alain badiou:uprising in turkey

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SenselogiCengiz Erdem

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Alain Badiou

on the

Uprising in

Turkey

and Beyond Previous/Next

ByCengiz Erdem/June 19, 2013/Alain Badiou,Politics/3

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A large proportion of the educated youth all across Turkey are

currently leading a vast movement against the governments

repressive and reactionary practices. This is a very important

moment in what I have called the rebirth of History. In many

countries around the world, middle school, high school, and

university youth, supported by a part of the intellectuals and

the middle class, are giving new life to Maos famous dictum:

It is right to revolt. They are occupying squares and streets,

symbolic places; they are marching, calling for freedom, true

democracy, and a new life. They are demanding that the

government either change its conservative politics or resign.

They are resisting the violent attacks of the state police. These

are the features of what I have called an immediate uprising :

one of the potential forces of popular revolutionary political

action in this case, the educated youth and a part of the

salaried petty bourgeoisie rises up, in its own name, against

the reactionary state. I enthusiastically say: it is right to do so!

But in so doing it opens up the problem of the duration and

the scope of its uprising. It is right to take action, but what is

the real reason for it in terms of thinking, and for the future?The whole problem is whether this courageous uprising is

capable of opening the way for a genuine historical riot. A riot

is historical as was the case only in Tunisia and Egypt, where


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the outcome of the struggle has still not been determined

when it brings together, under shared slogans, not just one

but several potential actors of a new revolutionary politics: for

example, in addition to the educated youth and middle class,

large sectors of working-class youth, workers, women of the

people, low-level employees, and so on. This move beyond

the immediate riot toward a mass protest movement creates

the possibility for a new type of organized politics, a politics

that is durable, that merges the force of the people with the

sharing of political ideas, and that thereby becomes capable

of changing the overall situation of the country in question. I

know that a number of our Turkish friends are perfectly aware

of this problem. They know three things in particular: that

there must be no mistake about contradictions; that the

movement mustnt pursue the path of a desire for the West;

and that it is above all necessary to join with the popular

masses in inventing, with people other than themselves with

workers, minor employees, women of the people, farmers,

unemployed people, foreigners, and so on forms of political

organization that are currently unknown. For example, is the

main contradiction in Turkey today between the conservativeMuslim religion and freedom of thought? We know it is

dangerous to think so, even and above all if this is a

widespread idea in the countries of capitalist Europe. Of


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course, the current Turkish government openly claims

allegiance to the dominant religion. It is the Muslim religion,

but ultimately thats only a minor issue: even today, Germany

is governed by Christian democracy, the President of the

United States takes the oath of office on the Bible, President

Putin, in Russia, constantly panders to the Orthodox clergy,

and the Israeli government constantly exploits the Jewish

religion. Reactionaries have always and everywhere used

religion to rally a part of the popular masses to their

government; theres nothing particularly Muslim about this.

And it should in no way lead to regarding the opposition

between religion and freedom of thought as the main

contradiction of the current situation in Turkey. What should

be made clear is that the exploitation of religion serves

precisely to conceal the real political questions, to overshadow

the basic conflict between the emancipation of the popular

masses and the oligarchical development of Turkish capitalism.

Experience shows that religion, as personal, private belief, is by

no means incompatible with commitment to a politics of

emancipation. It is surely in this tolerant direction, which

requires only that religion and state power not be confusedand that people distinguish in themselves between religious

belief and political conviction, that the uprising currently

underway must move in order to acquire the stature of a


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historical riot and invent a new political path. Similarly, our

friends are perfectly aware that what is currently being created

in Turkey cannot be the desire for what already exists in the

rich, powerful countries like the United States, Germany and

France. The word democracy in this regard is ambiguous. Do

people want to invent a new organization of society, headed

toward genuine equality? Do they want to overthrow the

capitalist oligarchy of which the religious government is the

servant but of which anti-religious factions, in Turkey as in

France, have been, and can become again, the no less efficient

servants? Or do they only want to live the way the middle

class lives in the major Western countries? Is the action being

guided by the Idea of popular emancipation and equality? Or

by a desire to create a solidly established middle class that

will be the mainstay of a Western-style democracy, that is,

completely subject to the authority of Capital? Do they want a

democracy in its genuine political meaning, namely, a real

power of the people imposing its rule on landlords and the

wealthy, or democracy in its current Western meaning:

consensus around the most ruthless capitalism, provided that

a middle class can benefit from it and live and speak as itwishes, since the essential mechanism of business, imperialism,

and the destruction of the world wont be tampered with?

This choice will determine whether the current uprising is just


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a modernization of Turkish capitalism and its integration into

the world market, or whether it is truly oriented toward a

creative politics of emancipation, giving new impetus to the

universal history of Communism. And the ultimate criterion for

all this is actually quite simple: the educated youth must take

the steps that will bring them closer to the other potential

actors of a historical riot. They must spread their movements

enthusiasm beyond their own social existence. They must

create the means of living with the broad popular masses, of

sharing the thoughts and practical innovations of the new

politics with them. They must give up the temptation to

adopt, for their own benefit, the Western conception of

democracy, meaning: the simple, self-serving desire for a

middle class to exist in Turkey as an electoral and falsely

democratic client of an oligarchic power integrated into the

world market of capital and commodities. This is called: liaison

with the masses. Without it, the admirable current revolt will

end in a subtler and more dangerous form of subservience:

the kind we are familiar with in our old capitalist countries. We

intellectuals and militants in France and other rich countries of

the imperialist West implore our Turkish friends to avoidcreating a situation like ours in their country. To you, our dear

Turkish friends, we say: the greatest favor you can do for us is

to prove that your uprising is taking you to a different place


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from ours, that it is creating a situation whereby the material

and intellectual corruption in which our sick old countries are

languishing today will be impossible. Fortunately, I know that

in contemporary Turkey, among all our Turkish friends, the

means exist to avoid the erroneous desire to be like us. This

great country, with its long, tormented history, can and must

surprise us. It is the ideal place for a great historical and

political innovation to occur. Long live the uprising of Turkish

youth and their allies! Long live the creation of a new source

of future politics!

~Alain Badiou
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Badiouhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Badiouhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Badiouhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Badiou

alain badiou:uprising in turkey

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