2013 Protests in Turkey - Gezi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

2013 Protests in Turkey - Gezi - Essay ExampleThe main issues that could be discerned included emancipation of assembly, barrendom of speech and expression, freedom of the press, and the violation on secularism. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, on supporting the protests, noted that when considering that Turkey has alship canal been considered a tame Islamic state, the protest were indeed astonishing. He argues that the protests are proof that a free market does not always lead to social freedom but bay window exist with authoritarian politics. Basically, Zizek points out that the globe of a free market does not always mean that a democratic state exists. A country can employ a free market system but withhold share-out of power between the ruling few and the majority public. In considering the protests in Turkey, it can thusly be concluded that neo-liberalism in the country led to the decline of the governments responsibility to its people and thus leading to a very angr y citizenship that reacted in the best way that they could. Democracy is an integrated governmental system that is based on the principle of involvement. Democracy is based on two concepts liberty and self-government2. intimacy often referred to as freedom belongs to individuals opus popular sovereignty belongs to the public as a whole. conversancy encompasses what governments are prohibited to do to their citizens, that is, curtail individual freedoms. Self-government as a property of land on the other hand deals in the trend with which those who govern are chosen. In this way, self-government deals with who leads while liberty sets rules that impose limits on what those who govern can do. In the past thirty years, democracy has enjoyed an peculiar rise. Incorporating social welfare with liberty and sovereignty has led democracy to be widely popular. It has however can be noticed that most governments are unable to maintain democracy as in the result of Turkey. Markets and Democracy Free markets nurture democracy in four main ways3. It is in these four ways that the government of Turkey failed and which led to the unrest that was witnessed in a country that was considered a promising object lesson of change in the Islamic world. The first manner in which free markets promote democracy is free markets are founded on the principle of cloak-and-dagger property. In a free market society, governments have to bear on the right of every citizen to own property as well as protect public property. fit to4, one of the main reasons that the protest spread across Turkey was that the citizens were protesting the sale of public spaces, streams, forests, urban symbols and beaches to private companies and individual investors. The plans to demolish Gezi Park to erect a shopping mall were a tipping point of the yellow bile the citizens harbored on the privatization efforts the government was conducting. The second manner in which free markets promote democracy is that they generate wealth5. As a country acquires wealth through the free market system, the middle class also referred to as the social backbone of democracy, arise. In turkey, the government grew complacent and forgot about the needs of the middle class in favor of the rich and elite. The people grew frustrated when their government increasingly went out of its way to create contributory environments for big companies while slowly decreasing public spending on social welfare. The third manner in which free markets foster democracy is by creating a civil society6. This occurs where groups and organizations such as unearthly associations, labor unions and professional