Talk Turkey - Rethinking Life Since Gezi
A Conference on the Future of Turkey—The New School University
Friday, 4 October 2013 1:00pm - 6:30pm
Kellen Auditorium, 66 5th Ave (12th Street) New York, Ground Floor
Saturday, October 5, 2013 10:00am - 6:00pm
Wolff Conference Room, 6 East 16th Street New York, 11th Floor
A small protest against the destruction of Gezi Park in downtown Istanbul in late May has triggered wide-ranging public demonstrations in Turkey. The conference “Talk Turkey: Rethinking Life Since Gezi” addresses key issues raised by the Gezi protests. What are their social, political, economic and artistic consequences? What are the new avenues opened up by Gezi’s broad public mobilization? And what does the future hold for Turkey and the broader region in light of these milestone events?
Academics, activists, journalists, politicians, urbanists, doctors, lawyers, architects, and artists will come together at the New School University, New York on 4-5 October 2013 to reflect on the state of social affairs since Gezi.
Our aim is to deepen the conversation and explore the direction of new social developments. Some of the issues we address are large scale urban and economic transformations, limitations to democratic participation, media censorship, restrictions faced by doctors and lawyers, the role of women and LGBT activists in the protests, medical and legal consequences of state brutality, and new forms of cultural and artistic expression of dissent. Finally, we will reflect on Gezi in the context of Occupy Solidarity and alternative globalization movements.
The conference will be live-streamed on YouTube. Viewers will have the chance to pose their questions in English, Turkish, German, and French via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube using the hashtags #TalkTurkey and #geziniyoruz.
For the full conference program, click here.
For more information, or to contact the conference organizers, click here.
For more information about what has been in happening in Turkey since late May, take a look at the site Everywhere Taksim, which documents and archives key events and materials concerning activities revolving around Gezi Park. You can also consult the Facebook Group of the International Solidarity with Occupy Gezi.