, apparently, member of the Anonymous-linked cell Red Hack, which recently revealed the names of 35,000 Mossad personnel. Red Hack has suffered inquisitorial persecution in Turkey (as many other mostly harmless organizations) on the farcical grounds of "terrorism".

Another point she raises is the police state that Turkey actually is under a thin varnish of "democracy". Turkish police is infamous for its brutality and as a point example, in a single night in Ankara 441 people were injured, 15 of them remaining in critical condition. 

Rodríguez also explains that Erdogan wants to become Turkey's Putin. He wants to run for the Presidency next year and concentrate all power in his hands, something that seems most unlikely to happen anymore.

A key point of discontent is, as we have already mentioned, the dramatic privatization policies of Erdogan and the AKP (telecommunications, airlines, tobacco companies, electric network, banks, public lands, highways... and even the water). In fact the Gezi Park controversy that sparked the uprising was yet another mafioso sellout of Turkish collective property, which was (is still as of now) to benefit relatives and personal friends of Erdogan at the expense of society. 

The relative economic stability of the country, with the fastest growth rate of Europe, has not benefited at all the popular classes but just concentrated the wealth within a small oligarchy. In 2011 the 20% richer segment had more than 50% of all wealth, while the 20% poorer had only 6%. 

There is anyhow some fear of military intervention. Erdogan has purged the ranks of the Army, traditionally secularist and Kemalist. Left wing organizations would not trust such an exit, which is more and more considered an option. 

Sources: Occupied Taksim (link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4), Webguerrillero[es] (link 1, link 2).

Turkey: new dedicated blog: Occupied Taksim

Yesterday in Taksim

Found via From the Greek Streets:

→ Occupied Taksim

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