Mavi Boncuk |
Brand Turkey and the Gezi Protests:
Authoritarianism, Law, and Neoliberalism
Jul 12 2013
by Aslı Iğsız
The Gezi Park protests, and the state response to them, have crystallized larger dynamics in Turkey. These include recent legal changes and their contribution to the institutionalization of neoliberalism, centralization of powers, allegations of cronyism, authoritarianism, and encroachment on professional independence and labor rights. Overall, these protests offer a valuable opportunity to consider how high-security, neoliberal nation states operate in general, with Turkey as a particular instance. In this context, surveillance and anti-terror laws give the impression of a state of exception, which suspend the rights of citizens, whereby state officials appear to transcend law for the “public good.” As such, law appears to be deployed to concentrate power and to promote neoliberal institutionalization, whereas those who are unhappy with these policies are criminalized. This was exemplified in the Gezi protests.
Source: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/12907/brand-turkey-and-the-gezi-protests_authoritarianis