The Contemporary Strategies of Power and Resistance: The Philosophical Analysis on the Democracy Experience of Gezi Resistance

Abstract

On May 27th , 2013, a unique resistance process in the history of Turkey took a start as a reaction to the government's attempt to demolish the Gezi Park, quickly transforming into an uprising with participation of more than four million people from various political backgrounds who oppose the policies of the government in different fields, and lasted intensively for approximately three months, with political consequences reaching the present day. This study investigates whether an original democracy experience has emerged during the Gezi Resistance process, which is taken to consist of the pases of “Conditions prior to Resistance,” “Uprising of entire Turkey,” “Gezi Commune,” and “Forum Process” and discusses the basic political character of the emergent democracy experience with regard to the debates in the contemporary political philosophy. In this connection the study will propose ideas regarding the emergent democracy in the Gezi Resistance on the basis of proposals regarding democracy institutions by E. Laclau and C. Moufee on one hand, and M. Hardt and A. Negri on the other.