Opinion: Advices to American Protesters and Anti-Trumpers

Giving advices to American protesters and Anti-Trumpers is not an easy task when especially while sitting on your chair. The best thing to do is to support and share your solidarity with people. People who are acting and taking to the streets bravely against police brutality and their obvious violence. Yet, no matter how hard it is, we have advices to give to American fellows as we watched this picture 7 years ago in Turkey.

We have already revealed the similarities between Gezi Park Protests in 2013 and the current Black Lives Matter demonstrations. 2013 Gezi Protests in Turkey had great potential to change political balances then. Though it failed at the end of a-month-long demonstrations, it changed everything inevitably. Black Lives Matter movement, on the other hand, had this potential, too.

Diversity of Protesters

What makes different Black Lives Matter than previous demonstrations is the diversity of protestors. So, this could come in the first place among advices to American Protesters: keeping the base of the mass as broad as possible. The anger and unrest which revealed on the death of George Floyd by American police also revealed great solidarity.

The solidarity among all American people, —black and white, Asian and Hispanic, Muslim, and non-Muslim. These are the basic fundamentals that make the “American dream” true! Therefore, it is very vital and valuable that demonstrations brought all those colors together. The most important thing that American protesters must do is to protect the “rainbow“. “History changes when you have an unexpected convergence of forces,” argued Mr. Roberts on BBC News.

Same Political “Climates”, Same Political Duties

The political conjuncture that bred Gezi Park Protests in Turkey in 2013 has many similarities with the American political climate. High unemployment, police brutality, economic shrinkage, anti-democratic politics has been causing demonstrations in the US. So, the death of Mr. Floyd became the overflow of the boiling water and accumulated anger.   Thus, here we come to another piece of advice to American protesters: All compounds of demonstrations must unite around certain political targets. Otherwise, this powerful movement is confined to fade away just as history has shown and taught us a great many times. Black Lives Matter movement has to learn from history.

Organize Against Meaningless Violence

What we are talking about here is the gruesome and obvious violence of the American state and police toward “Black minority”, who are, in fact, consists of 50 millions of all the American population. State breeds violence, state causes violence, there is not much to criticize the violence of people on America’s streets. However, the current movement in the US is a common people’s movement without leadership and a leader. Hence, it is vital to maintain and keep people’s interest in the protests. Being more focused and organize on target is, therefore, very important for the riot to get success.

Who is Fighting and What They Want?

African-Americans are, of course, the main “catalyst” of the movement. But, “this time is different” as most of the people in America say. And as George Floyd’s daughter said, “My father’s life is going to make a difference. So, what activists must do is to believe these words.

As for the question of what they want is simply to end mass incarceration, dismantle structural racism, and end the police killings of black men and women across the country. However, tactical differences have emerged between different camps of activists in the seven years since Black Lives Matter first became a national rallying cry. Yet again, we have so much to learn from each other. So do American activists from Gezi Protests. Another wise thing to do would be to constitute local units, which rely on direct democracy. Further, open-air discussions may make people take up the movement more seriously.

Prevailing People on Mutual Values and Search for Democracy

Black Lives Matter movement began as the justice search of African-American people. But soon after, millions from different ethnicities, colors, races, religions, genders, traditions, and identities have taken on the responsibility. Thus, it became an American uprising. This is vital, this is valuable. Advices to American protesters is to protect the idea that they have nothing to lose, but a world to win. Everyone need or will need democracy, so it is crucial to include as many people as possible.

The Legitimacy of the Movement

So far, we have been seeing that the movement creates its legitimacy on the streets. It is how it is for revolutionary movements that have the potential to change history. In the meantime, the movement brought together different social classes. Moreover, different political targets are also in the field. Anti-Trumpers, extremist left, anarchists, liberals are some of those political figures. So, it seems hard to unit those diverse perceptions. Nevertheless, if the movement wants to be successful, it has to find a way to agree, at least, on tactics to end police brutality.

Consequently, 2020 began with huge turmoils. We all know and agree that. In the first days of the year, the tension between the US and Iran shocked the world. Thus, the world came to the edge of a new world war. Later on, earthquakes around the world scared people. Needless to say, then, coronavirus, or COVID-19 pandemic, appeared. And It has already caused tens-of-thousands-of-people’s life. And there are millions of cases all around world. The worse, the virus keeps going increasingly. And finally, the Black Lives Matter movement oppresses not only America but also the world.

Great turmoils hold the potential great changes, too. So, we believe that the protests in America among the strongest “catalyst” in the world. As a final word, what we must do is to grow the voice of the people in America.