Istanbul, Turkey: Anarchist Banner and Sticker Actions against the Referendum

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Coordinated actions by anarchists in the eve of Referendum against dictatorship and democracy..

Some anarchist groups in Istanbul, organized coordinated actions against democracy and dictatorship in the context of Turkish constitutional referendum, and to salute ‘Coordination of Anarchist Groups’, which was declared by some anarchist groups last week. Anarchist groups in the neighnourhoods of Kadıkoy, Kucukcekmece, Umraniye, Sefakoy, Kasımpasa dropped banners and made stickers simultaneously.

On banners wrote; ‘Find Yourself, Organize, Fight! Yes to Insurrection, No to State!’ (Kadıköy), ‘Insurrection will not be something you expected!’ (Sefaköy ve Ümraniye), ‘State Manifactures War. Revolution Not Elections, Communes Not State!’ (Küçükçekmece), ‘Don’t be slaves, There is no authority, but yourself!’ (Ümraniye), ‘Neither Dictatorship, Nor Democracy, Insurrection, Revolution, Anarchy’ (Kasımpaşa).

Here is the statement of anarchist groups in complicity:

“AKP rule has no chance to escape from its collapse, though 16th April referendum would likely to pave the way for an extensive suppression of opposition in Turkey. On the other hand, a win for NO votes would just mean the maintenance of the status-quo. The biggest gain would be a morale boost for mainstream opposition which redesigned oppressor-oppressed conflict in shape of anti-AKP, anti-Erdoganism. Our responsibility is not to wait for collapse of powers but to organize and empower struggles that can take the system down.

‘Direct’ or ‘representative’ democratic order does not represent equality, freedom and revolutionary transformation. It degrades society’s revolutionary ideal into numbers though election system. Its perception and conscious are engineered by the highest class on hierarchy and it results in enthrallment of the society by the ‘will of majority.’ We regretfully see that many activists (including anti-authoritarians seeking for ‘direct democracy’) struggle in order to achieve a status in democratic order imposed by the sovereign not in order to start a grassroots movement. By looking at their attitudes in recent elections, we see a lot of anti-authoritarian people whose favourite word is ‘direct democracy’ designing their discourse and praxis around bourgeois parliament and working for electoral success of mainstream opposition parties by turning their back on revolutionary efforts. These compromising efforts are time and again proven to sign death warrant of potential revolutionary transformations in the history. We call all our comrades and anti-authoritarian, emancipatory friends once again:

Anarchy is neither a volatile dream nor a dogmatic world view. In contrast, anarchy realizes itself as long as individual brings it into existence. Demanding for freedom; destroying each and every link of oppression; overthrowing ones that exploit us, keep us hungry, leave us homeless, banish us, imprison us, murder us, numb us, divide us, make us fight; and creating a world that is based on equality, freedom and commune can only be enabled by keeping the focus of our discourse and activism here. ‘Democracy’ is not a short cut but sink of illusions, enabling the history of sovereigns to reproduce itself. Embrace anarchist struggle. Get organized, form alliances between anarchist/anti-authoritarian/emancipator groups, actualize projects, spread anarchist/anti-authoritarian principles among social movements but do not be assimilated within these movements. Do not let your revolutionary desire to be absorbed by ballot boxes or authoritarian/reformist left-wing circles; on the contrary, smash all compromise and reconciliation mechanisms. Instead of wasting your energy in short-cuts that turn it into a labyrinth, channel it into anarchy or total liberation causes. Be organized, organize, be coordinated, take action…

With these actions, we salute the recently announced “Anarchist Groups’ Coordination” that has been constituted by anarchist and anti-authoritarian groups with common experiences in the struggle. Having an organization and struggle experience is vital for these groups. Likewise, we send our support and solidarity wishes to captive anarchist comrades worldwide.

Anarchists against Dictatorship and Democracy

via insurrectionnewsworldwide.com