title, what title?

"Six Four" - "23" - "Candle" - "Never Forget." These words does not exists on the Chinese side of the internet. In these wild days of the Internet, it seems like what does not show up in your search results, is simply not there. So the Chinese authorities are using the very same routers and servers that made the so-called "social-web revolution" possible to erase an authentic People's revolution in the Peoples Republic of China... In case you have forgotten, in the middle ages before Twitter and Facebook "revolutionized" the "way we interact" or before the "Arab Spring" brought fresh winds of "democracy" to the "suppressed" people of the world the fire  it was still possible to gather hundreds of thousands of people around the common cause of ending repression. In case you have forgotten, or never heard of it, its name was Tianenmen: Source: (Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Im...

Democracy is the mother of all buzzwords. From totalitarian regimes calling themselves the real democrats (German Democratic Republic, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) to the so called advanced democracies such as US, where the wealthy are simply rewriting rules for themselves (1), or Germany, where the state recklessly lets the police attack peaceful protesters who are protesting the construction in their own city(2), the word democracy is used to whitewash practices that are directly contrary to what the democracy supposed to mean. Add to this the dangerous Western (mostly American) international relations rhetoric, that democracy is a panacea that would magically cure all the worlds problems. Although it is not logical, and perhaps not ethical, to choose any other form of government over democracy, it is certainly not realistic to believe democracy is a solution to any problem. In my humble opinion, it is only a tool, or a mere set of practices, that lets people solve probl...

I was discussing the trouble Greeks have with the name Macedonia with friends on Friday. Actually more trying to understand how they feel about it. I argued it is not the right of Greece telling what name Macedonians use for their country, and Macedonia has no right claiming Greek territories. That seems to be what Greeks believe. Argumentation goes, what comes after the name, territory claims? We must draw a red line somewhere. It reminded me the exact same argument against acknowledging the terrible atrocities committed against the Anatolian Armenians around 1915. The knee jerk reaction is: "What happens after the apology, territorial claims?" Nowadays Turkish political agenda is focused around what is called "The Kurdish Expansion" -which should be "Human Rights Expansion" in my opinion- which boils down to the recognition of Kurdish identity in Turkish. Status Quo protectors -who in a travesty of the term happen to be Social Democrats- cry out the same...

I am a political anarchist, and do not like the idea of a state. Authoritarian states are the ones I abhor the most. The Islamic Republic of Iran, with its populist president, and medieval mullahs is probably the state that I would like to see gone the most. Even though I am not optimistic about the outcome of the unrest in Iran, I would love them to see inflict as much damage as possible to the regime, which in the 21th century still persecutes homosexuals, forces on the people their understanding of a religion. What I don't get however, is the way the people outside Iran show their support to the protesters. Signing on-line petitions, joining Facebook groups, changing status messages, or Twitter'ing will DO NO GOOD. Mullahs and Regime Guardians do not read Facebook messages. They ban them. So here is a practical proposal from me, to people outside Iran who wish dearly to help the protester. Go to your local gas station and ask if the petrol they buy from the refineries includ...

I am feeling extremely disillusioned about democracy in the shadow of the incomprehensible suffering in the Gazza Strip. Though neither of the sides can be called democratic, -Israel is not secular, and Hamas has only won an election, which is just one tiny component of democracy to make it a democratic government- the workings of democracy play an important role in the escalation. There are elections in Israel, which promotes populist, yet short sighted and cruel display of military power. On the other side a religious terrorist organization who fires rockets at will, won the elections riding on the resentment towards the peace-seeking, yet corrupt government. On the other side of the Atlantic, the country whose political system is the most democratic on the world is staying silent. Yesterday in the subway, I found an answer to my disillusion, in the words of Leonard Cohen. I shouldn't have assumed that Democracy had already arrived in any part of the world. Not even USA: Democrac...

This is hilarious -and very informative on the travesty of Proposition 8-: "Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

... about the United States? Maybe I should re-consider: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20081214-177945/US-immigrant-beaten-in-attack-dies

Daniella, a friend of mine who is a PHD student on democracy promotion, had told me about the work of 20th century Italian philosopher and political scientist Gramsci . His reading of the modern history, lead him to formulate the concept of Cultural Hegemony, in which a ruling class maintains control over the ruled class, simply by hijacking the ruling class' self understanding. That is when the ruled class believes that the norms of the ruling class are the correct norms, they live their lives accordingly, which ossifies the hegemony. I was puzzled to see my friends on Facebook, from different countries, dedicate their personal messages to Obama. This is making a political statement, and thus a result of self understanding. Taken to an international level this is an example of cultural hegemony. Apart from that I am relieved that Mc Cain did not win, which would give a crazy religious woman who believes that Jesus will return after Armageddon in her lifetime a realistic chance of ...

If Mc Cain pulls out a miracle, I will regret not going long on this book: http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies-Policies/dp/0691129428

219 years ago the people of Paris said enough. Long live the revolution!

Gecen sene ortasinda secimlerle baslayan, Abdullah Gül’ün Cumhurbaskani secilmesi ile suren, bir ara yeni anayasa tartsimalarinda kimlik bulan, MHP’nin cikarci atagi sonucunda turban yasagi eksenine giren, ve en son olarak AK Parti hakkinda acilan kapatilma davasinda iyiden iyiye bir catismaya donen politik savasimi “Turkiye’nin gecikmis kuvvet paylasimi sorunu” olarak biraz daha genis bir perspektifde yorumlamaya calismadan once, laiklik ve dinin topumdaki yeri hakkindaki kendi goruslerimi kisaca hatirlatmakta fayda goruyorum. Hangisi olursa olsun, bir yerden sonra bilincli olarak mantik ve aklin “inanc” adina feda edilmesini -Danimarkali yenilikci din adami Kierkegaard‘in terimi olan inanc atlamasi, leap of faith ’den bahsediyorum- gerektiren Din kavraminin toplumu duzenlemek icin kullanilmasini dogru bulmuyorum. Burada duzenlemeyi yapan ucuncu bir organ oldugu, ve bu organin demokratik sureclerle secilmis bir devlet oldugunu varsaydigimi vurgulamam gerek. Din su veya bu sekilde ...

is, in my humble opinion, the asymmetry between the sizes of the electorate that mandates executive power to a government, and the electorate on which this particular government exercises this executive power. A prime example to this anomaly is the mass media-manipulation campaign going on in USA about the strategy in Iraq. I was watching a global show on BBC World in which people from all round the globe express their opinions on current issues. It was revelatory and shocking to watch BBC asking the Americans about the condition in Iraq! In the end it will be their vote which will decide the fate of Iraqis, whom they have never seen or met. So the question to be answered deals with the fates of millions of Iraqis. They are the electorate on which the executive power is being exercised. The government who exercises this power is voted, however thousands of miles away in the USA. This is the asymmetry I am talking about. Now as the electorate in US, does not live in Iraq, they receive i...

In the western media our current prime minister -and ex poetry reader- Tayyip Erdogan is depicted as a re-born democrat who suffered under the opressive secular elite. Though I agree on the second part, that the secularism in Turkey is opressive, I do not believe Erdogan is a re-born democrat. Recently, Bekir Coskun, a prominent opposition journalist wrote on his column that the president-to-be Abdullah Gül will not be his president, and accused Gül -like many in the opposition- of having a fundamentalist agenda. Erdogan, in an TV Interview a day later told Coskun should give up his Turkish nationality and leave the country. This kind of "join us or leave us" is more reminiscent of authoritarian dictators, and must send shivers down the spines of every Turkish citizen who is dreaming of a freer and more modern Turkey. If you are interested in my personal opinion, I believe everyone, including the politicians have the right -and must- change as the times go by. However Abdulla...