Are ‘Standing Man’ Silent Protests The Future Of Nonviolent Resistance?

‘Standing man’ protests are going viral across Turkey in a silent show of resistance amidst government raids on the country’s expanding uprisings.

Sarah Lazare
By Sarah Lazare

'Standing man' protests are going viral across Turkey in a silent show of resistance amidst violent government raids on the country's expanding uprisings. It started with one man who stood silently in Turkey's embattled Taksim Square Monday, facing the Ataturk Cultural Center which is cloaked in Turkish flags and images of Kemal

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Turkey: Labor Unions Strike To Protest Police Crackdown

Unions in Turkey called on their 800,000 workers to strike in protest of the overnight police crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia

Turkish labor unions urged their 800,000 members to walk out in a one-day nationwide strike after police forcibly evicted protesters from Istanbul's Gezi park and detained almost 500 people in an overnight crackdown. The Confederation of Public Workers' Unions (KESK), the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK), and other groups

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Turkish Authorities Say They’re Open To Referendum To End Protests

The announcement following talks between Erdogan and a group of activists amounts to the first big gesture by his government to end a standoff with protesters.

Associated Press
By Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey — The Turkish government is open to holding a referendum over an Istanbul development plan that has had a central role in nearly two weeks of mass protests, a spokesman for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party said Wednesday. The announcement following talks between Erdogan and a group of activists amounts to the first big

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Not Oil-Rich Or A Threat To Israel? Your Country Isn’t Newsworthy

Of course U.S. cable news won’t cover the protests in Turkey — that would reveal the difference between what our leaders say about the world and how the world actually is.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh

As this is being written late on a Monday evening, Turkish riot police are once again attacking the protesters occupying Istanbul’s Taksim Square with tear gas and batons wielded by jack-booted cops. This news is brought to me online by way of Al-Jazeera and BBC News, but a quick scan of cable television news channels reveals little or no

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Turkish Riot Police Gain Ground In Istanbul Street Battles

Police swept through Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Tuesday morning, forcing protesters to withdraw into nearby Gezi Park.

Jessica Phelan
By Jessica Phelan

Hundreds of Turkish riot police stormed early on Tuesday into Taksim Square, the central Istanbul plaza that has been occupied by anti-government protesters for almost two weeks. Officers fired water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets, witnesses said, prompting many protesters to retreat into nearby Gezi Park. Other activists reportedly threw

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In The Space Opened By #OccupyGezi, Turks Call Out Erdogan For Stoking Violence In Syria

Protesters have created a space where long-silenced ideas and beliefs now can be discussed in the open.

Martin Michaels and Wyatt Miller
By Martin Michaels and Wyatt Miller

For a social movement identifying itself as inclusive and non-ideological, many political analysts have been especially quick to reduce the demonstrations in Turkey to a variety of common denominators and binaries: secularism versus Islamism, democracy versus tyranny, left versus right. But as the protests in Istanbul and across Turkey continue

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