1. The First Days
Tuesday May 28, 2013 —Wednesday, May 29, 2013
These stories I share were told to me by a friend who noticed he was still trembling to speak of them. He arrived late to dinner, because he had been teargassed again, and so had to go home to shower the chemicals from him. He told me these stories, recounting the days of the same week like legends. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Today.
Tuesday. May 28, 2013. It started with machines. The supreme court had ruled that Gezi Park, the last green space in the center of the sprawling megalopolis of Istanbul, would not be razed to make way for a new shopping center. The rogue Prime Minister ignored the law and sent the excavators anyway, but by the time they had ripped out the first of the trees, some 20 or 50 people had gathered. Some hugged the trees (perhaps the most pacifist of all possible acts), others tied themselves to the trees. They set up tents, read to the police and shared food. They called it Diren Gezi (Resist Gezi).
Wednesday. May 29, 2013. At 4am the police came and filled the air with teargas. They didn’t fire the metal gas canisters at the ground, they fired it at the people, at their faces, smashing holes in skulls. They burned down their tents. They kicked people from the trees they held on to. The police expected to have the park cleared by morning, but by morning 5’000 people were there. A line had been crossed — if people are not allowed to peacefully demonstrate their beliefs, or if their expression is met with such brutality — then this is not a democracy.
If one is obedient, silent or waits in hope that it will pass, then power is the only one who has freedom.
