http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/06/20136415145190720.html
On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 7:06 PM, Marv Gandall <marvgand2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 2013-06-04, at 1:02 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
>
> > I have been following the events in Turkiye on Al Jazeera, and there
> seem
> > to be two camps of though about what is going on there. On the one hand
> > there are those who support Erdogan's line that this is the opposition
> and
> > foreign meddling - a "color revolution' orchestrated overseas if you
> will,
> > and the other camp that this is a genuine mass protest against Erdogan's
> > hard line.
> >
> > […]
> >
> > I am more inclined to believe that Erdogan is pulling a Zia ul Haq
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Zia-ul-Haq who established islamic
> > law in Pakistan to undermine opposition aligned with Ali Bhutto with
> > support of the Reagan administration. Does anyone have good information
> on
> > what is going there?
>
> ======================================
>
> I can't vouch for this report because I'm not well informed about Turkish
> politics or the protest movement, but it seems authoritative and claims
> that leftist young soccer club fans have been at the centre of the
> demonstrations: "The football fanatics, that is, the ultras we had regarded
> as apolitical, played a major role as they taught the masses how to face up
> to the pepper gas." Fehim Tastekin is a columnist for Radikal, described
> as a left-liberal daily once edited by, among others, Orhan Pamuk, and
> published by the Dogan Media Group (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radikal).
>
> Ultras: The Surprise Kids
> Of Turkey’s Uprising
> June 4 2013
>
> […]
>
> Socialist spirit resurfaces from the depths
>
> But who are the ultras? What was it that drew fanatics, perceived as
> apolitical, right into the eye of a political brawl? According to Ozdal,
> the prevailing profile among the ultras is represented by “political
> adolescents, that is, people hailing from leftist-socialist tradition who
> have lost touch with their political organizations but have not ceased to
> be political.”
>
> The Besiktas neighborhood, a scene of violent resistance against police,
> is the main breeding ground of the Carsi Group, the ultras of the Besiktas
> club. Even though Carsi brings together fans from all social segments, it
> could be described as a coalition of former members of social-democrat,
> leftist and communist groups whose ideological backgrounds have faded as
> they lost their organizational links.
>
> The Carsi label has come to be used across Turkey, but the dominant body
> in Besiktas’ spectator stands is left-leaning. That’s why they have been
> influential in various civic events, including demonstrations against the
> planned nuclear power plants. In the Carsi Group, you might equallyy come
> across former members of the defunct [far-left] Dev-Sol and Kemalists
> supporting the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Carsi is
> one of the reasons why the Gezi resistance concentrated in Besiktas. The
> other is that the neighborhood is a CHP stronghold. The common trait of
> Carsi members is that they are all “worried seculars” opposed to the
> Justice and Development Party (AKP). Besiktas is a meeting point, a sort of
> a third path, for vibrant and restless youngsters looking for an
> alternative other than Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. The fact that Besiktas
> is a club of more modest means compared to Galatasaray and Fenerbahce
> appeals to left-leaning youth.
>
> Fenerbahce’s two currents
>
> Fenerbahce’s ultras, known traditionally as “statist,” are fractured. The
> “Young Fenerbahce” group comprises youngsters of rightist and conservative
> background. When the match-fixing scandal broke two years ago, they took a
> stance against Fenerbahce President Aziz Yildirim and looked to Erdogan for
> help. Their pro-government attitude kept them away from the Gezi Park
> revolt.
>
> It was Fenerbahce’s Outside Left group that joined the revolt. All members
> of the faction, which is only two-three years old, are former Marxists.
> During the match-fixing trial, they won respect by mobilizing Fenerbahce
> fans, using their leftist experience. They have been also at the forefront
> in various civic actions.
>
> Fenerbahce’s third supporter group, Vamos Bien, is a coalition of leftists
> and social democrats, among them CHP voters. They saw the match-fixing case
> as a plot against Fenerbahce and remained loyal to Aziz Yildirim. The fury
> over the case spurred individual, if not institutional, participation in
> the latest unrest.
>
> UltrAslan’s shift from left to right
>
> Galatasaray’s UltrAslan group, which also joined the revolt, was formed by
> middle-class left wingers after the club’s victory in the 2001 UEFA Cup,
> but was quickly taken over by nationalists and conservatives. Youngsters
> linked to the [nationalist] Hearths of Ideals and the [Islamist] National
> Youth Foundation joined hands in defacing the left. Soon afterwards, former
> leftists set up One Fist, a sort of an underground formation which managed
> to politicize the stands and overshadow UltrAslan. The group first won
> kudos in 2006 when Israel entered Lebanon, unfurling a banner that read
> “Ali Sami Yen [stadium] is a hell, Palestine is a paradise.”
>
> It was the same group that booed Erdogan on Jan. 15, 2011 at the
> inauguration of Galatasaray’s new stadium. UltrAslan initially protested
> the protesters, but stepped back in the face of a backlash and abandoned
> its pro-government attitude to adopt an apolitical stance. Yet, it joined
> the latest anti-AKP revolt, swayed by its secularist-nationalist elements.
>
> The Arab uprising undid many clichés. In Turkey, a country unaccustomed to
> revolt, the Gezi Park unrest undid even more. The Arab Spring destroyed the
> walls of fear. In Turkey, the “demonstration phobia” collapsed. The
> football fanatics, that is, the ultras we had regarded as apolitical,
> played a major role as they taught the masses how to face up to the pepper
> gas.
>
> (Fehim Taştekin is a columnist and chief editor of foreign news at the
> Turkish newspaper Radikal, based in Istanbul. He is the host of a
> fortnightly program called "Doğu Divanı" on IMC TV. He is an analyst
> specializing in Turkish foreign policy and Caucasus, Middle East and EU
> affairs.)
>
>
> http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/instanbul-football-clubs-help-protesters.html#ixzz2VI0jjQNM
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-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."