(via wespeakfortheearth)
Happening today: Turkish police push into square near park protest
June 11, 2013Riot police officers moved into Taksim Square in central Istanbul on Tuesday, firing tear gas grenades and water cannons and enveloping the center of this city with smoke and the sounds of ambulance sirens. The square, which has become a sprawling and eclectic hub of grievance against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was transformed into a tableau of urban chaos.
The operation took all day and was still in progress as the workday ended, when more protesters began reoccupying the square and police officers cleared it again with tear gas. The scene took on the air of a movie set: fireworks lit by protesters and nonlethal sound bombs set off by the police punctuated the chants of “Istanbul is ours! Taksim is ours!”
At intervals during the day, the police would advance into part of the square, then retreat again to rest, as officers mingled with onlookers, smoked cigarettes or bought snacks from street vendors. Short outbursts of clashes with protesters alternated with intervals of calm, allowing onlookers and tourists to gather in relatively safe spots and watch the action unfold, and then flee down side streets when the tear gas became too thick.
The police advance was far from decisive in quashing the protest movement that has risen to challenge the rule of Mr. Erdogan and his conservative Justice and Development Party, which has roots in political Islam: Gezi Park, whose preservation was the initial focus of the protests, was left alone to its occupiers, who have erected a tent city there and have vowed to stay.
“We are here for the park and the park only,” said Murat Bal, 27, who stood in the edge of the park as other areas of Taksim Square were being tear-gassed. “We will not yield to the provocation of stone throwers or police violence. We will stay in the park until the end.”
The ongoing crisis that has engulfed Mr. Erdogan’s government and threatened to tarnish the image of Turkey as a rising power, which he has helped craft, played out in other venues simultaneously Tuesday: at an Istanbul courthouse, several lawyers who had supported the protesters were detained, and as tear gas filled Taksim Square, Mr. Erdogan addressed his party in a speech broadcast to the nation.
Mr. Erdogan, in keeping with the defiant tone of his recent speeches, called the protest movement “an uprising against the democratic administration.” He described the banners of leftist groups that had decorated the square in the absence of any government authority as those of “terrorist organizations.”
“When I speak against all that, they say, ‘The prime minister speaks very harshly.’ If you call this harsh, sorry. Tayyip Erdogan never changes.”
An early morning Twitter message from the provincial governor announced the impending operation, and he promised that the police would leave Gezi Park alone. “This morning you are in the safe hands of your police brothers,” wrote the governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu.
The burst of civil unrest in Turkey began after a relatively small protest to save Gezi Park, which is to be demolished by the government and converted in to a replica Ottoman-era army barracks, was harshly attacked by riot police officers on May 31. The brutality of that crackdown sparked a spontaneous uprising among Turks whose anger against a government they see as increasingly authoritarian had been building for years.
On Tuesday, officers were visibly more restrained than they had been on May 31. They fired tear gas mostly when provoked, and did not seem to fire indiscriminately at protesters.
The protesters represent a cross section of Turkish society, including the secular middle class, youth, urban intellectuals and a mosaic of other interests. They cite a litany of complaints against the government, including its vast urban development plans in Istanbul, a crackdown on alcohol and Mr. Erdogan’s leadership style, which they see as increasingly dismissive of the views of those who did not vote for him.
Despite the government promise to leave the park alone, many inside it on Tuesday were girding for an attack. People wrote their blood type on their arms with markers as a precaution. Doctors in a makeshift medical tent tended to protesters suffering the effects of tear gas.
Still, others seemed oblivious to the action. A few napped, and some students were studying for a coming physics exam. “I’m not going to fail my exams and become a bum because of Tayyip,” said Emre Can, 24, a mechanical engineering student.
He added: “We don’t care about the square. If they come into the park that is when we will stand up.”
In leaving the park alone for now, the government sought to divide the movement between the original protesters and the marginal, mostly leftist, political groups that have co-opted the protests. The banners placed around the square by these groups were removed by the police, who in some corners of the square fought battles against hooligans throwing Molotov cocktails.
The police also cleared banners from the facade of the Ataturk Cultural Center, an old opera house awaiting destruction by government decree, but left hanging a poster of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, and a Turkish flag.
The vast majority of the protesters have been peaceful, and have disavowed the violence of some groups. “It started with throwing stones, but now the extremists are sinking to the level of the police by throwing fireworks and firebombs,” said Ece Yavuz, 36, who was on the park on Tuesday. “We will not participate in this violence.”
The operation came a day after the government appeared to change tactics, with Mr. Erdogan agreeing to meet with protest leaders on Wednesday. It was the first public sign that Mr. Erdogan, a popular but stubborn leader who has broadly denounced the protests as the work of looters and thugs, was willing to directly engage at least some of the organizers in dialogue.
Three people have been killed and more than 2,300 injured in the violence, which has revealed deep-seated resentment toward Mr. Erdogan. Although he has widespread support across much of Turkey, the protests presented him with one of the biggest political challenges since he became Turkey’s leader a decade ago.
The movement has mostly been an undertaking by secular Turks against a government many believe is trying to impose its religious views. But in a striking scene Tuesday, a small group of women, including two with headscarves, sat on the ground between police officers and protesters.
“We all have different beliefs and views but we must unite against violence,” said one of the women wearing a headscarf, who refused to give her name. “That is why we should all sit here in silence and resist together.”
Obama Defends NSA Programs, Says Congress Knew About Surveillance
June 7 2013
President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully defended revelations that the National Security Agency is collecting phone records and electronic communications, saying that Congress was fully briefed and the programs are limited in scope.
“The programs are secret in the sense that they are classified. They are not secret, in that every member of Congress has been briefed,” he said during a speech in San Jose, Calif. “These are programs that have been authored by large bipartisan majorities repeatedly since 2006.”
“Your duly elected representatives have consistently been informed,” he said.
News outlets revealed this week that vast spying programs began under President George W. Bush and have continued under Obama. The Guardian reported Wednesday that the National Security Agency had obtained a court order to collect phone records from Verizon Wireless customers, while The Washington Post reported Thursday of the existence of a program launched in 2007 called PRISM, which tracks information from nine leading U.S. Internet companies: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, YouTube, Apple, PalTalk and Skype.
In response to a question after his speech, Obama defended the programs as essential to combating terrorist threats. “They may identify potential leads with respect to folks who might engage in terrorism,” he said.
He also argued that some have overstated the impact of the programs. “Some of the hype we’ve been hearing over the past day or so — nobody has listened to the content of people’s phone calls,” he said.
“I welcome this debate and I think it’s healthy for our democracy,” he continued. “I think it’s a sign of maturity, because probably five years ago, six years ago, we might not have been having this debate.”
Obama portrayed the programs as a trade-off between security and civil liberties. “I think it’s important to recognize that you can’t have 100 percent security, and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. We’re going to have to make some choices as a society,” he said.
He also expressed his displeasure that the domestic spying programs’ existence was leaked to the press. “I don’t welcome leaks,” he said. “There’s a reason these programs are classified.”
The president’s full-throated defense of the programs, albeit with the qualification that he welcomes debate, is unlikely to quell the outrage over the revelations. Obama ran as an antidote to Bush’s policies in 2008, but the reports reveal that he has continued many of them, leading to concerns over the reach of the national security state.
Obama went on to defend those who operated the programs as “professionals.” “In the abstract, you can complain about ‘Big Brother’ and how this is a potential program run amok. But when you actually look at the details, then I think we’ve struck the right balance,” he said.
“The March Against Monsanto has seen millions in 436 cities in 52 countries challenging biotech corporations and protesting against genetically modified foods, which despite bans in some states due to potential health hazards remain legal in many others.”—RT
More from the Washington Post:
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Elizabeth Warren has just introduced legislation that will let students borrow money for college at the same rock-bottom interest rates that the Big Banks get.
A year later, I still CANNOT believe this passed and is still intact after the appeals process….why is this not being talked about every single day in the news?! It was a huge success when a group of activists, including author and activists Chris Hedges, brought suit against the government calling the bill that would allow indefinite detention of american citizens without due process unconstitutional.
In May District Judge Katherine Forrest sided with the plaintiffs and ordered a temporary block on the grounds that the provisions are so vague they are unconstitutional under the First (i.e. free speech/press) and Fifth (i.e. due process) Amendments.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-be-outraged-about-the-ruling-to-keep-the-national-defense-authorization-in-effect-2012-10#ixzz2SDeOJgtJ
But when Forrest ordered a permanent injunction in September, the government appealed and Appeals Court Judge Raymond Lohier reinstated the indefinite detentions provisions pending a decision of a 3-judge panel. On Oct 2, 2012 Judges Lohier, Denny Chin and Christopher Droney agreed with the government motion of appeal and the indefinite detention portion of the bill still stands.
Why doesn’t anyone care? Is everyone really that asleep?
If you care to be roused from your slumber, here are some background articles on the bill:
Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) -“What we are talking about here is that Americans could be subjected to life imprisonment. Think about that for a minute. Life imprisonment. Without ever being charged, tried, or convicted of a crime. Without ever having an opportunity to prove your innocence to a judge or a jury of your peers. And without the government ever having to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I think that denigrates the very foundations of this country.”
Teargas, water cannons as police clash with Labor Day protesters in Turkey
May 1 2013
Riot police in Istanbul have teargassed and fired water canon at crowds trying to get to the city’s Taksim Square for May 1 Labor Day Celebrations, injuring about a dozen people with 72 arrests.
Demonstrators carrying International Labor Day banners and chanting “Long live Workers’ Day” were trying to get through police lines to Taksim Square when the police used teargas and water cannon to disperse them. Some of the protesters threw stones, metal objects and Molotov cocktails at police lines.
Two policemen have been wounded in the clashes and are being treated in hospital, while 20 protesters have been detained by police, according to a statement by Istanbul’s governor. As many as a dozen people were injured during the clashes, according to AFP.
Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the cities governor, said that the clashes had been instigated by “radical groups”, of about 3,500 people who attacked the police.
Taksim Square is the traditional site of demonstrations in Istanbul, but this year the governorate refused to give permission to trade unions and youth groups to march to the square, supposedly because of a large construction project in the area.
Both the unions and youth groups say that Taksim Square is the historic site of May 1 activities and that they have a right to demonstrate there. Some have been out on the streets of Istanbul drumming up support with posters saying “Bring your Anger, and come to Taksim”.
22,000 police have been mobilized to provide security throughout the day.
May 1 is a traditional workers holiday across most of Europe, but is especially significant in Turkey. Thirty-four people were killed on that day in 1977 in Istanbul, when a gunman opened fire on demonstrations when Turkey was going through a time of political upheaval. In 1980, the then-ruling junta banned May Day celebrations in Taksim and they were finally reinstated in 2010 under pressure from trade unions.
The authorities decided to shut down some of the cities transport infrastructure. The subway, buses and ferries that connect the European and Asian sides of the city have been suspended, while traffic has been prohibited from certain parts of the city. Streets and roads normally clogged with cars were taken over by tourists.
Security has also been tightened around the office of Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan, in the Besiktas district, a short distance from Taksim Square.
Apr. 28 2012
People seem to know about May Day everywhere except where it began, here in the United States of America. That’s because those in power have done everything they can to erase its real meaning. For example, Ronald Reagan designated what he called “Law Day” — a day of jingoist fanaticism, like an extra twist of the knife in the labor movement. Today, there is a renewed awareness, energized by the Occupy movement’s organizing, around May Day, and its relevance for reform and perhaps eventual revolution.
If you’re a serious revolutionary, then you are not looking for an autocratic revolution, but a popular one which will move towards freedom and democracy. That can take place only if a mass of the population is implementing it, carrying it out, and solving problems. They’re not going to undertake that commitment, understandably, unless they have discovered for themselves that there are limits to reform.
A sensible revolutionary will try to push reform to the limits, for two good reasons. First, because the reforms can be valuable in themselves. People should have an eight-hour day rather than a twelve-hour day. And in general, we should want to act in accord with decent ethical values.
Secondly, on strategic grounds, you have to show that there are limits to reform. Perhaps sometimes the system will accommodate to needed reforms. If so, well and good. But if it won’t, then new questions arise. Perhaps that is a moment when resistance is necessary, steps to overcome the barriers to justified changes. Perhaps the time has come to resort to coercive measures in defense of rights and justice, a form of self-defense. Unless the general population recognizes such measures to be a form of self-defense, they’re not going to take part in them, at least they shouldn’t.
If you get to a point where the existing institutions will not bend to the popular will, you have to eliminate the institutions.
May Day started here, but then became an international day in support of American workers who were being subjected to brutal violence and judicial punishment.
Today, the struggle continues to celebrate May Day not as a “law day” as defined by political leaders, but as a day whose meaning is decided by the people, a day rooted in organizing and working for a better future for the whole of society.
Zuccotti Park Press, a project of Adelante Alliance, a Brooklyn-based immigrant advocacy group, is releasing Occupy, a new book by Noam Chomsky, on May Day.
