Ei-la aqui:
"To my friends who live outside of Turkey:
I am writing to let you know what is going on in
Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because most
of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and
the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for
help and support.
Four days ago a group of people who did not belong to
any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park.
Among them there were many of my friends and students. Their reason was
simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the
sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There
are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood!
The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning.
People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their
tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when
the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground,
they stood up against them to stop the operation.
They did nothing other than standing in front of the
machines.
No newspaper, no television channel was there to
report the protest. It was a complete media black out.
But the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and
pepper spray. They chased the crowds out of the park.
In the evening the number of protesters multiplied. So
did the number of police forces around the park. Meanwhile local government of
Istanbul shut down all the ways leading up to Taksim square where the Gezi Park
is located. The metro was shut down, ferries were cancelled, roads were
blocked.
Yet more and more people made their way up to the
center of the city by walking.
They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all
different backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all
gathered to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park:
The right to live as honorable citizens of this
country
They gathered and marched. Police chased them with
pepper spray and tear gas and drove their tanks over people who offered the
police food in return. Two young people were run over by the tanks and were
killed. Another young woman, a friend of mine, was hit in the head by one of
the incoming tear gas canisters. The police were shooting them straight into
the crowd. After a three hour operation she is still in Intensive Care
Unit and in very critical condition. As I write this we don’t know if she
is going to make it. This blog is dedicated to her.
These people are my friends. They are my students, my
relatives. They have no «hidden agenda» as the state likes to say. Their agenda
is out there. It is very clear. The whole country is being sold to corporations
by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums,
freeways, dams and nuclear plants. The government is looking for (and creating
when necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against its people’s will.
On top of all that, the government control over its
people’s personal lives has become unbearable as of late. The state, under its
conservative agenda passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion,
cesarean birth, sale and use of alcohol and even the color of lipstick worn by
the airline stewardesses.
People who are marching to the center of Istanbul are
demanding their right to live freely and receive justice, protection and
respect from the State. They demand to be involved in the decision-making
processes about the city they live in.
What they have received instead is excessive force and
enormous amounts of tear gas shot straight into their faces. Three people lost
their eyes.
Yet they still march. Hundred of thousands join them.
Couple of more thousand passed the Bosporus Bridge on foot to support the
people of Taksim.
No newspaper or TV channel was there to report the
events. They were busy with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and “the
strangest cat of the world”.
(By Reuters)
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário