Watch out: X and Y generations getting political

Gezi changed many things in Turkey. It even changed the way people walk, as they are more proud of themselves. Many journalists wrote about the change respective to their own specialization. As a technology journalist what I see as the biggest difference is the way people use the Internet. The Internet played a big part in the way people resisted. Now, it plays a vital part in the way people get political. Before Gezi many were sharing bits of information and wrote updates about the political climate in Turkey. This type of non-action-oriented social activities via the Internet, a.k.a. slacktivisim, was the main method of our generation to show their true colors. Now we are taking it one step further.

During the protests many Facebook groups and Yahoo groups were established to discuss what would come after the resistance. Slowly the number of active groups decreased with the street protests. However there are a few that still remain strong and give me hope for the future.

Abbasağa Forum was among the first places where a more direct democracy was envisioned and applied. People came from all around Istanbul to Abbasağa to speak their mind about various concerns and ideas. Now they go on both online and offline. If you want to follow what is going on you just need to register to https://www.facebook.com/ParkMeclisi1.

After Abbasağa, other forums were initiated and they have their own pages such as Bebek Forum https://www.facebook.com/bebekparki?fref=tsand.

These forums are stepping stones for more political youth as they will start political campaigns around a few democratically chosen members. I hope that they will reach a critical mass either to be able to bargain with a party or to be represented in Parliament individually.

Other initiatives are Açık Democracy http://acikdemokrasi.org/ and Güç Birliği www.gucbirligi.org.

Açık Demokrasi is a platform where you can discuss your ideas about everything related to being governed. On the other hand Güç Birliği is a targeted group of people who want be involved in decision making. They are working to reach their aim and they are using the tools of the social era as much as they can.

I am sure that all of these initiatives will finally change the way Turkish politics works. The reason is simple: The people who are in charge have been slacktivists for a very long time. They know how to use social media and many were born into the Internet age. They are not governed by any political party, so they are as free as they can be.

This is a warning note to all the politicians in Turkey, beware, the X and Y generations are getting political hand in hand and they will create a wave that you will not even understand.