Relatos da insurreição turca (3): Hi from Istambul

A ativista turca zeynep özdal está em Istanbul a participar nas barricadas e enviou-nos a sua experiência pessoal que aqui deixamos com toda a solidariedade para com todas e todos aqueles que se estão a levantar na Turkia.

Once her sey bir gaz bulutuydu, sonra hayat basladi!

«Dear friends,

Everybody in Taksim is very happy, hopeful and motivated altough being tired. I wouldn’t have never believed that we could unite with all our differences and resist against the dictatorship. I cannot believe how fast people changed. We united at the barricades and now we are chancing our thoughts, lives and our spaces.

Resisting against the violent police forces was so important. At first we saw our power and stopped the violence together. It was the first step. Now we are on the second level which is maybe more important than the resistance at the barricades. At this level we are transforming the park into the alternative and unique place. Children are painting together, some are playing music, others are planting flower gardens, some drawing or doing communal art, some are doing yoga, reading books, making new friends, and everyone is helping out with something. We are non-stop cleaning 🙂 There are doctors, lawyers, a library, a vet here to give their services for free. People are so happy to be in a place where money does’t exist. Meanwhile the transformation of the park, we are doing workshops to figure out the common way of resisting.

I have never shared anything with the football fans/supporters. I have always thought they are very homophobic and sexist. When I saw supporters groups during the resistance, I got so surprised. They were still using very sexist and homophobic language. During the “fight” at the barricades some many people felt uncomfertable about the language but could’t come into the conflict with them. Then with the occupation, we started to talk about the homophobia and sexism with them. At the begining most of them were feminist and lgbt haters, now they are more careful about the language and they don’t hate feminists, lgbt people anymore.

This friday the prime minister made a very hateful speech again. i guess he cannot understand the situation at Taksim and in the other cities. It’s more than demanding resignation of the prime minister, more than asking a new government. It’s not only about the parliament. It’s more than it. It’s about our lives. We are building a new culture, new life here. We can see that we are making life better. We are supporting with each other and solving problems all together. That’s why everybody is coming Taksim after leaving their offices. Thousand of people sleeping at the square. When police attacks with gas, nobody leaves the square, although the terrible affects of the gas.

As a result we are here and we are still resisting. So far police violance has stopped. Friday was very peaceful day, finally our friends kicked the police from Kizilay square in Ankara. In the other cities people are on the squares as well. The prime minister still believes that he can win with the violence and bullying. But he will see that he can not.

A couple of days ago our american friend wrote this note to us: “Never in my life have I experienced a community like this, and after seeing the passion and determination of the Turkish people, it doesn’t look like this is going to go away. Of course there is always the threat of another attack by the police, but after seeing what I saw today, I don’t think the police have a chance. Once you feel the energy in Gezi Park, there is no amount of tear gas that can take that away. Although this is far from over, I think this may be what Turkey needed to remove that weight upon their shoulders. And I am proud to be a part of them!”

I’m proud to be a part of this resistance.

From Taksim, Gezi Park with resistance and solidarity,

zeynep özdal»

Outros relatos da insurreição turca aqui.

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