On 5/6/07, Sabri Oncu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Yoshie:
> Those who are concerned about the rise of the Islamist
> party need to go to the root of the problem.
I wish they did but they will not. They are "happy" as long as their way of
life is not threatened and they took to the streets because the AKP threatens
it.
The way I see it there is no strong anti-war movement in the US because what
the US is doing in Iraq and elsewhere does not threaten the way of life of the
average American, at least, at the moment. To him or her what is going on Iraq
is no different than a video game in which some fictional beings kill each
other. When you turn of the video game, everything disappears.
As Freud said, denial is the best defense mechanism against trauma. Just trun
off the switch and everything disappears.
To those who took to the streets in Turkey in the past few weeks, the issue is
their way of life threatened by Islamism.
Nothing more.
They are making a choice between the AKP and Military, and choosing the
Military because the Military is not threatening their way of life while the
AKP is.
Why should they care about anything else?
It's true that, for the classes and strata of people who came out for
the "rallies for the republic," the only issue that matters to them is
a religious party vs. the secular state. I just read Ted Crawford's
travel notes on Turkey that Louis Proyect posted here. The way
Crawford describes Turkey's economy, secular Turks who are of middle
to upper classes and strata can't be doing badly. The same economy
works for the AKP, though, which seems to be marketing itself as the
party of capable administration presiding over good economy, rather
than saying much of anything about religion.
--
Yoshie
