The following is a translation of a joint statement made by anarchist and libertarian groups in response to the wave of protests in Turkey in March 2025.
Let's struggle against the system of exploitation, tyranny and plunder!
We share the joint statement issued by various anarchist and libertarian groups on the protests that started on March 19.
The protests that started after the detention of more than 100 people, including İstanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, continue to grow. The protests, in which university students are at the forefront, have started to gain a militant character and mass mobilization despite the main-opposition party CHP's efforts to contain them. Although these protests started as a result of the conflict between two ruling cliques struggling for power, it is clear that the anger that has been unleashed has reasons far beyond the detention of İmamoğlu.
Today, it is no coincidence that young people, the workers of the future and the workers of today, whose future has become uncertain, many of whom have to work many hours while studying, are at the forefront of the struggle. The anger is also a result of the increasing impoverishment of millions of people who live off their labor, who are being crushed day by day under the economic crisis, the endless femicides, the policies against LGBTI+ people, the massacres of animals, the attacks against the Kurdish people despite the so-called peace talks, and the unbearable conditions imposed by the government's policies based on oppression and brute force. We see that this anger is directed not only against the AKP-MHP coalition government, but also against the CHP, which for years has been supposedly oppositional, but has been the government's stooge in every difficult moment, restraining the possibility of social explosions in every crisis and directing energy towards the elections. People have realized that elections are useless and that there is no other way to liberation than struggle. At this point, it is clear that the people taking to the streets cannot be easily stopped by repression, nor can it be manipulated by the CHP in line with its own agenda.
On the other hand, we need to recognize that there are limits to what these protests have become today. There is a high probability that this reactive movement, which has no class character and whose political content and demands are unclear, will remain as a tool of conflict between the ruling powers or simply fizzle out. However, it also has the potential to grow, radicalize and achieve real, lasting gains if it is linked to existing struggles in terms of demands and methods. Since the early months of 2025, strikes and labor actions in various cities, the steadfast resistance of women and LGBTI+ people against oppression and violence, and the struggles to halt ecological destruction and the massacres of stray animals stand as a testament to the spirit of resistance that, against all odds, has been preserved in these lands. Today, it is not politicians in suits, union bureaucrats or rich tycoons who are creating this wave of struggle, but workers, children of workers and political subjects who have actively participated in the struggles mentioned above.
Therefore, it is possible to strengthen the wave of struggle with class demands and class discourses, and this is exactly what we need to do. We should be involved in this struggle, not as the buttress of the struggle for power, but in an organized way, with the perspective of articulating the current problems and demands of the working class, women and all those who are oppressed and discriminated against, and turning them into the demands of the movement. On the other hand, we should try to involve different sections of the working class, some of whom are already involved in industrial actions.
We must take this struggle from the streets to our workplaces and from our workplaces to the streets. We must not leave the fate of the struggle to what comes out of the mouths of a bunch of politicians in suits. For this, we need to create self-managed decision-making mechanisms in our workplaces, schools and living spaces, where we can discuss our economic and political problems and determine our concrete demands. The forums that emerged in the aftermath of the Gezi Resistance were important experiences we have in this regard and we must develop and revitalize these experiences. This is the way for the struggle to be permanent and to achieve gains.
We will win by resisting!
Our strength comes from our unity!
Signatories:
Anarko Queerler
Ankara’dan Anarşistler
Bilgi Gökkuşağı
Bizim Elimizde Kampanya Grubu
Eşitlik Topluluğu
Heimatlos Kültü
İstanbul’dan Anarşistler
İzmir Anarşi
Kuir Uşak
Otonom İşçi Birlikleri
ÖzÜ LGBTİQ+
VeganEsk
Turkish source: http://www.yeryuzupostasi.org/2025/03/22/somuru-zorbalik-ve-talan-duzenine-karsi-mucadeleye/
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