Aral Balkan
What’s happening in Turkey today is not some exotic oddity. It’s a forewarning of exactly what can (and is) happening in the West.
Does this timeline seem familiar?
1. Neoliberals get elected. They fill their coffers while alienating a whole swath of society who they deem too far beneath them to matter.
2. A religious fundamentalist arises who speaks to those marginalised people, telling them they’ve been wronged (they have) and that he will make it right.
3. He gets elected.
4. He stays.
Aral Balkan
…The only point we haven’t seen (yet) in the West with the current rise of fascism across both sides of the Atlantic is the last one.
That’s not because it cannot happen here.
It‘s just because it hasn’t happened yet.
2/2
Aral Balkan
Notice where it starts though – and try not to ignore it or rationalise it away even if your salary depends on it – because this is the bit that’s going to hurt:
Neoliberalism is the slippery slope to fascism.
3/3
Aral Balkan
@pitbuster Ah, interesting. In Turkey the neoliberals were also secularists so that might a factor. (Of course cultures and histories vary) :)
Buster | Felipe
@aral
At least here (the country used as guinea pig for neoliberalism through an US-backed dictatorship) the religious fundamentalists openly side with the neoliberalists, so I guess the transition from 1 to 2 is/was not the same everywhere :(
Aral Balkan
@Disputatore How exactly would you characterise the period starting with Özal and ANAP if not neoliberal?
My “analysis” is simply my lived experience as the child of Turkish parents.
Cogito Ergo Disputo
@aral hmmm... did the people in power before Erdogan, who has been in power himself for 20 years, actually classify as neo-liberals? And what were the Turks tired of? Economical growth? Your analysis seems a bit simplistic to me. Could the grip Erdogan has over every aspect of people's lives, namely the press, education, the courts, and so on, be a more plausible explanation?
Alfredo Montanez 🇺🇸🇺🇦🏳️🌈💛
@aral neoliberalism is a slur and what happened in Turkey isn't the fault of Neoliberals it is the fault of Musk stealing the election
Aral Balkan
@alfredo_liberal Oh, no, please, do Westsplain Turkey to me again.
Aral Balkan
@Userd503 It might not. Doesn’t mean we don’t try. What’s giving up going to achieve?
Userd503
@aral Aral, There were many many voices just as passionate as you trying to "wake" people in the lead up to Germany's bout with Nazism. Why do you think this will play out any differently?
Truth Sandwich 🥪🇺🇸😷
What actually happened in America is not a “neoliberal” getting elected, but a Black man.
A Black man in the White House was all it took to fan the spark of fascism that was always there in Movement Conservatism, first as the Tea Partiers and then through Trump’s birtherist origins.
Obama was a liberal, not a neoliberal. The word actually has a meaning: Reagan was a neoliberal (as was Thatcher).
These days, though, the term has been turned into a content-free slur by the same far left that undermined the left and allowed the far right to gain power.
And Trump was by no means a religious fundamentalist, although he certainly had the support of the Christofascists. That’s because they’re a type of fascist more than they are a type of Christian.
So, on the whole, you’re almost completely wrong.
Truth Sandwich 🥪🇺🇸😷
I took your post as a sign that you’re a far-left socialist populist. Apparently, I was right. Here’s a fine example of you blaming “capitalism” for the weather.
Aral Balkan
@jasper @InayaShujaat@paktodon.asia Oh I love that she called me an Islamophobe – not a thing; read this: https://ar.al/notes/islam-is-privilege/ – and then blocked me (her account is suspended from my instance now) :)
Guess what? Being secular doesn’t make you an Islamophobe. Defending a religous fundamentalist like Erdoğan, on the other hand…
Love,
Your friendly neighbourhood ex-Muslim whose parents still identify as Muslim.
Jasper 🍉
@InayaShujaat Like arresting election observers[2] existence and use of anti-free-speech laws.[3] I am hardly knowledgable on this topic, but i do know that many academics, journalists and intellectuals have gone to prison for their speech.
(Know more reasons, but can hardly do this justice in some posts, and i just know know enough..)
[2] https://theintercept.com/2023/05/16/erdogan-arrested-deported-election-observers-turkey/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_299_(Turkish_Penal_Code)
@aral
Jasper 🍉
@InayaShujaat how would he have made "very bad" for muslims? The idea of secularism is to treat people irrespective of religion.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu promised to strengthen the free press and independent courts. His promise to reinstate the position of prime minister would probably reduce the power of the president.(That'd be his power, if he won.)[1]
Btw, people strongly dislike Erdogan for lots of reasons other than him being a muslim. @aral
[1] https://www.democracynow.org/2023/5/10/headlines
Inaya Shujaat عنايه شجاعت 🇳🇿🇵🇸
@aral Unfortunately, the alternative to Erdogan was no better. People are attracted to him because he's "secular," and Islamophobia is so damn strong that anyone "secular" is immediately favoured over those who claim to follow Islam.
Kilicdaroglu would have made things very bad for practicing Muslims in Turkiye (which still make up the majority of the country, btw). I know that folks don't care about the plight of Muslims, but we are humans, too. Turkish nationalism & secularism are bad.
Aral Balkan
@katzenberger Ain’t defending religious fundamentalists, my friend, just saying they didn’t pop out of nowhere to win elections for no reason.
katzenberger
@aral Doesn't the religious fundamentalist fill his [sic] own coffers and those of his friends while alienating a whole swath of society who they deem too far beneath them to matter?
Aral Balkan
@jasper No great loss. 🤷♂️
Jasper 🍉
@aral seems that she blocked me too..
Aral Balkan
@ddlyh Let’s do a little experiment: under your real name (the one on your passport), reply to this with a post that insults both Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu.
Then let’s get you a ticket to Turkey and see which one you get arrested for.
At that point you should have the same understanding I do about which is worse, even if the alternative isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
DHeadshot's Alt
@aral 5. The only competitor in the election panders to the right-wing nationalists, so any attempt to oust him would get someone worse anyway?
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