From Socialist Worker: http://socialistworker.org/2013/06/06/solidarity-with-taksim-square
June 6, 2013
IN NEW York City, a crowd of at least 150 gathered June 4 outside the Turkish consulate in midtown Manhattan. Generally, the participants weren’t seasoned activists, but rather young people in their early 20′s studying in the New York area while working low-wage service jobs (if they can find one). These solidarity protesters appear to be much like their Turkish peers back home whom we’re watching on television and YouTube. In fact, they are the brothers and sisters and friends of the Turks taking to the streets in dozens of cities.
Few of the students I talked to at the solidarity protest had considered themselves self-consciously political before the rebellion that started in Istanbul on May 27 began to consume their every waking hour. They are mostly young, the children of Turkey’s middle class, and they see themselves fighting for their futures and the direction of their country.
Fadime is a grad student at City University of New York whose first words to me were, “We do not want U.S. intervention. We want to be heard, we can take care of this ourselves.” It was a sentiment echoed by many concerned that the United States would try to manipulate this crisis for its own ends. They are right to be cautious about U.S. intentions.
One of the few explicit demands of the crowd was for the U.S. government to stop sending tear gas to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party. According to RT News, Turkey has imported 62 tons of “tear gas and pepper spray–mainly from U.S. and Brazil–over the past 12 years.”
Every protester had stories of family and friends suffering terribly from the beatings and gas.
Destine Özuygur says that according to friends’ texts and tweets, “There are far more than two people dead so far. I know two people myself who are dead from wounds and the gas. Police are attacking universities and hospitals.” She continued, “One friend died from a gas canister tossed into a metro tunnel; people were trapped down there. Police are taping over their ID numbers so they can act anonymously.”
Today is Destine’s birthday, and she awoke to birthday messages from friends back in Turkey saying they wanted to send her early wishes because they aren’t certain they’ll be safe or even alive by evening. The extreme brutality of the Erdoğan regime is driving an intensity and political focus that many here–and there, it appears–had never felt before.
Continue reading at: http://socialistworker.org/2013/06/06/solidarity-with-taksim-square
