Subramaniam was among four journalists who were conferred with the honour for their powerful reportage in the face of violence and conflict.
Scroll.in contributor Malini Subramaniam on Monday was named a recipient of an International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The CPJ chose to award four journalists, from Egypt, India, Turkey and El Salvador, this year, noting that they have risked their freedom – and their lives – to report to their societies and the global community about critical news events.
Subramanian has reported from the Maoist belt in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, facing threats and censure from authorities for her articles on human rights violations by the security forces. In February, a group of protesters threatened to attack her, hurling stones at her house and inciting her neighbours. She was forced to move out of her home, drawing widespread outrage and also support from lawyers, journalists and rights advocates. Subramaniam’s experiences and reportage helped bring to national attention the authoritarian crackdown on journalists operating in Bastar.
Some of the pieces Subramaniam has written for Scroll.in can be read here.
The other three winners are freelance photographer Mahmoud Abou Zeid (Shawkan) from Egypt, editor-in-chief of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet Can Dündar and investigative reporter Óscar Martínez from El Salvador. The CPJ will also confer the The Burton Benjamin Memorial Award on CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour for "for extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom."
The carnage in France's Mediterranean resort shows, yet again, a profound failure to understand ISIS and groups like them. Military solutions are not the answer — we need new policy on global security.
A police officer watches people gathering around a floral tribute for the victims killed during a deadly attack, on the famed Boulevard des Anglais in Nice, southern France, July 17, 2016. Laurent Cipriani /Press Association. All rights reserved.
Another attack hit French soil last week, confirming that the country is at present Europe's number-one terrorism hotspot. At around 10.30pm, a large white truck was driven by a young man for two kilometres along the packed Promenade des Anglais in the French Riviera city of Nice, crushing everyone in its way.
The result was a massacre in which at last 84 people, including several children, died. They had gathered to watch the fireworks display on France's national day. Hundreds of people were also injured, some of them very seriously. The driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old French-Tunisian resident in Nice, was shot dead inside the vehicle. Bouhlel was known to the police for petty crimes, but not to the intelligence services.
The circumstances of this carnage, in a popular resort near the peak of the holiday season, carry high symbolism. For Nice was commemorating the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, the foundational event of the French revolution. The day also marks the Fȇte de la Fédération in 1790, celebrating the end of tyrannical rule and the beginning of republican monarchy. The massacre was thus perpetrated at a moment when the unity of the French nation, and the three tenets of its republican motto —liberté, égalité, fraternité — are of special significance.
There is still a lack of understanding of why these actions continue and of what al-Qaida, ISIS and other Islamist paramilitary groups really are.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacre in Nice, saying a 'soldier' carried out the attack. In the last few weeks the group has repeatedly called for such attacks. Moreover, ISIS media channels soon began to release celebratory statements and other material about what happened in Nice. The same hashtags used to post updates on Twitter, #Pray for Nice and #Nice06, have been used by ISIS supporters to flood Twitter with pro-ISIS propaganda. For example, the following notice was posted on the al-minbar forum: “This is the beginning of the attack to take holy revenge for the killing of Abu Omar Shishani, may Allah accept him”.
The radicalisation lens Nice is the latest of many massacres that, since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, have contributed to the global state of insecurity being experienced worldwide. Yet there is still a lack of understanding of why these actions continue and of what al-Qaida, ISIS and other Islamist paramilitary groups really are.
To remedy that, there needs to be profound and critical reflection on the failure to understand these phenomena. One of the biggest obstacles to understanding is to be found in the fact that both experts and laypeople tend to view groups like ISIS as an existential threat in its own right. However, as Paul Rogers suggests in many of his openDemocracy columns, such groups should rather be seen as symptoms of a much bigger and more complex situation characterised by irregular warfare.
In this light, al-Qaida, ISIS and similar paramilitary groups reflect a wider global insecurity whose real drivers, in Rogers's words, are: “deepening socio-economic divisions, which lead to the relative marginalisation of most people across the world, and the prospect of profound and lasting environmental constraints, caused by climate change. ISIS, in short, should be seen as a warning of what could be to come, not as a fundamental trend in its own right”.
Rogers emphasises that “ISIS is an example of a revolt from the margins”. That is why there is not and cannot be a military solution to terrorism. Today, it now widely in both academic and policy circles that the so-called "war on terror" has brought far more harm than good. But hard military approaches to counter-terrorism continue to be prevalent worldwide, while soft-power approaches remain the exception rather than the rule.
To be fair, European and American policymakers have shown a lot of interest in counter-radicalisation policies aimed at preventing violent extremism among targeted (mainly Muslim) groups. But most of these policies have been badly designed and implemented, and as such they undermined the trust of Muslim communities. By making the latter feel stigmatised, these policies had the opposite effect to those intended. Here, the problem resides in the way ‘radicalisation’ is understood.
More effort should be made to understand the wider picture—or to use a medical metaphor, the social disease of which the now frequent attacks are a symptom.
Simon Cottee argues that radicalisation is seen: “as a gradual process in which people adopt ever more extreme postures and beliefs. […] ‘Radicalization,’ viewed from this perspective, is a process of self-transformation, where the transformed person comes to view themselves and the outside world in a fundamentally different light. […] The assumption is that while not all radicals become terrorists, all terrorists are radicals.” But, Cottee continues, recent cases seem to challenge this assumption and raise troubling questions: “What if they were not ‘radicalised’ and underwent no dramatic metamorphosis at all?”, and “What if the script of terrorism doesn’t always feature the drama of radicalization?”
The wider picture Different scholars and analysts have given very diverse explanations of the genesis of terrorist acts and the drivers behind them. All probably have elements of truth, but none fully grasps which social and psychological paths push individuals to take action in the name of a violent extremist organisation.
After events such as Nice, the need for a profound and critical rethinking of the current counter-terrorism approach is more pressing than ever. A good start would be for policymakers and academics to admit that the current global security situation is extremely complex, and that there are no quick fixes.
It should also be made explicit once for all that a kinetic approach to counter-terrorism is not and will not be the solution. Instead, more effort should be made to understand the wider picture—or to use a medical metaphor, the social disease of which the now frequent attacks are a symptom. On that foundation, the real challenge is to devise effective and sustainable strategies able to reverse the hard military approach that has dominated counter-terrorism up to now.
(Valentina Bartolucci is adjunct lecturer at the University of Pisa, Italy)
Yoga has offered the Indian state unprecedented opportunities for global, media-savvy political performance. In recent years, the nation has made international headlines by creating a national ministry for yoga.
It has promoted yoga tourism; staged mass yoga practices and Indian officials have even proposed yoga as a national solution to an astonishing range of social problems, from reducing rape to curing cancer.
AYUSH, the Indian ministry responsible for yoga, has recently gotten into the music business, releasing Yog Geet as the official song for this year’s International Day of Yoga.
But, as yoga has gone global, the cultural meanings of yoga have spiralled far and wide. While Indian politicians have suggested that yoga will tame rates of sexual assault, US lawmakers have tried to ban “yoga pants” under indecent exposure laws. Yog Geet will have to compete internationally with dozens of yoga-inspired albums in the West.
Yoga’s global popularity is useful for the Indian state, which uses it to employ soft power. But this popularity can be a double-edged sword. Identifying yoga as “Indian” may increasingly be an uphill battle.
In the ongoing battle over the question of “who owns yoga,” one of the most interesting trends has been the emerging voice of the Indian diaspora. Artists and writers of Indian ancestry are offering new and often provocative points of view on yoga’s origins, its meanings, and its cultural work in a globalizing world.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga during World Yoga Day in Chandigarh, India, June 21, 2016. Ajay Verma/Reuter
The Indian American artist Chiraag Bhakta, who goes by the pseudonym of *Pardon My Hindi, has made visually stunning installations about yoga. These works invite viewers to reflect on the racial and economic hierarchies of globalising yoga.
His 2009 artwork #whitepeopledoingyoga formed part of a recent Smithsonian Museum exhibition on yoga and visual culture. It collects decades of magazine covers, posters, and pictures of yoga in the West. Covering a towering wall, these images loom over the viewer – asking us to contemplate how small images become part of larger patterns of cultural power.
#WhitePeopleDoingYoga
In #whitepeopledoingyoga, stereotypes of South Asia as an otherworldly place abound. Deities both exotic and available for Western use, press in on the viewer. So too do histories of Western commercialisation. Viewers of #whitepeopledoingyoga are asked to think about who has made money from the global popularity of yoga – and who has not.
Pardon My Hindi writes in his artist’s statement accompanying the piece:
In the end, I feel compelled to draw parallels with industrial colonization by the same dominant voice that is now adding another conquest to its collection. Meet the new founders of YOGA™.Yet not all of the Indian diaspora has been quite as critical of the circuits of globalisation and consumerism that have brought contemporary yoga around the world. Others have, instead, seen that relationship as a source of possibility.
This approach appears in novels like those of the writer Bapsy Jain, whose Indian heroine Lucky uses her training in yoga to find the superpowers she needs to survive a life of global crime and cutthroat capitalism in the US.
People practise yoga at a glass sightseeing platform ahead of the International Day of Yoga, on the outskirts of Beijing. Chinese Stringer Network/Reuters
Blending chick lit with murder mystery, Jain’s work presents yoga as a powerful tool for Indian women navigating stormy seas of romance and business. In such fiction, yoga is not so much a practice that opposes consumer culture. Instead, it becomes a practice that helps an individual survive the often nasty search for profit.
Other writers from the Indian diaspora have sought to use yoga-themed popular fiction as a way to promulgate particular Indian philosophies and mythologies. The writer Mohan Ashtakala, who identifies himself as a Hindu priest based in Canada, recently published an adventure novel in this vein called The Yoga Zapper (2015).
This time-travel adventure dramatises a perfect past where yogis meditated in harmony with the grand principles of the cosmos. This ideal, the author suggests, can be found both in South Asian scriptures and in Western fantasies.These works from the Indian diaspora all, in their different ways, draw attention to the role of “India” in shaping yoga. They speak out against the potential exploitation of Indian cultural capital for white Western gain.
They develop their own stories, in which yoga plays a part in a globalised commercial world. And they remind us that the wild worlds of imagination, superpower, and fantasy are part of how India has contributed to the yoga of today.
(Author is Fellow, Department of Gender, Media and Cultural Studies, School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University)
Stop War on Adivasis, says the banner at Devraj Hall in Mumbai, as people from different walks of life, the elderly, students from colleges and professionals gather to listen to the voices from Bastar.
Chhattisgarh is in turmoil, with tribals being thrown into jail with false charges or worse, being killed in fake encounters. But even as the state continues to try and suppress and criminalize all voices from Bastar, there are many who continue to risk their lives daily to ensure that amid the Acche Dins, the voices of the people of Bastar are heard, somewhere, somehow.
Mainstream media has always been silent and largely ignores the atrocities committed by the state in Bastar, even as news sources fervently reported the Prime Minister’s visit to Chhattisgarh, only to sign MoUs in the state, without the people’s consent. Consent, it seems, has been long forgotten by the state.
Take the example of Raigarh, for instance, 26000 acres of fertile land was given to corporates, without consent of the people. Those who try to protest and raise their voices against such land grabs are quickly met with consequences such as harassments, threats and false arrests under the guise of them being Maoists.
Justice Prabhakar Gwal, Ex-CJM of Sukma district was also present at the event, one of the few judges that support the people’s struggle against the systematic oppression by the state, has himself been subject to threats, harassment and violence by the state and its’ agents, like many other government officials who try to help the people of Bastar.
Linga Kodopi, Journalist and Activist from Bastar, spoke of his journey of becoming a journalist and activist in response to what he had been witnessing. Kodopi was actively involved in the people’s struggle in Bastar and was arrested and tortured by the police, spent many days locked up in filthy conditions and faced repeated torture from police officials.
Kodopi started following incidents of state oppression in Bastar and would immediately go to affected districts to investigate in-depth, and became a strong voice against the injustices of the state in Bastar. Kodopi shared first hand experiences from the ground, separating facts from fiction as he recounted the incidents surrounding the ‘encounter’ of Makdam Hidme, police brutality towards her and those who tried to protect her and the malice with which she was murdered. He also talked about Salwa Judum, its’ spread across 5 camps in Bastar and Dantewada, who played a major role in many atrocities reported across the state, including the attack on Soni Sori and threatening members of JagLAG (Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group)
“ …From mid 2015, the Police has been rounding up hundreds and detaining young Adivasi men in special security camps for days. Some have been beaten and released, others officially arrested and many are still missing. Mass detentions were followed by ‘mass surrenders’, as police claimed they surrendered voluntarily. Local accounts suggest otherwise. Surrenders were followed by encounters, and as the death toll continued to rise, people were confronted with mass rapes by uniformed personnel..” —Bastar Solidarity Network, Mumbai
Tales from Bastar are too many to recount, and the number people whose lives have been destroyed and turned upside-down because of the cruelty of security forces and the state of Chattisgarh are even more. Stories of children being killed, of the elderly being abused, of the women being raped and mutilated continue to turn up in the warzone that Bastar has become. Activists from Bastar call to the civil society to raise their collective voices; it is time to speak up for Bastar!
[Sabrangindia is also publishing pictures received from survivors from the Kashmir Vallley, pictures that tell the story of the horrific violence perpetuated on women, children and men through the excessive use of force by police and security personnel in the valley in the interests of truth-telling and justice]
Image from the Kashmir Valley, July 2016
Shah Faesal: By juxtaposing my photos with the images of a slain militant commander, a section of national media has once again fallen back upon its conventional savagery that cashes on falsehoods, divides people and creates more hatred.
At a moment when Kashmir is mourning its dead, the propaganda and provocation being dished out from red and blue newsrooms is breeding more alienation and anger in Kashmir than what the Indian state can manage.
Personal vulnerability apart, the very fact of becoming a part of a ridiculous debate is something which has disturbed me very much. Have I joined IAS to do a job or to become a part of your sadistic propaganda machine? In fact, when I qualified this exam I never thought of spending my whole life scratching the desk and if this nonsense around me continues, I might prefer to resign sooner than later.
Image from the Kashmir Valley, July 2016
I am adding to what my younger colleague Yasin Chaudhary had said earlier in his Facebook post. Zee News, Aaj Tak, Times Now and NewsX are not going to tell you the truth about Kashmir. Please mind your head.
And then, when a state kills and maims its own citizens, it’s self-injury and self-decimation of the worst sort. No Government can distance itself from the pain of its people and all out efforts are being made to contain this crisis and reach out to youth. It is going to take time.
Image from the Kashmir Valley, July 2016
Till then we have to steer safe from spoilers who want to set Kashmir valley on fire just for the sake of TRP.
Image from the Kashmir Valley, July 2016
Let’s pray for those who lost their lives and their eyesight in the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir and stand by one another in this moment of truth. I didn’t have net access all this while and today once I saw my timeline, I realised it was the time to speak up.
Inalillahi wa Ina-ilaihi rajioon. (Surely we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return).
(Shah Faesal became the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exam in 2010. The content above first appeared on his Facebook page).
The Modi Government is trying to scuttle reservation of OBC students in admissions at various centrally funded institutes. While trying to capitalise on the issue of the OBC identity electorally (2014 Lok Sabha Elections and 2016 state elections) it is, when it comes to representation of OBCs within universities, clearly indulging in doublespeak.
Besides the Modi government and the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), have also notified draconian unjustifiable office order of the University Grants Commission (UGC)- bearing F.No.59-6/2012 (CU)– dated June 3, 2016 — which stipulates central universities in India to implement OBC reservations in the recruitment of teachers only at the level of Assistant Professor. Interestingly, for the same faculty recruitment in IIT, OBC reservation is applicable for all the three levels: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor.
The Social Justice March scheduled to be held during the current session of Parliament has demanded a rollback of this unjustified office order issued by UGC.The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have been subjected to multiple forms of marginalities, not least of being adequate representation in academic institutions. The United OBC Forum that has been constituted, is a socio-cultural platform of young students and aims to resolve the issue of non-representation/non-implementation of OBC reservation by various government educational institutions.
Parliament Debates on OBC Representation in Academia On the crucial issue of vacancies in the OBC quota within educational institutions, Samajwadi Party(SP) member of Parliament, Dharmendra Yadav had squarely put the Modi government in the dock earlier this year. [First Published on Mar 14, 2016: Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav commenting on HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s reply over reservation to OBCs in Central Universities]
In reply to his question, the government of India had provided figures to him that related to the number of OBCs within academia in the Central Universities. These are:
♦ In the Central Universities of the 2371 positions for the post of ‘Professors’ there is only one OBC ♦ In the Central Universities, of the 4708 positions for associate professors only 6 belong to the OBCs ♦ In the Central Universities, of the 9521 positions for assistant professors, only 1745 belong to the OBCs
The Mandal Recommendations are clearly not being followed. They said that 27 per cent reservations should be applied within the Central Universities as well.
It is within this backdrop that the United OBC Forum has organized Social Justice March to Parliament. Mobilization of people from different parts of India has taken place. This movement has got participation by the people from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In the wake of preparation of the march, members of United OBC Forum have met leaders from different political parties and affiliations: Leaders like Mr. Sharad Yadav, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mr. Upendra Kushwaha, Mr. Tejasvi Yadav, Mr. V Hanumantha Rao have been lending support on this issue.
इन दिनों कई अख़बार और चैनल कश्मीर में मारे गये हिजबुल कमांडर बुरहान वानी और 2009 में आईएएस परीक्षा टॉप करने वाले शाह फैसल की तुलना कर रहे हैं। कश्मीर में तैनात शाह फ़ैसल ने इसे राष्ट्रीय मीडिया के एक हिस्से का जंगलीपन करा देते हुए एक फ़ेसबुक पोस्ट लगाई है। उन्होंने जो लिखा है, उसका अनुवाद यहाँ पेश है—
"राष्ट्रीय मीडिया के एक हिस्से ने एक मारे गए लड़ाके की तुलना में मेरी तस्वीर सामने रखकर एक बार फिर अपना जंगलीपन ज़ाहिर कर दिया है। मीडिया इस हरकत से सिर्फ झूठ, आपसी दरार और नफ़रत को बढ़ावा दे रहा है।
अभी जब पूरा कश्मीर यहां हुई मौतों पर मातम कर रहा है, तब लाल और नीले न्यूज़रूम से सिर्फ दुष्प्रचार और उन्माद निकल रहा है। इसकी वजह से कश्मीर में अलगाव और गुस्सा बढ़ रहा है जिसे भारत सरकार संभाल सकता है।
मेरी निजी तकलीफों से इतर, तस्वीरें लगाकर की जा रही घटिया बहसों ने मुझे बुरी तरह परेशान किया है। क्या मैंने आइएएस सिर्फ एक नौकरी के लिए ज्वाइन किया था या फिर आपकी प्रोपगंडा मशीनरी का हिस्सा होने के लिए ?
सच तो ये है कि जब मैंने ये एग्ज़ाम क्वालिफाई किया था तब भी अपनी पूरी ज़िंदगी बैठकर डेस्क रगड़ने के बारे में नहीं सोचा था लेकिन अगर ऐसी मूर्खताएं मेरे आसपास होती रहीं तो मैं बहुत जल्द इस्तीफ़ा देना पसंद करूंगा।
मैं उसी बयान को दोहरा रहा हूं जो मेरे जूनियर साथी यासीन चौधरी ने इससे पहले अपनी फेसबुक पोस्ट में कहा था। उन्होंने लिखा है, 'ज़ी न्यूज़, आजतक, टाइम्स नाऊ और न्यूज़ एक्स आपको कश्मीर की सच्चाई नहीं बताएंगे। मेहरबानी करके अपने दिमाग़ पर ज़ोर डालें।
कोई भी सरकार अपने नागरिकों को चोट नहीं पहुँचाना चाहेगी, और जब राज्य अपने ही नागरिकों को मारता-अपाहिज बनाता है तो दरअसल वह खु़द को ज़ख़्मी और बरबाद करता है। कोई भी सरकार अपने ही नागरिकों के इस दर्द से खुद को अलग नहीं कर सकती और इस संकट से पार पाने के लिए कोशिशें हो रही हैं और इसमें वक्त लगने जा रहा है।
तब तक हमें ऐसे आग लगाऊ गिरोहों से बचकर रहना होगा जो सिर्फ टीआरपी हासिल करने के लिए कश्मीर को आग के हवाले कर देना चाहते हैं।
आइए, उनके लिए दुआ करें जिन्होंने इस उत्पात में अपनी जान और आँखों की रौशनी गँवा दी है। आइए, कंधे से कंधा मिलाकर सच के साथ खड़े होते हैं। मेरे पास इंटरनेट की सुविधा नहीं है लेकिन आज जब मैंने अपनी टाइमलाइन देखी तो मुझे एहसास हुआ कि अब मुझे चुप्पी तोड़नी चाहिए। इन्ना लिल्लाही वा इन्ना-इलाही राजिऊन।"
(शाह फैसल ने 2009 में यूपीएससी की परीक्षा टॉप की थी। वह कुपवाड़ा के रहने वाले हैं और चरमपंथियों ने उनके शिक्षक पिता की उस वक्त हत्या कर दी थी जब फैसल महज़ 9 साल के थे। फैसल फिलहाल शिक्षा विभाग, जम्मू-कश्मीर के निदेशक हैं।)
ज़रा एक नज़र देखिये कि 'राष्ट्रवादी' किस तरह तुलना कर रहे हैं–
We are witnessing the consolidation of a new form of authoritarianism with a populist streak.
Damage caused by military helicopter bombardments inside Turkey's parliament near the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, July 16, 2016. Burhan Ozbilici / Press Association. All rights reserved.
On the evening of July 15, 2016, a friend called around 10:30pm and said that both bridges connecting the Asian and European sides of Istanbul were closed by military barricades. Moreover, military jets were flying over Ankara skies. As someone living on the European side of Istanbul and commuting to the Asian side to my university on a daily basis and spending many hours in traffic in order to do that, I immediately knew that the closure of both bridges was a sign of something very extraordinary taking place.
To confirm the news about the military jets over Ankara, I called my parents in Ankara. They answered the phone in a panic. I could hear military jets from the other end of the phone. Not surprisingly, my 86-year-old parents had experienced military coups in Turkey before. As I was talking breathlessly with my Dad, my Mum murmured from the other line calmly but firmly: “this seems like a coup d'état.” From that point onwards, all hell broke loose especially in Ankara and Istanbul. The death toll in less than 24 hours after the coup attempt in Turkey is over 200. There are thousand of people who are wounded. Twitter and facebook became inaccessible during the early hours. The tv channels started broadcasting live from Ankara and Istanbul: yet, they were not sure what was going on at the outset.
Shortly after, the military released a statement saying that the “military has seized all power in Turkey” through the state tv channel TRT. That is when I could not stop my tears, for memories flocked back of the September 12, 1980 coup d'état when a similar announcement was made. I had experienced that coup as a student in one of the most politically active universities in the country, the Middle East Technical University. The memories, as for many people of my generation, were painful.
Last nail in the coffin of critical thought
Within two hours, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was live on FaceTime on Turkish CNN (CNN Türk). His face could be seen on tv screens as it appeared on the phone held in the hand of the CNN Türk anchor. He issued a statement in this manner and urged the people to go to the public squares and the airport and defend the nation. Soon afterwards, there were echoes of calls to prayer from multiple minarets although it was not prayer time. I read later that there were also calls for action by Imams against the military urging people to take to the streets.
Joining the echo of the calls to prayers were the loud noises of military jets flying over Istanbul skies. The combination of these sounds made me think that yes, these were the sounds of the funeral of free speech, critical thinking, and any other remnants of liberal democratic process in Turkey. I realized in fear and agony that whether the coup was successful or not, one thing was certain: there would no longer be room in Turkey for people who can listen, read, analyze, and think critically. With the siren-like echoes of calls to prayer and military jets, Turkey was becoming a land only for true believers.
This did not happen suddenly. With the crackdown on media, academic freedoms, random arrests, and the increasing violence in the southeast provinces, citizens in Turkey have been facing major limitations on their basic freedoms for the past few years. The attempted coup d'état of July 15 is like the last nail in the coffin. Lying dead in the coffin was the courage to use one’s own understanding (as in Sapere Aude) that relentlessly resisted the rising tide of categorical thinking typical of true believers.
Sight of a parliament in ruins
The damage that was inflicted on the parliament building in Ankara was huge. Many of its major halls and corridors are in ruins. The sight was reminiscent of the Reichstag fire in Germany that took place on February 27, 1933, about a month after Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor. The similarities are not limited to the visible damage of both parliament buildings. The Reichstag fire was also a last nail in the coffin of the possibility of basic freedoms as well as critical thinking in Germany. On the evening of the Reichstag fire, Chancellor Hitler was relaxing at a dinner party in Joseph Goebbels’ home. The fire was soon blamed on a demented Dutch Communist named Marinus van der Lubbe who had a record of crimes of arson. The reality behind the Reichstag fire was not even clarified during the Nuremberg trials. Still, there was a lot of evidence that pointed to the responsibility of the Nazis behind it. But what was important was not so much who set fire to the Reichstag but rather what came out of it.
On the day following the Reichstag fire, juridical order was suspended by the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State (Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat). The decree involved the suspension of seven sections of the Constitution which guaranteed individual and civil liberties. The decree authorized the government to take complete control in the federal states and impose the death penalty for a number of crimes. In fact, Goering wanted to hang the arsonist on the spot right after his arrest. Today, I heard one journalist ask the Prime Minister on live television whether they were thinking of bringing back the death penalty in the aftermath of the attempt at a coup d'état. The Prime Minister responded by saying that they will consider every need for extra preventive measures. He also seemed to praise the violent mobs who took to the streets to oppose thecoup d'état.
The Decree following the Reichstag Fire led to emergency measures that created a state of exception. It suspended the personal liberties listed in the Weimar Constitution, including the rights of personal freedom, freedom of opinion, freedom of the press, freedom of organization and assembly, and privacy of communication. The Decree was followed by the Enabling Act (23 March 1933) which enabled the cabinet to enact laws without the participation of the Reichstag. In sum, it led to the consolidation of the Nazi regime (See: Ayşe Kadıoğlu “Necessity and State of Exception: Turkish State's Permanent War with its Kurdish Citizens” in Riva Kastoryano (ed), Turkey Between Nationalism and Globalization, Routledge, 2013). There are already signs of the suspension of the juridical order with dozens of members of the Council of State and Court of Cassation taken into custody in less that 24 hours after the coup état attempt.
I could not help but remember the days when the expression “consolidation” denoted the consolidation of democracy and the issues surrounding it in the literature on democratization in Turkey. After July 15, we now talk about the consolidation of a new type of authoritarianism in Turkey. Some call it competitive authoritarianism (See; Berk Esen and Sebnem Gumuscu, “RisingCompetitive Authoritarianism in Turkey,” Third World Quarterly, 19 February 2016).
Fascism: conservatism made popular and plebeian
There is no doubt that we are witnessing the consolidation of a new form of authoritarian regime with a populist streak. I cannot help but remember a quote by Barrington Moore (Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Beacon Press, Boston, 1966 [1993], p.447): “…fascism is inconceivable without democracy or what is sometimes more turgidly called the entrance of the masses onto the historical stage. Fascism was an attempt to make reaction and conservatism popular and plebeian, through which conservatism, of course, lost the substantial connection it did have with freedom…”.
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