Thursday, June 20, 2013

civil disobedience



On Monday night, a man named Erdem Gündüz stopped in the middle of Taksim Square and silently stood, facing the Atatürk Cultural Centre. He stood for eight hours. Soon, hundreds of protesters joined in and just... stood. On the first night, several were arrested by the police who are now a permanent fixture— occupying the park and every possible entrance to the Square. This new form of civil disobedience has spread like wild fire throughout the country, stopping people in their tracks for five minutes at the very least, to hours on end. I was at a tea garden in Cihangir on Wednesday night, and it was an awe-inspiring thing to see the people around me, at the stroke of 8 PM, rise up out of their seats and stand as still as statues. A reporter with a cameraman attempted to interview the standers, but no one budged or uttered a word.

This has been going on for three days.

3 comments:

Vicky said...

This is a very powerful way to make a statement.

dinahmow said...

May it have the desired effect, without brutality and bloodshed.

szaza said...

It is very powerful, and I hope it continues... definitely without the brutality!