Abstract
This chapter is a comparative case study of (in)visible participation of LGBTI communities in the anti-governmental protests in Turkey and Ukraine in 2013–2014. It aims to explain the differences in the mobilization practices employed by LGBTI communities during protests that took place in similarly conservative and homophobic contexts. The chapter examines how the choice of collective action strategy shapes the opportunities for real political participation in social movements. Based on the examples of the Gezi protest in Turkey and the Maidan protest in Ukraine, this chapter argues that the use by LGBTI activists of a context-appropriate political discourse to raise demands enhances the movement’s capacities for building transnational networks and creates a possibility for ‘democratization from below’.
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Notes
- 1.
By saying “new social movements” I refer to newly mobilized in the twentieth century collectivities reacting to “new grievances of postindustrial society” (Habermas 1984) such as LGBTI movement, animal rights movement, occupy movement, feminist movement, etc.
- 2.
Throughout the chapter, the term LGBTI will be used to refer to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, or otherwise queer. This option is chosen as identical to the version used in the documents of the European Union, and opts for the shorter acronym to represent the larger community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, pansexual, or otherwise queer/questioning individuals (Rohrich 2015).
- 3.
Such evaluation is made based on ILGA Europe annual reports on Turkey and Ukraine, available online: http://www.ilga-europe.org/sites/default/files/Attachments/annual_review_2016-for_web.pdf.
- 4.
Due to confidentiality reasons the names of the interviewees have been changed. However, with their agreement I provide the real name of the organization they represented (if any).
- 5.
I heard this story in a slightly varying interpretation from different interviewees and also came across it on the Internet. It seems that it acquired symbolic importance for some participants of stressing the tolerant attitudes and acceptance among protesters.
- 6.
Konda Gezi Report “Public perception of the ‘Gezi protests’. Who were the people at Gezi Park?” June 5, 2014, retrieved from www.konda.com.tr.
- 7.
It is important to note that after this chapter had been written, the years 2015 and 2016 were marked in Turkey by a serious backlash against LGBTI community, as the Pride marches in those years were dissolved with the usage of police force and violence. While this chapter does not cover this period, the backlash against sexual minorities, which is highly likely to be related to the active participation of LGBTI people in anti-government campaigns, is to be further explored and discussed.
- 8.
Most often referred to as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Atatürk (Father of Turks).
- 9.
The mentioning Atatürk comes already in the Preamble to the Constitution of Turkey where he is referred to as “the immortal leader and the unrivalled hero”.
- 10.
Due to the word count restriction, I will limit myself here by quoting Ataturk’s words: “Can one name a single nation that has not turned to the West in its quest for civilization?” from a statement to French writer Maurice Pernot, October 29, 1923 as quoted in Mango, Andrew. 2002. “Ataturk: The Biography of the founder of Modern Turkey” Overlook Books (August 26, 2002), p. 539.
- 11.
See, for instance, Hurriyet Daily news “Protection for gay rights vetoed” as of September 14th 2012.
- 12.
The word “Maidan” is used to refer to the territory of Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in the center of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. It used to be named after the October Revolution since 1977 and got its current name after the fall of the Soviet Union together with the independence of the state of Ukraine. Since then, the space has been used for political collective action (for example, “Ukraine without Kuchma” in 2000–2001). However, it was only in 2004 that Maidan emerged as a symbol of unity of Ukrainian people in the course of realization of popular will. After the success of the Orange Revolution “Maidan” became a concept used by politicians, sometimes as an argument or a threat, in power competition.
- 13.
Of course, in the conditions of heavy winter, living among barricades and expecting police to attack any night, it was not the case that anyone in the camp would care about the sexual orientation of the people fighting for the same reasons next to her or him. Nevertheless, it makes sense to discuss the reasons that made LGBTI people stay in the shadow and not display rainbow flags or any other LGBTI symbols.
- 14.
For example, Internet memes, pictures, and articles in various ways bringing together homosexuality and European aspirations of Ukraine and Maidan were quite popular among some Internet users. Such publications often employed disdainful reference to Europe as to “Gayrope.”
- 15.
LGBTI activists supported this statement by the copies of screen-shots of social media networks posts.
- 16.
This was the name of Cossack’s detachments containing 80–150 warriors at Sich. The word “Sich” has no literal translation and comes from the times of The Zaporizhian Sich, existing in sixteenth to eighteenth-century fortresses and settlements of Cossacks, free people on the territory of modern Ukraine and Russia, who were members of self-governed military communities. Having played an important role in the historical and cultural development of Ukraine, they became symbols of freedom and independence. It is difficult now to define after which point exactly the residents of the camp started to compare it to Sich, yet at later stages of the camp’s existence both in the interviews that I conducted and in the official interviews and articles in Ukrainian media the comparison with the old Sich and Cossack’s practices came up more and more often.
- 17.
I would like, at the same time, to refer to the research of Onuch and Martsenyuk (2014). The authors argue that even though the perception of many participants and observers portrayed women in a traditionally more passive, ‘feminine’ way, it was far from the reality. They bring up numerous cases of women’s active participation in the camp’s defense, political action, decision-making, etc.
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Shevtsova, M. (2017). Queering Gezi and Maidan: Instrumentalization and Negotiation of Sexuality Within the Protest Movement. In: Arbatli, E., Rosenberg, D. (eds) Non-Western Social Movements and Participatory Democracy. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51454-3_6
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