On this day in 2013, Turkish protesters began occupying Gezi Park to oppose its demolition, an act with led to widespread protests and strikes with approximately 3,500,000 participants, 22 deaths, and more than 8,000 injuries.
The wave of civil unrest across Turkey began after the park occupation was violently evicted by police, who used to tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannons to try and break up the protests, injuring more than one hundred people and hospitalizing a journalist.
The protest quickly grew in size - by May 31st, 10,000 gathered in Istiklal Avenue. In June, the protests became national in scope and transcended any particular demographic or political ideology. Among the wide range of concerns brought by protesters were issues of freedom of the press, expression, and assembly, as well as the alleged political Islamist government's erosion of Turkey's secularism.
Millions of Turkish football fans, normally divided by intense sports rivalry, marched in unity against the government. Protesters displayed symbols the environmentalist movement, rainbow banners, depictions of Che Guevara, different trade unions, and the PKK and its leader Abdullah Öcalan.
On June 4th, Taksim Dayanışması (Taksim Solidarity) issued a set of demands that included the preservation of Gezi Park, an end to police violence, the right to freedom of assembly, and an end to the privatization of public spaces. Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç met the group on June 5th and rejected these demands.
Erdoğan blamed the protests on "internal traitors and external collaborators", demonizing his political opposition as the former. Despite the popular mobilization, Erdoğan remained in power and no major concessions were won from the government.
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Some days I really fucking hate Americans.
Like yes obviously, but I mean on a basic interpersonal level there are so many baseline chauvinistic tendencies that never seem to go away that it becomes just unbearable to interact with Americans after a while, like I gotta go detox from it.
Like you can't even have a conversation about some horrible bit of police brutality over in Europe without some dipshit coming in commenting about how "back here in west oklabama it ain't police brutality until you have at least 16 shots to the back of the head, in self defense of course." Like shut the fuck up for once, christ.
That's if you manage to even have a conversation about a white western country that isn't Anglo without some American incessantly chanting like, "fake country, fake language, yaKKKubian apes" until you agree to talk about the white people who's shit apparently don't stink as bad.
Just fucking unpleasant to be in earshot of.
Some cosmic force heard this rant and decided to prank me, for whatever reason a computer at work has an entire goddamn field of American flags as a screensaver.
What can you do but laugh a little?
I got that too, and I work in Aus. It's because the Microsoft Windows Bing wallpaper changes daily and today (yesterday?) is Memorial Day in the USA
Windows does that regardless of what country you're in? That's kind of ridiculous