As the 3H Movement, we would like to issue a brief statement in support of the demonstrations in Gezi park. We act together with the peaceful demonstrators – who were targeted with excessive force when the police raided the park – and express our outrage at the Turkish government, particularly Erdoğan himself. It is no longer about a park; but rather, government itself.
We would like to underline the firm stance of 3H against police violence. It has been three years since we sent a box of pepper gas to the head of Istanbul police asking him to try it on him for curious results; and now, we are glad to be observing that the police violence has finally become a matter of hot debate.
3H believes in the ideal of a free society. Political liberation from military tutelage was undoubtedly a step towards this ideal in Turkey. The next step towards a free society will be limiting government power in social, political and economic areas of human life. 3H observes that these demonstrations carry great potential in delivering them in at least the social and political spheres.
Liberal scholarship holds that unlimited government power tends to corrupt and starts functioning against the interest of individual liberty. Indeed, the power in Turkey has become centralized at the hand of Erdoğan and this has led to increasingly authoritarian tendencies. It is a warning sign of power corruption when the leader of the governing party which received half of the votes has developed an authoritarian/paternalist discourse and justified curbing individual liberty on based on his majority in the Parliament.
This fundamental problem is inherent in government power – when unlimited; it may well turn into what John Stuart Mill described as the “tyranny of majority”. The smallest minority in a free society is the individual. In a free society, all individuals are of equal worth and their liberty must be under full protection. It is sometimes necessary to seek alternative ways to make sure individual liberty is upheld.
For civil society actors such as the 3H, Publishing is a way of influencing the process of policy-making. For it to be influential, however, there needs a sort of governance that is responsive to stakeholder views. It is then obvious that publishing is not an influential way to go about influencing the current government, given Erdoğan’s unwillingness to listen to his own advisors.
Yet there is still a way of influencing policy. That is peaceful demonstration. The Gezi Park demonstrations that have been peaceful for the most part have indeed exercised this right that the 3H fully supports. Beyond the support, 3H also recognizes that demands for limiting government power chime strongly with a passionately pro-liberty standpoint. Many political scientists, journalists and politicians that closely follow these events confirm individual liberty and limiting government power is indeed the demand of those protesting.
Despite some recent promising policies and initiatives such as the Kurdish peace settlement, there has been such a rising number of illiberal policies and statements that it has become necessary to seek alternative legitimate ways in politics. 3H is reminded of John Locke’s prescription of the “right of rebellion” to take up as the civil government endeavours to invade “life, liberty, health and property of the citizens”. Henry David Thoreau’s libertarian civil disobedience, too, serves as an example to look up to.
It goes without saying that democracy is the only game in town: elections are the only mechanism through which power can legitimately change hands. As power changes hands and the same people are re-elected in a row, however, the necessity for power fine-tuning arises. The fine-tuning force the demonstration drive is empirical. Recent government statements alone indicate an initial shift from a “ballot box” democracy to a fully-fledged “liberal” democracy (see, President Gül’s statement). The elephant in the room has also become finally visible: media freedom.
We at the 3H wish that this promising process the demonstrations have given birth to will yield even further improvements for liberty and would like to invite all fellow Turkish liberals to be an active player in the process. Only then may the free society ideal be no longer just a dream and begin to flourish.
