Labor at Taksim Square

Istanbul Gov. Muammer Güler accepted an interference by President Abdullah Gül and toned down his strong opposition to a mass rally of labor in Taksim Square, yet he agreed to a demonstration by a controllable "reasonable" group. Even that was a success, and in hopes that it would be the first major step to overcome the official allergy to a massive labor demonstration, labor groups agreed to keep hundreds of thousands of workers away from the historical square at the heart of Istanbul and organized a "limited celebration." The huge banner, a reminder of the 1977 May Day rally in the same square, depicting the world rising within the callous hands of a worker, was hanging again down the platform where labor leaders addressed the "reasonable crowd."

There was no violence in Taksim Square. Labor leaders did not allow provocative elements join in. Speaking on the platform, leaders of the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions, or DISK, and the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK, lamented that if authorities had allowed a mass celebration, they would have taken measures to have a peaceful mass celebration.

Hours before the DISK and KESK "reasonable" demonstration, other labor union confederations were briefly allowed in Taksim Square to lay wreaths at the Taksim Monument in memory of the 37 people killed during the 1977 May Day rally. But, there was not peace on the sideways leading to Taksim Square. There were groups attacking police, and police mercilessly gassing and attacking those groups with water cannons and truncheons.

Unemployment day
I have a suggestion. Why doesn’t Parliament convene and rename the recently re-instituted May Day holiday for labor as the "Unemployment Holiday," or better, as the "Police Entertainment Day." In a country where unemployment has reached an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, record of 15.5 percent and likely climb to even a higher percentage soon thanks to the "tangentially" passing economic crisis, is it not odd to celebrate the International Day of Solidarity of Labor, or May Day?

Well, while our government finally agreed last month to allow "legs to become heads" and re-instituted May Day as an official holiday for labor, in view of the massive masochism demonstrated by the police on the sideways leading to Taksim Square, will it not be more appropriate to rename this recently re-instituted May Day holiday as "Police Entertainment Day"? With his white hair and dark black moustache, Istanbul’s Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah was touring the area like a victorious commander, and while on the police wireless, there was an appeal: "We have run out of gas bombs. Send us ammunition, reinforcements!"

There were, of course, groups trying to provoke violence on the streets leading to Taksim. Of course, police were required to prevent provocation and violence. But, several hundred meters away, for the first time since the 1977 May Day carnage in Taksim Square, a "reasonable" crowd of workers was peacefully celebrating the International Day of Solidarity of Labor. That is, when the police take security measures and allow labor to celebrate their day, labor can indeed celebrate the May Day in organized discipline, and in peace.Still, despite the violence on the sideways leading to the Taksim Square, it was great to see thousands of workers demonstrate in Taksim Square and remember the victims of the 1977 massacre under that gigantic banner of a world rising in the callous hands of a worker that has become the symbol of May Day in Turkey. Right, this year the government has re-instituted May Day as an official holiday and for the first time since 1978 allowed labor to have a May Day celebration in Taksim Square with a "reasonable number" of participants. Despite violence on the sideways leading to Taksim, steps have been taken toward eradicating the May Day tensions and violence that have become a tradition since the 1977 carnage. Hopefully, next year the government will allow a mass celebration in Taksim.