On Sunday, June 9th, about 60 people — mostly Turkish youth — showed up to the Jeanne-Mance Park in Montreal to show support to the movement in Turkey. This is the second time the Turkish people in Montreal gathered in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Turkey. As these lines are being written, the Erdogan regime is stepping up its repression, mobilizing thousands of police forces to crush the centre of the movement — Taksim Square.
The La Riposte and Fightback supporters also showed up to the protest to show our solidarity for the struggle of the Turkish workers and youth and also put forward the ideas of Marxism. There was a visible interest for the ideas of socialism amongst the youth, as shown by their interest in our socialist literatures. We were also able to have some good discussions with some of the most conscious youth in the movement. One of the questions we were frequently faced with was “what if the overthrown of Erdogan being followed by another bourgeois figure without any fundamental change?”
This question shows, first of all, the degree of the development of the movement amongst an increasing layer of the masses who are already thinking about the government that is going to come should Erdogan fall like Ben Ali or Mubarak. Even though the movement expands so fast and is mainly centered in big cities, and has the active participation of the working class, it still lacks the necessary organization and leadership capable of posing a genuine and revolutionary alternative to the Erdogan regime. The movement knows that it doesn’t want, which is the Erdogan regime, but it is still groping in the dark as to what exactly should take its place.
Second, it shows the influence of the Arab spring and its developments in the consciousness of some layers of the Turkish masses. They have seen that, especially in Tunisia and Egypt, in spite of overthrowing the governments there is no fundamental change and the previous governments are just replaced with a new set of thieves. The youth are asking: what can we do to prevent the repetition of what has happened in the Arab spring? The Marxists of Fightback pointed out that the movement can only rely on its own power and places no trust at all to any bourgeois opposition. The only way forward is through the leadership of the working class which is equipped with revolutionary perspectives and programs.
There will be solidarity demonstration, organized by the Turkish community, every Sunday. Fightback will be present at these solidarity demonstrations to show its support for the movement and the genuine spirit of internationalism, and put forward the ideas and methods of revolutionary Marxism as the movement develops.
