The word is spreading about the protests in Turkey at Istanbul’s Gezi Park. A friend of mine, Ela Goksun – who is not involved in the Hardcore scene whatsoever – is a political science masters student at Leiden University, Holland. Her mother is English, her father is Turkish. She was born and raised in Istanbul: the place she calls home. This is her cry for help. Spread the word and be the voice of our generation and the next.
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a well known documentary. And until a few days ago that’s all it was to me, a distant, scary depiction of the power of the media, or the lack of it rather. The events that have taken place all across Turkey has changed that for me.
Following brutal force used against peaceful protesters defending the demolishing of Gezi Park Taksim, the country has erupted into a nationwide revolution. A revolution of the people. People of all ages, beliefs and ideologies standing shoulder to shoulder against the fascist Islamic dictatorship of Recep Tayyip Erdogan that has cloaked itself under the facade of democracy for the past 10 years.
And now, millions everywhere in Turkey stand firm day and night against police brutality. You cannot imagine how hard it is to be so far away, in Holland, reading your friends accounts of ripping cobble stones with bleeding hands to build make-shift barricades against the ever forceful police attacks.
I have contacted every international news agency I can in an attempt at least momentarily quite the fire that is burning in my heart. And yet it still burns, it still hurts. Millions on the street, resisting day in and day out against the inhumane acts of the police.
If there are two things I want you to take away from this, the first is that this is a revolution of love. I have read in astonishment as my friends have stood firm, never compromising their non-violent resistance, never jeopardising the message of the revolution – the message of change, of hope, of an entire nation, left, right, young old, secular, religious, gay, straight, coming together to revolt. In the face of brute force, the people on the street remain peaceful, they maintain their dignity and continue their fight.
Second, the complete Turkish media blackout has been so beautifully compensated by social media. Friends and strangers alike tweet day and night informing each other of safe areas, temporary medical centres in ordinary peoples living rooms, where to access free food, where to seek shelter, where vets are needed to treat street animals affected by pepper spray. Thank you facebook, thank you twitter, tumblr, bloggers, for being there when all else failed, for allowing my friends to send out SOS tweets when they were trapped, alone and scared.
You might read this and think “Just another protest”, but this is so much more. This is the awakening of an entire nation, a stand against injustice, brutality, and the stripping of their civil, political and social rights.
Please help spread the word. No matter what, the Turkish people demand, no – they deserve – to be heard.
Please be our voice when we no longer have one.”
Written by Ela Goksun
Legends Arising 
Well written. We feel for you. I’ll spread it around asap. Hold tight.
GREECE IS WITH YOU!!
in this video My country…hit me!!
RENA MANIOU JOURNALIST