Mustafa Yalçıner
“The general situation around the world is characterised by the attacks of governments on their people, amid increasing discontent over both failing capitalism and the pandemic, which doubles the destructive impacts of this crisis,” writes Mustafa Yalçıner for Evrensel.
It is surely true that not all countries apply the same policies against their people. Look at Venezuela, for example,where the people are in an incredibly hard situation due to the embargo, the economic crisis and false policies. But their government is not a government which bases its policies on attacking their people. However, the general situation around the world is characterised by the attacks of governments on their people, amid increasing discontent over both failing capitalism and the pandemic, which doubles the destructive impact of this crisis.
A radical example is Myanma, formerly Burma. The military coup on 1 September resulted in massive protests across the country. The military deliberately raked civilians with bullets. According to the reports, at least 500 people, including children, have been killed. Some soldiers reportedly killed people while raiding their homes. “They killed us like they were hunting birds,” said a resident of one of the protest zones in Myanmar.
Indıa’s Modi is one of those leaders who uses harsh and violent methods. The Modi government has adopted neoliberal laws that regulate the sales, the pricing and the stocking of the agricultural products, leading to an uprising among villagers. Half a million villagers set up tents around Delhi, which they reached on foot or on tractors.
In Tunisia, the reforms imposed by the IMF, to which the government has transferred the managements of the economy, which shrunk by 10% due to the pandemic and economic crisis, led to protest, especially among the youth.
Their president was a right-wing populist, who had appointed a technocratic government, just like in Turkey, which was unable to fix the economy as the prices had been boosted with the increased VAT. Increasing prices on top of high rates of unemployment caused people to blockade the roads and protest. As the police opened fire and used gas canisters, the protests spread around the country. But the government kept on attacking civilians.
Similar events occured in Greece. When the right-wing New Democracy government attempted to re-organise the education system in an anti-democratic way with neoliberal policies and throw the education system into the claws of the special schools — again, just like what happened in Turkey — the youth of the country stood up.
The UK, “the cradle of democracy” (!) witnessed interesting developments as well. The reactionary right-wing UK government wanted to silently pass a bill in the parliament that gives new authorities to the police when it comes to quelling protest. However, when the people of Britain saw the attitude of the police who attacked participants in the the vigils for Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped and killed by a police officer, more protests were sparked.
The world is just like Turkey, with only one difference: aside from select countries such as Myanmar, governments generally tend to refrain from using radical methods, but in Turkey the government runs towards fascism at full speed, under the mantra: “If we stop, we will fall”.
