Resistence creativity to reach 2023 targets
MERAL TAMER mtamer@milliyet.com.tr
The youth who we deride as apolitical have taken all of us hostage. This is a voluntary captivity. For days, we have been fixed on our computers, iPads; we are not only watching what’s going on with concern, but also with admiration.What kind of humor is this? How creative is that? Also, what kind of sharp intelligence is this?
The retail industry has been suffering for days. Nobody goes out shopping or goes out to dine because everybody stays indoors to monitor the developments instantly. The turnout for movies has fallen down 70 percent. Young people find it more meaningful, or even more fun, to be in Taksim (or the resistance square of the city they are at) instead of night clubs or house parties. Those who go to work or school during the day go to the squares as soon as they can.
The word game
At a time when the media is undergoing intense censorship, while you are flicking through TV channels, all of a sudden you see İhsan Varol, who hosts a very popular game show, “The Word Game,” on Bloomberg TV. He recently posed questions like these for his contestants:
What social network is called a pain in the neck?
What branch do citizens grab hold of when the mainstream media abandon them and they become bound to social media?
Virtual environment
A word to define use of power that has exceeded its proper boundaries?
Disproportional
A weapon that attacks the mucus membranes of the eye, nose, mouth and lungs?
Pepper gas
The gill of democracy?
Gas mask
The THY strike video
You board a plane – before takeoff, while the stewardess explains the safety precautions with her usual gestures, she has a giggle. You can understand the reason only after you get off the plane and go onto the Internet. Turkish Airlines (THY) staff on strike have adapted the safety briefing on the planes to what is currently going on. In front of THY headquarters, stewards and stewardesses have staged an extremely funny, touching and entertaining protest. I will only give one example. You should absolutely watch this short video:
“Your life vest is your friend standing right next to you. In the event of an emergency, it is enough to stretch your arm. In the event of an emergency, morale and motivation will be provided to you by your life vest. Hold your life vest, pull it to yourself and hug it tightly. After this, you may cry or you may laugh, just as you wish. (At this point, everybody makes gestures and mimics and hugs the next person.)”
Meanwhile, there is a different Gezi agenda that comes up every day. On Monday, it was the Revolution Market that was opened. On Tuesday, they made shelves out of stones and set up a library. On Wednesday it was the Night of the Miraj, special simits for the occasion were distributed.
Meanwhile, classical music artists and orchestras are giving concerts in front of the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM), the one that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared he would knock down. With the insistence of foreign supporters that the word “çapulcu” be translated, we have added the phrase “Every day, I am chapulling” to world literature.
For the 2023 target
The “Tayyip connecting people” poster inspired by the Nokia ad is actually so correct that one only wishes that this new energy could be channeled correctly.
This youth is very creative. The prime minister, in order to meet his ambitious targets he has set up for 2023, has to make use of this creativity.
Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan is straining to increase the per kilogram price of our exports from 1.58 dollars to over 3 dollars in 10 years. Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün has launched an innovation campaign and is introducing a new incentive every day for those products that have a high added value.
Minister Çağlayan and Minister Ergün, pay attention please to this new energy released.
Meral Tamer is a columnist for daily Milliyet in which this piece was published on June 7. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.