The 13th Istanbul Biennial, titled “Mom, Am I Barbarian?” (Sept. 14-Oct. 20) aims to examine the public domain as a political forum. A statement released by the organizers in January said that the exhibition would highlight art projects that “activate social engagement and public forums to generate the possibility of rethinking the concept of ‘publicness’.” It also stated that the [...] → Read the full article…
Next ‘chapullers’ of the ‘Chapullers Tell the Story of Gezi’series are LGBT individuals… They have been one of the trending topics due to their Gezi slogans and their discourses. Two of those chapullers, Şehriban and Harun, told insanhaber.com how they have taken their place in Gezi. One of the groundbreaking elements of Gezi Resistance was LGBT individuals. They put their [...] → Read the full article…
After the first week, the police intervention decreased considerably and Kordon was transformed into a liberated, ‘Police Free Zone.’ Therefore, it was easier to sit and talk. On the evening of May 31st, I and my parents were at a wedding. Gezi Park was not a significant issue on my agenda. How could it be, anyway? There was nothing extraordinary [...] → Read the full article…
Nowadays, land and inhabited spaces are images of the “money” that needs to augment itself through their use and market values. When I arrived in İstanbul, I immediately went to one of the forums held in the parks. I wanted to witness the point reached in the course of a month. The attendees’ contribution, enthusiasm, sincerity, seriousness, authenticity impressed me [...] → Read the full article…
Fethullah, 14, who fled domestic violence and took refuge in the Gezi Park encountered state violence this time. The police first fined him, then beat him, and finally shot him in the eye with a rubber bullet. “I saw the Gezi, it was beautiful” The Taksim Gezi Park, the symbol of the Gezi movement, hosted those whose “stories” were not [...] → Read the full article…
We went out on the streets. We liked our fists more when they were raised, we liked our voices better when they were multiplied with other voices. Puzzled, angry, we shouted. We were injured and murdered. Even so, we heightened our hope. Things were not all right in the country. At the break of dawn the tents of good people [...] → Read the full article…
“The resistance of revolutionaries and people will teach AKP a painful lesson” says Beycan Taşkıran, ESP Istanbul Provincial Executive, who had a rib fractured during the police attack which started on June 15th against the Gezi Park protests and who had been put in an airless jail cell for 4 days right after being detained. Beycan Taşkıran is a socialist [...] → Read the full article…
The country’s east and west are both resisting. “Long live the brotherhood of people” chants are echoing everywhere. It was a mistake to expect those in power to bring about peace, so now the people are taking over the process. We enter Taksim with slogans, folk songs, people bumping into each other and apologizing, chanting “Come, come, come!” and the [...] → Read the full article…
It was towards midnight when my students, once again, came to rescue me in the moment of devastation under the influence of gas; they found me sitting on the ground at the corner of a side-street… I had run out of Talcid solution and water. I was enormously excited when Bianet’s editorial director, Haluk Kalafat, first talked about the idea [...] → Read the full article…
Various soccer fan group members spoke up against government’s latest plans to ban political cheering in stadiums across Turkey. Considering the measures as an extension of AKP government’s ban mentality, Tek Yumruk and Sol Açık groups predict that soccer fans are very likely to use humor in the days to come. Bianet interviewed soccer fan groups Tek Yumruk and Sol [...] → Read the full article…