A report from Gezi Park

摘要

The transformation of the urban environment has become a widespread strategy for the government and municipalities in Turkey. For the Turkish government, new urban policies have become a justification for acts of segregation, encouragement of a neoliberal capitalist lifestyle, the progressive indebtedness of citizens, exploitation, racism, corruption and the instalment of a "state of exception" that violates human rights. Originally an urban movement, the occupation of Gezi Park has transformed into a public movement. It is not only about protecting a green space and protesting against the construction of a new shopping mall by rebuilding a former Ottoman military barrack in order to strengthen the pro-Ottoman identity. Instead, for the inhabitants of Istanbul, the occupation is a symbol of "being together", commoning together, in spite of their differences. Here, people from different classes and environments gathered, and neighbourhood and cultural movements were involved before political organisations and opposition groups. On 28 May, Gezi Park was occupied by a few hundred people.