Abstract
In this chapter, we take as a point of observation the 2013 Occupy movement in Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park to discuss practices of citizenship in the contemporary neoliberal city. Through study of this urban contestation, we find that beyond the invited spaces of participation, invented spaces of activism play a critical role in asserting citizens’ rights to the city and counter-development of exclusionary urban projects. Our special focus is with the symbolic and performative aspects of strategies that activists use to resist aggressively market-based urban development projects. We highlight these innovative forms of action as effective insurgent practices of citizenship with specific urban development outcomes.
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Notes
- 1.
According to the survey conducted among the Gezi Park protesters, 58.1 % of the protesters were at the site in defence of their liberties, 37.2 % were there to protest the government, and 30.3 % were there to protest the prime minister’s attitude and statements. Only 20.4 % mentioned the protection of the park as their primary reason to join the protests (KONDA 2014). Thus, a significant portion of the Gezi Park protesters declared restrictions on liberties, government interference in their personal/daily lives, and the prime minister’s authoritarian rule as their reason for joining the protests (Taştan 2013).
- 2.
Ministry of the Interior, cited by the Human Right Foundation of Turkey (http://arsiv1.tihv.org/index.php?gezi-park-eylemleri-bilgi-notu-5-temmuz-2013)
- 3.
Istanbul Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Regional Board Decision [Istanbul II Numarali Kultur ve Tabiat Varliklarini Koruma Bolge Kurulu karari] (http://www.mimarist.org/images/pdfler/EK_2_09Subat2011_II_Nolu_Kurul.jpg)
- 4.
Taksim Platform was initially formed by academics in the field of urban planning, architecture, and civil engineering in 2011, and later it became part of a larger civil society platform called the Taksim Solidarity.
- 5.
These park festivals were organised by a small group of young, progressive students of architecture called Architecture for All. There were ten Gezi Park Festivals organised between March 2012 and September 2012, with rapidly increasing popular support (Architecture for All [Herkes icin Mimarlik] 2012). Gezi Park Festivals provided the initial political platform for concerned citizens (both organised and unorganised), physical space for collective action, and ground for dialogue on defence of the public green space of Gezi. They also provided a new meaning and identity to the park. People who had not been actively using the park began to spend time there and claim ownership by ‘being there’ (Ekmekci 2014).
- 6.
The civil society network formed with the participation of 118 groups, including trade unions, political parties, numerous progressive civil initiatives, student organisations, and professional groups of doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, and planners (Taksim Solidarity 2013).
- 7.
The list declared by the Taksim Solidarity as the reasons giving rise to the Gezi movement is longer and broader than represented here. We mention only the ones that are immediately relevant to the framework of right to the city. The complete list can be reached at Reclaim Istanbul’s website (http://reclaimistanbul.com/2013/06/07/demands-of-occupygezi-movement/)
- 8.
The Soma mining massacre took place on 13 May 2014, in western Turkey. It cost over 300 lives of mining workers. It is considered a massacre because of neoliberal labour policies that undervalue the security of the working class for the sake of higher corporate profits. The broader issue is Turkey’s faulty record of worker security (Sandal 2014).
- 9.
Erdem Gunduz, a performance artist based in Istanbul.
- 10.
AKM building is also a part of the dispute over the Taksim Square redevelopment. It is home to multiple stages for performance arts, concert halls, and galleries. Besides its functional value, it has great symbolic value for Istanbul since it is associated with the modernisation project led by Ataturk. Prime Minister Erdogan also declared his plans for demolishing AKM and replacing it with a ‘baroque’ opera house.
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Ay, D., Miraftab, F. (2016). Invented Spaces of Activism: Gezi Park and Performative Practices of Citizenship. In: Grugel, J., Hammett, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-42724-3_31
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