“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson
Recent protests in Brazil and another countries against the social, political and economic conditions are being repressed by government forces with violence and lawlessness. There’s no freedom of speech or human rights when governments use force to try to silence their opponents.
Currently, Turkey has been experiencing a period of protests against government policy. Peaceful protests against reconstruction of the Gezi Park at the Istanbuls landmark square Taksim, tuned in to protests against Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Over milion people nonviolently resist police brutal force. Started in Istanbul, protests spread in 10 days to over 82 cities of Turkey. Significant violence from the police side is manifested by using the tear gas, and rubber bullets. Many people was arrested for just standing at the square.
Gezi Park
The initial cause of the protests was the plan to remove Gezi Park, one of the few remaining green spaces in the center of the European side of Istanbul. The plan involved pedestrianising Taksim Square and rebuilding the Ottoman-era Taksim Military Barracks, which had been demolished in 1940. Development projects in Turkey involve “cultural preservation boards” which are supposed to be independent of the government, and in January such a board rejected the project as not serving the public interest. However a higher board overturned this on 1 May, in a move park activists said was influenced by the government.
Gezi Park as seen from the Marmara hotel on Taksim Square.
The ground floor of the rebuilt barracks was expected to house a shopping mall, and the upper floors luxury flats, although in response to the protests the likelihood of a shopping mall was downplayed, and the possibility of a museum raised. The main contractor for the project is the Kalyon Group, described in 2013 by the BBC as “a company which has close ties with the governing Justice and Development (AK) Party.”
The Gezi Park protests began in April, having started with a petition in December 2012. The protests were renewed on 27 May, culminating in the creation of an encampment occupying the park. A raid on this encampment on 29 May prompted outrage and wider protests. Although Turkey has a history of police brutality, the attack on a peaceful sit-in by environmentalists was different enough to spur wider outrage than such previous incidents, developing into the largest protests in Turkey in decades.
A man holds a flag bearing the image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern, secular Turkey on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 and encouraged the country to throw off its religious traditions.
The Woman in Red
On the morning of 28 May, around 50 environmentalists were camping out in Gezi Park in order to prevent its demolition. The protesters initially halted attempts to bulldoze the park by refusing to leave. Police used tear gas to disperse the peaceful protesters and burned down their tents in order to allow the bulldozing to continue. Photos of the scene, such as an image of a young female protester (later nicknamed the “woman in red”) holding her ground while being sprayed by a policeman, quickly spread throughout the media across the world. The Washington Post reported that the image “encapsulates Turkey’s protests and the severe police crackdown”, while Reuters called the image an “iconic leitmotif.”
The photos shows how the unknown woman first faces off with the massed ranks of riot police before one steps forward to spray the gas right into her face.
Standing up for her rights: The brave woman is forced to retreat coughing and spluttering as the gas-wielding riot policeman goes on to spray the crowds of demonstrators behind her, leaving them in agony. Photos: Reuters.
On 31 May Police carried out another raid on the encampment in the early morning of 31 May. The police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters to surrounding areas and set up barricades around the park to prevent re-occupation. Throughout the day, the police continued to fire tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons at demonstrators, resulting in reports of more than 100 injuries. Sırrı Süreyya Önder was hospitalised after being hit in the shoulder by a tear gas canister. Some protesters threw rocks at the security forces. The executive order regarding the process decided earlier had been declared as ‘on-hold’ on 31 May 2013. 10,000 gathered in Istiklal Avenue. According to governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, 63 people had been arrested and detained. The police use of tear gas was criticised for being “indiscriminate.” The interior minister, Muammer Guler, said the claims of the use of disproportionate force would be investigated.
On 17 June a general strike and protests took place on almost every part of Turkey.
The Turkey Standing Man
Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation,satyagaha, and other methods, without using violence. It is largely synonymous with civil resistance. Each of these terms (“nonviolent resistance” and “civil resistance”) has its distinct merits and also slightly different connotations, which are briefly explored in the entry on civil resistance. The modern form of non-violent resistance was popularised and proven to be effective by the Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi in his efforts to gain independence from the British.
Against the violence of the governments forces we can’t react with more violence, but with inteligence by many other modes of expression to make us understood without using a single word or action. In these days, a man showed us one of these forms. A silent, standing protest by performance artist Erdem Gunduz has been taken up by hundreds of anti-government demonstrators and spread to several Turkish cities. Mr Gunduz appeared in Istanbul’s Taksim Square at around 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on Monday and remained there until 02:00 when police moved in.
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His protest quickly captured the imagination of the protest movement. The hash tag “duranadam” (“standing man”) dominated Turkish-language Twitter on Tuesday morning. Hundreds of people in Istanbul and Ankara took up the protest on Tuesday.
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We are the people and the people should not be afraid of their governments, but governments should be afraid of their people.
To read this Editorial in Portuguese go to the end of this post.
No, I’m not going to the World Cup!
I’m a brazilian citizen, and I love my country. I was born and I lived in Rio de Janeiro for my whole life and I don’t want a World Cup, I don’t want the Olympic Games and I don’t want in 2014 have to vote in politicians that not represent me! What I want and what all the brazilian people want (and need) are hospitals, schools, work opportunities, less corruption, less violence and better ways to have a life of dignity and safety.
Protests are legitimate. It’s not for 20 cents or less – that is the valor of the raise of the bus passages in many brazilian cities that sparked the wave of protests around the country – is much more than this. It’s for a better country. Better way of life.
It’s enough!
The Brazilian people are tired of being humiliated by politicians liars, opportunists and corrupted.
The Brazilian people are tired of seeing people dying in the queues of hospitals without receiving medical care.
The Brazilian people are tired of seeing their children without access to education.
The Brazilian people are tired of paying the highest rate of duty in the world without receiving anything in return.
The Brazilian people are tired of corrupt and hypocritical politicians who only create laws for their own benefit – do you know what is PEC 37? It is a bill that aims to remove the power of investigation from some public entities as the Public Prosecutor and therefore will protect politicians suspected of corruption from being investigated and prosecuted by the courts and this law is to be approved by the Brazilian Congress.
The Brazilian people are tired of Marco Feliciano – President of the Human Rights Commission of the House of Representatives in Congress – a person racist, homophobic and prejudiced, and today he has approved the “gay cure” – a method of treatment to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals considered a crime and a violation of human rights worldwide.
The Brazilian people are tired of the violence, of not having security to go to work or go to the streets.
The Brazilian people are tired of the violence of the police forces – the police of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are the biggest killers in the world.
The Brazilian people are tired of not having jobs and don’t have a decent wage: a policeman earns R$ 900 per month (US$ 418) to risk his life. A public school teacher earns R$ 1,500 (US$ 697) to work in schools without a minimum of structure to teach their students. A doctor in the public sector earn $ 2,000 per month (US$ 930) to work for 40 hours per week in hospitals without a minimum of condition to care their patients. The Brazilian minimum wage to a worker is R$ 678 (US$ 315). The salary of a Congressman or Senator is R$ 26,700 (US$ 12,400) plus benefits. After two terms of office (8 years) he can retire and receive a salary of R$ 5,800 (US$ 2,700) per month. The cost for the World Cup is estimated at R$ 30 billion (US$ 13,9 billion). The reform of the Maracana stadium costed alone R$ 1 billion (US$ 465 million). Do you think it is fair?
The Brazilian people are tired of the precarious, inefficient and expensive public transport.
The Brazilian people are tired of the promises and lies of governments that betrayed the trust of those who elected them.
The Brazilian people are tired. The people that are on the streets are shouting they are tired of all of this.
It’s enough.
If you are Brazilian or if you agree that this situation needs to change for the benefit of the Brazilian people, please share this post, reblog, repost and help to disclose the reality until the whole planet can understand what the Brazilian people are saying on the streets.
The protests that spread to cities across the country are legitimate and peaceful protests, but the police force always tries to silence the freedom of speech and the right of the people to express their dissatisfaction with the terrible reality of the country. The Brazil is not the country of the future. Because if we do not do something now we will have no future. Only empty stadiums and people dying of starvation.
Please take a minute or two to see the photos below about the protests in many brazilian cities.
São Paulo: Inspired by the movement “occupy wall street” people took the streets of several cities in Brazil to protest against the increase in bus fares and against the terrible social and economic situation of the country.
São paulo: “Stop the robbery or we stop the Brazil” – Brazil is one of the countries with more scandals of corruption in the policy, but on behalf of impunity no one politician was arrested until today.
Since the protests began, the Governor of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, treated the same as “police cases”: The police were instructed to suppress all manifestations with extreme violence, even attacking journalists.
Protesters demanding the end of the police violence against the people’s right to freedom of speech in a state that calls itself as “democratic”.
“Protesting is not a crime. São Paulo we’re together”: Tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities on Monday in a growing protest that is tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.
Protests against the fare increase of public transport in São Paulo.
Rio de Janeiro: a hundred thousand people take the streets to protest against the terrible political and social situation of the country.
Thousands of people shut down a major street in Belo Horizonte during protest organized through social networks.
Unprepared and poorly led the police reprove with tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets a manifestation until then peaceful.
Rio de Janeiro: police arrest a young who protested against the increase in bus fares.
Protesters with masks of the movie “V for Vendetta”: “Fifa World Cup = R$ 28 billion; Olympic Games = R$ 26 billion; corruption = R$ 50 billion; minimum wage = R$ 678, and you still think it’s for 20 cents?”
Brasilia: Hundred of protesters around the National Congress. Never had so many honest people in the Congress, demoralized after repeated corruption scandals.
Brasília: another shot of the Congress took by the people.
“Does not change in the urn. It changes in the streets”. “Come to the streets”.
In Brasilia, police used pepper gas to disperse protesters, also reaching media professionals.
Maria Hortência Brito, 19, is pregnant and participated in the protest held in Belém.
Protests against the fare increase of public transport in Curitiba.
Protesters climb on the roof of the National Congress. The protest is against spending in the Cup, corruption and improvements in public transport, health and education.
Maceió, Alagoas state: “Education. Health. Safety. I want.”
In Rio de Janeiro, a young woman holds a placard against abuse of the police force, and wear a mask and goggles to protect herself from possible rubber bullets and tear gas: “Police your oath is for the country and not for the rulers”.
A man displays a poster with the image of the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, as a Nazi.
Rio de Janeiro: Police attack protesters with pepper spray.
A Young woman displays poster with the photo of Giuliana Vallone, reporter from the journal “Folha de S. Paulo”, hit by a rubber bullet shot from the São Paulo Military Police.
Rio de Janeiro: protester wears a mask of “V for Vendetta” in front of the Municipal Theater.
São Paulo.
Brasília, National Congress.
Rio de janeiro: The demonstrations that were peaceful turned violent because of truculence and unpreparedness of the police in dealing with this kind of situation.
Attacked by tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray, protesters retaliated by throwing stones at the police.
What was a peaceful movement turned to an urban warfare scenario. This is not the country we want. This is not the police we need.
Please, take only more minutes to watch the video below and you will understand what we want. We don’t want a World Cup. We just want a better country to us and our children.
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Please shared the photo below and the video pasting this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZApBgNQgKPU?feature=player_embedded on your website, social network, blog or send to email to your family and friends. Help to reveal the terrible truth about the World Cup 2014 and the lies of the Brazilian government.
Peace and thanks for your attention.
mkenobi.
PORTUGUESE VERSION
BRASIL, O PAÍS DA COPA DO MUNDO…
To read this Editorial in English, please click here.
Não, eu não vou à Copa do Mundo!
Sou um cidadão brasileiro, e eu amo meu país. Nasci e vivi no Rio de Janeiro por toda a minha vida e eu não quero uma Copa do Mundo, eu não quero Jogos Olímpicos e eu não quero em 2014 ter de votar em políticos que não me representam! O que eu quero e o que todo o povo brasileiro quer (e precisa) são hospitais, escolas, oportunidades de trabalho, menos corrupção, menos violência e melhores condições para ter uma vida digna e segura.
Os protestos são legítimos. Não é por 20 centavos ou menos – que é o valor do aumento das passagens de ônibus em muitas cidades brasileiras que deflagraram a onda de protestos ao redor do país – é muito mais do que isso. É por um país melhor. Uma melhor condição de vida.
Já chega!
O povo brasileiro está cansado de ser humilhado por políticos mentirosos, oportunistas e corruptos.
O povo brasileiro está cansado de ver pessoas morrendo nas filas dos hospitais sem receber cuidados médicos.
O povo brasileiro está cansado de ver seus filhos sem acesso à educação.
O povo brasileiro está cansado de pagar os mais altos impostos do mundo sem receber nada em troca.
O povo brasileiro está cansado de políticos corruptos e hipócritas que somente criam leis em benefício próprio – você sabe o que é a PEC-37? É um projeto de lei que pretende retirar o poder de investigação de órgãos como o Ministério Público e por consequência irá proteger políticos suspeitos de corrupção de serem investigados e processados pelos tribunais e esta lei está para ser aprovada pelo Congresso brasileiro.
O povo brasileiro está cansado de Marco Feliciano – presidente da Comissão de Direitos Humanos da Câmara dos Deputados no Congresso – uma pessoa racista, homofóbica e preconceituosa que hoje aprovou a “cura gay” – um método de tratamento para converter homossexuais em heterossexuais considerado crime e uma violação aos direitos humanos em todo o mundo.
O povo brasileiro está cansado da violência, de não ter segurança para ir para o trabalho ou mesmo de sair às ruas.
O povo brasileiro está cansado da violência das forças policiais – as polícias de São Paulo e do Rio de Janeiro são as que mais matam no mundo.
O povo brasileiro está cansado de não ter empregos e de não ter um salário decente: um policial ganha R$ 900 reais por mês para arriscar a vida. Um professor de escola pública ganha R$ 1.500 para trabalhar em escolas sem um mínimo de estrutura para ensinar seus alunos. Um médico da rede pública ganha R$ 2000 por mês para trabalhar 40 horas por semana em hospitais sem um mínimo de condição para cuidar de seus pacientes. O salário mínimo brasileiro de um trabalhador é R$ 678. O salário de um Deputado ou Senador é de R$ 26.700 mais benefícios. Após dois mandatos (8 anos) ele pode se aposentar e receber um salário de R$ 5.800 por mês. O custo para a Copa do Mundo está estimado em 30 bilhões de reais.A reforma do estádio do Maracanã custou sozinha R$ 1 bilhão. Você acha isso justo?
O povo brasileiro está cansado de um transporte público precário, ineficiente e caro.
O povo brasileiro está cansado de promessas e mentiras de governantes que traíram a confiança daqueles que os elegeram.
O povo brasileiro está cansado. As pessoas que estão nas ruas estão gritando que estão cansadas de tudo isso.
Já chega.
Se você é brasileiro ou se você concorda que esta situação precisa mudar para o bem do povo brasileiro, por favor compartilha este post, reblogando, repostando e ajudando a revelar a realidade até que todo o planeta possa entender o que o povo brasileiro está dizendo nas ruas.
Os protestos que se espalharam pelas cidades ao redor do pais são protestos legítimos e pacíficos, mas as forças policiais sempre tentam silenciar a liberdade de expressão e os direitos das pessoas de expressar sua insatisfação com a terrível realidade do país. O Brasil não é o país do futuro. Porque se nós não fizermos alguma coisa agora nós não teremos futuro. Apenas estádios vazios e o povo morrendo de fome.
Por favor tire um minuto ou dois para ver as fotos sobre os protestos em muitas cidades brasileiras.
São Paulo: inspirados pelo movimento “ocupe Wall Street” as pessoas tomaram as ruas de várias cidades no Brasil para protestar contra o aumento nas passagens de ônibus e contra a terrível situação econômica e social do país.
São Paulo: “Parem com a roubalheira ou paramos o Brasil” – Brasil é um dos países com mais escândalos de corrupção na política, mas por conta da impunidade nenhum político foi preso até hoje.
Desde o início dos protestos, o Governador de São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, tratou os mesmos como “casos de polícia”. Os policiais foram orientados a reprimir todas as manifestações de forma violenta, atacando inclusive jornalistas.
Protestantes pedem o fim da violência policial contra o direito das pessoas à liberdade de expressão em um Estado que se proclama “democrático”.
“Protestar não é crime! São Paulo, nós estamos juntos”: dezenas de milhares de manifestantes marcharam pelas ruas das maiores cidades do Brasil na segunda-feira em um protesto crescente que está se tornando uma revolta generalizada contra a precariedade dos serviços públicos,a violência policial e a corrupção nos governos.
Protestos contra o aumento das passagens no transporte público em São Paulo.
Rio de Janeiro: cem mil pessoas tomam as ruas para protestar contra a terrível situação social e política do país.
Centenas de pessoas fecham a maior avenida de Belo Horizonte durante protesto organizado através das redes sociais.
Despreparada e mal comandada a polícia repreende com gás lacrimogênio, spray de pimenta e balas de borracha uma manifestação até então pacífica.
Rio de Janeiro: polícia prende um jovem que protestava contra o aumento das passagens de ônibus.
Manifestantes com máscaras do filme “V de Vingança”: “Copa Fifa = R$ 28 bilhões, Olimpíada = R$ 26 bilhões; corrupção = R$ 50 bilhões; salário mínimo = 678 reais; e você ainda acha que é por R$ 0,20?”
Brasília: Centenas de manifestantes em volta do Congresso Nacional. Nunca teve tanta gente honesta no Congresso, desmoralizado após repetidos escândalos de corrupção.
Brasília: outra foto do Congresso tomado pelo povo.
“Não muda na urna. Muda na rua!!”. “Vem pra rua”.
Em Brasília, polícia usou gás de pimenta para dispersar os manifestantes, também atingindo profissionais da imprensa.
Maria Hortência Brito, 19 anos, está grávida e participou no protesto em Belém.
Protestos contra o aumento nos transportes públicos de Curitiba.
Manifestantes sobem no teto do Congresso Nacional. O protesto é contra os gastos com a Copa, a corrupção e a precariedade no transporte público, saúde e educação.
Maceió, estado de Alagoas: “Educação. Saúde. Segurança. Eu quero!”
No Rio de Janeiro, uma jovem segura um cartaz contra o abuso da força policial, e veste uma máscara e óculos para se proteger de possíveis balas de borracha e gás lacrimogênio: “Polícia, seu juramento é pra a pátria e não para os governantes”.
Um homem exibe um poster com a imagem do governador do estado do Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, como nazista.
Rio de Janeiro: Polícia ataca manifestantes com spray de pimenta.
Uma jovem exibe um poster com a foto de Giuliana Vallone, repórter do jornal “Folha de São Paulo”, atingida por uma bala de borracha disparada pela polícia militar de São Paulo.
Rio de Janeiro: manifestante veste uma máscara de “V de Vingança” em frente ao Teatro Municipal.
São Paulo.
Brasília, Congresso Nacional.
Rio de Janeiro: as manifestações que eram pacíficas se tornaram violentas por conta da truculência e do despreparo da polícia em lidar com esse tipo de situação.
Atacada por gás lacrimogênio, balas de borracha e spray de pimenta, os manifestantes reagiram atirando pedras nos policiais.
O que era um movimento pacífico se converteu em um cenário de guerrilha urbana. Este não é o país que nós queremos. Esta não é a polícia que nós precisamos.
Por favor, tire mais alguns minutos para assistir o vídeo abaixo e você irá entender o que nós queremos. Nós não queremos uma Copa do Mundo. Nós só queremos um país melhor para nós e nossos filhos.
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Por favor, compartilhe a foto abaixo e o vídeo copiando o link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZApBgNQgKPU?feature=player_embedded em seu site, rede social, blog ou envie por email para sua família e amigos. Ajude a revelar a terrível verdade sobre a Copa do Mundo 2014 e as mentiras do Governo brasileiro.
Gezi Park as seen from the Marmara hotel on Taksim Square.
A man holds a flag bearing the image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern, secular Turkey on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 and encouraged the country to throw off its religious traditions.
The photos shows how the unknown woman first faces off with the massed ranks of riot police before one steps forward to spray the gas right into her face.
Standing up for her rights: The brave woman is forced to retreat coughing and spluttering as the gas-wielding riot policeman goes on to spray the crowds of demonstrators behind her, leaving them in agony. Photos: Reuters.
All That I Love 