Turkish Revolution report (afternoon Jun 6): the struggle continues, deep reasons for the uprising

The demonstrations continue in all the Turkish state, with protests numbering hundreds of thousands and no sign of abating. 

The epicenter of the revolt, Gezi Park and nearby Taksim Square, is packed of people day and night, demanding the resignation of PM Erdogan, that of police commanders involved in murderous repression and the renounce by police to use its most deadly weapons, notably tear gas. 

The protesters, who are also marching through the country's towns in huge numbers, demand also the release of all those arrested and the legalization of popular assemblies. 

On the night from Tuesday to Wednesday police attacked again violently, with brutal use of tear gas, the protesters in Ankara, Istanbul, Tunceli and Hatay.

Worker strikes are joining the popular movement. Public workers had already called a strike beginning on June 5th, even before the uprising began, while metal workers have announced their own strike for this month, although the exact date is yet unclear. 

Deep socio-economic causes of the discontent

While the trigger of the uprising has been the brutal police repression against a local ecological-civic protest and the issue of Islamist authoritarianism and anti-secularism are also some of the causes, the main reasons seem to be of economical origin. 

Exactly the same as your typical conservative local party, the Islamo-Democrat AKP began in Turkey, as soon as they took power in 2002, a process of massive Thatcher-style privatizations with support by the IMF and all the Western bourgeois oligarchy. Soon all the wealth of the state was on sale: Turk Telekom, liquor industries, steel companies, Turkish Airlines, the tobacco company TEKEL, the electric network, public bank Halkbank. In 2009 even the water was privatized.

In spite of protests, the privatization nightmare continued unabated: highways were also privatized in 2011, while the textile, mining, oil, food and naval transport industries are scheduled to be given away to tycoons soon as well.

All this has created an immense wealth gap in country that was already quite poor.

Source: Webguerrillero[es] (link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4, videos).



Update: People who are trying to report on the Turkish unrest are being threatened by the police. Specifically an Spanish Erasmus exchange student living at Izmir declared that she would not send any more reports because of the fear of police retaliation. → Webguerrillero[es].