21 November
Movie Review: Piece by Piece 
November 21, 2024 Movie Review: Piece by Piece
November 14, 2024 "Humor on the Margins: Cartoons in the Turkish Jewish Newspaper Şalom" by Rakel P. Meşulam
November 7, 2024 The "Ottoman and Turkish Ketubbot" Exhibition
November 4, 2024 TV Show Review: Nobody Wants This
November 1, 2024 The Irresistible Drunkenness of Reading Books
Our greatest desperation
The November 1st elections have led some to depression. However, they are missing the historic facts of Anatolia. But my main concern remains something different. There is no antibiotic to our greatest desperation.İvo MOLİNAS
Right before the June 7th elections, the manager of a research company told an interesting story as he drew a portrait of conservatism in Turkey. When his father who is conservative and modestly religious, told his son that he was considering not voting for the ruling party due to the negativity he had observed. His son thought that he would vote for the social democrats as they are the only viable ruling option. The father rejected this idea outright and in his words explaining his reasoning for not voting for this alternative ruling party lies information that should be regarded as gold by all of those people who have almost given up on life after the results of the election. The father stated: “If I vote for them now, even tomorrow they will not accept me amongst themselves. Why should I vote for those who will exclude me…?”
Yes, the elitist ruling approach particularly of the 1940s could not properly place the impoverished and local people who have lived in the 700 year conservative lands of Anatolia within the context of the reforms. Today, those who claim that they are suffering from “depression” after the November 1st elections, continue missing this history and sociological reality. After all, they continue to turn their backs to the current representatives of the conservative villagers and townsfolk of Anatolia who have been excluded for decades – despite all of the negativity in the country. What is happening is a kind of Anatolian revolution or counter-revolution. When we look at the history of the Turkish Republic, it is known that the social democrats have not been in power with an absolute majority, other than times of the military control and the intermediary periods. Today, there has been no change either.
There are naturally many other reasons why the results of the November 1st elections should be scrutinized. Everyone has been writing about these at length. However the current analysis is superficial and will lack scientific value for as long as they ignore the central point. Let us not forget, Turkey has been the geography of a conservative and religious climate for centuries. With a general public of such a sociological structure, it seems impossible that the people will present the chance to rule to the social democrat party in the short or middle term; particularly one that cannot change its elitist perception. Period.
However, setting aside the results of the election, what should actually have us thinking is that our society has been completely polarized and that societal unity that once existed – for better or worse – has now completely disappeared. We are now living in a land that is almost built upon chaos and discomfort. Trust towards each other, confidence in each other has reached the lowest descents. Lawlessness has peaked in each point of our living spaces. Those who seize power are indifferently trying to quash the weak. Our tolerance for pluralism is at its lowest. The trend of departure from democratic values is on the rise.
Can such a societal climate continue indefinitely? As we are not going to be ripped apart forever, when shall we return to our lives in “unity and togetherness”, an ideal so favored by politicians? Does anyone know? The only fact we know is that the depth of the political, societal and cultural gaps indicate that a return to normalcy will not happen soon.
All of this aside, we have already forgotten the lives that were destroyed by the terror that suddenly rose in this environment of chaos. I am ashamed.
How quickly we forgot the 34 young lives that were so suddenly taken from us in Suruc. Who knows what sad stories each of them had? Or how are the families of the policemen who were killed in their sleep in Sanliurfa living now?
How we have forgotten that the number of security forces who were killed between the two elections was 167 and that each one had their own story. We have also forgotten the major who was etched into our memory with his unforgettable photo taken in the misty mountain paths and was killed in Tunceli. Actually, we should not even be able to look ourselves in the mirror.
The traces of the act of terror in Ankara, the bloodiest in the history of the Turkish Republic, have been erased from our memories. We have also forgotten the incident where more than a hundred civilians were slaughtered, the terrible death of a nine year old boy and the sudden disappearance of scores of our young people. We have even so quickly forgotten the many stories of sorrow, the untreatable pain of their relatives, their uprising, their silent screams and their unrequited desperation.
Yes, perhaps someday the social democrats will come to power and those who have suffered depression and trauma will rise to their feet. However, the hundreds, even thousands, of our people who have passed away due to terror will never come back. The quiet desolation of the victims will disappear in the infinity of the universe. Life, on the other hand, will carry on.
This is my main concern.
This is our greatest desperation.
This is the most magnificent tragedy of humanity.
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The Irresistible Drunkenness of Reading Books
“Veni, vidi, legi! / I came, I saw, I read!"
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Tracking Down Mario Levi
"My luggage has been checked. He smelled everything and rummaged around. In shirts, trousers, handkerchiefs. They were looking for lace and jewelry. Even for banned books. Idiots looking for you in your suitcase! You won´t discover anything here! The contraband traveling with me. I stuck it in my head. And there are a lot of books in my head! I assure you. My head is a chirping bird´s nest. From the confiscated books." Heinrich Heine / Germany. "A Winter´s Tale"
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Kissinger´s Political Doctrine
“Life is suffering. Birth involves death. Transitoriness is the fate of existence. No civilization has yet been permanent, no longing completely fulfilled. This is necessity, the fatedness of history, the dilemma of mortality.” Henry Kissinger - From the preface of his doctorate thesis at Harvard University.
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Do All Organisms Feel Pain?
Scientists have revealed that plants exposed to stress also react like humans and animals do. This is a very important discovery for understanding the universality of pain for all living things.
