Everywhere Taksim


Book Description

In May 2013, a small group of protesters made camp in Istanbul's Taksim Square, protesting the privatisation of what had long been a vibrant public space. When the police responded to the demonstration with brutality, the protests exploded in size and force, quickly becoming a massive statement of opposition to the Turkish regime. This book assembles a collection of field research, data, theoretical analyses, and cross-country comparisons to show the significance of the protests both within Turkey and throughout the world.




Gezi at Ten


Book Description

Upon the tenth anniversary of the Gezi protests, the book takes upon the task of critically re-examining the social uprising of June 2013 in Turkey by compensating for blind spots in the academic corpus hitherto generated. This volume braves into subjects largely neglected by the extant scholarship, in particular, the organizational aspects of the Gezi upheaval, which bear heavily on the course of social and political affairs that has since taken dramatic turns. By delving into the question of political practice, whether on the part of the state, the government or the opposition, the book re-evaluates how the emergent collective momentum was managed by the contesting parties. In other words, the volume concentrates on the multifaceted political organizing of social forces in conflict both during and in the aftermath of the protests. Contributors are: Athina Arampatzi, Gökhan Atılgan, Özgür Balkılıç, Selin Dingiloğlu, Antoine Dolcerocca, Çağlar Dölek, Kürşad Ertuğrul, Ufuk Gürbüzdal, Ezgi Kaya Hayatsever, Eren Karaca, Sebla Ayşe Kazancı, Arca Özçoban, Ezgi Pınar, Sungur Savran, Ozan Siso, Aylin Topal, Fatih Yaşlı and Adem Yeşilyurt.




The AKP Since Gezi Park


Book Description

While the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has dominated Turkish politics for a decade and a half, recent years have seen a qualitative change, culminating in the 2017 referendum on the move to a presidential system. This volume focuses on the later years of AKP rule after the first direct presidential election in 2014. It shows how during this period the AKP has changed the political system and societal dynamics, maintained its electoral predominance, and ultimately opened the way for regime change. This collection of key chapters offers indispensable reading for everyone who wants to understand current Turkish politics and the continued hegemony of the AKP in the country’s political life. Chapters 2–10 previously published as articles (Vol 19: issue 2 to Vol 22: issue 3) in South European Society and Politics.




In the Aftermath of Gezi


Book Description

This edited volume addresses various aspects of social and political development in Turkey and the latter’s role within a global context. Paradigmatically and theoretically, it is situated in the realm of communication and/for social change. The chapters thread together to present a fresh and innovative study that explores an array of issues related to the Gezi protests and their aftermath by scholars and activists from Scandinavia, Turkey and India. Through its thorough analysis of the government’s repressive policy and the communication strategies of resistance, during the protests as well as in the dramatic on-going aftermath, the volume has wide international and interdisciplinary appeal, suitable for those with an interest in globalization, communication and media, politics, and social change.




Another Brick in the Barricade: The Gezi Resistance and Its Aftermath


Book Description

„After more than two years, what has remained of the Gezi Park protests?“ „Is Gezi`s critique of political power still valid?“ „What has changed after Gezi?“ These valid questions linger; not properly answered, not yet properly discussed. Perhaps Gezi`s enduring effects and legacy can be discovered in the resistances, dissents and practices of political critique that have been created since June 2013. In this book, fourteen authors discuss and elaborate on such questions from both political and quotidian perspectives. Critique of the power of the multitude, the anthropology and ethnography of resistance, the causes, effects and continuity of the Gezi Park protests are among the issues covered in „Another Brick in the Barricade: The Gezi Resistance and Its Aftermath.“ This book does not offer all-explaining narratives of singular objective truths. It does not represent the whole of the multitude. A wide perspective of analyses ranging from political science to sociology, psychology to anthropology, economics to media studies consider Gezi resistance not only as an exceptional state of resistance, but also in terms of the new possibilities it offers for political critique. These possibilities constitute the fieldwork for academic studies, which in turn become part of social struggle. This volume seeks to make diversity its distinguishing aspect. The phenomena it considers - Gezi and its aftermath - requires this. The interdisciplinary approach and variety of discussions in the volume provide not just critique about power and dominance in Turkey, but also inspire resistance against domination and power around the world.




Challenging Neoliberalism at Turkey’s Gezi Park


Book Description

In Challenging Neoliberalism at Turkey's Gezi Park, Gürcan and Peker explore the events of May 31, 2013, when what began as a localized demonstration against the demolition of Gezi Park, a public park in Istanbul turned into a nationwide protest cycle with an unprecedented form and scale never before seen in Turkey's history.




The Making of a Protest Movement in Turkey


Book Description

The aim of this collection of essays, the first academic book on the topic in English, is to offer a preliminary analysis of Gezi protests and address the following questions: 'How can we account for the protests?' and 'Who were the protesters?'




The AKP Since Gezi Park


Book Description

This volume about Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) focuses on the later years of its rule, culminating in the 2017 referendum on the move to a presidential system. Chapters 2-11 previously published as articles (Vol 19: issue 2 to Vol 22: issue 3) in South European Society and Politics.




Under the Shadow


Book Description

Turkey stands at the crossroads of the Middle East--caught between the West and ISIS, Syria and Russia, and governed by an increasingly forceful leader. Acclaimed writer Kaya Genc has been covering his country for the past decade. In Under the Shadow he meets activists from both sides of Turkey's political divide: Gezi park protestors who fought tear gas and batons to transform their country's future, and supporters of Erdogan's conservative vision who are no less passionate in their activism. He talks to artists and authors to ask whether the New Turkey is a good place to for them to live and work. He interviews censored journalists and conservative writers both angered by what has been going on in their country.He meets Turkey's Wall Street types who take to the streets despite the enormity of what they can lose as well as the young Islamic entrepreneurs who drive Turkey's economy.While talking to Turkey's angry young people Genc weaves in historical stories, visions and mythologies, showing how Turkey's progressives and conservatives take their ideological roots from two political movements born in the Ottoman Empire: the Young Turks and the Young Ottomans, two groups of intellectuals who were united in their determination to make their country more democratic. He shows a divided society coming to terms with the 21st Century, and in doing so, gets to the heart of the compelling conflicts between history and modernity in the Middle East.




Protest Public Relations


Book Description

Global movements and protests from the Arab Spring to the Occupy Movement have been attributed to growing access to social media, while without it, local causes like #bringbackourgirls and the ice bucket challenge may have otherwise remained unheard and unseen. Regardless of their nature – advocacy, activism, protest or dissent – and beyond the technological ability of digital and social media to connect support, these major events have all been the results of excellent communication and public relations. But PR remains seen only as the defender of corporate and capitalist interests, and therefore resistant to outside voices such as activists, NGOs, union members, protesters and whistle-blowers. Drawing on contributions from around the world to examine the concepts and practice of "activist," "protest" and "dissent" public relations, this book challenges this view. Using a range of international examples, it explores the changing nature of protest and its relationship with PR and provides a radical analysis of the communication strategies and tactics of social movements and activist groups and their campaigns. This thought-provoking collection will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of public relations, strategic communication, political science, politics, journalism, marketing, and advertising, and also to PR professionals in think tanks and NGOs.