(en) Turkey uprising: There were 20+ assembles in different parks in Istanbul like this

report form a neighborhood assembly in Besiktas: "After Taksim, there was a much more 
important meeting going on, in the heart of the territory of Carsi (pronounced Charshuh), 
the fans of Besiktas who seem to be one of the most important forces in Turkish politics 
these days. From 9pm, thousands of mostly young people assembled in and around the 
amphitheater in Abbasaga Park under the motto ?every park is Gezi? (and under a Turkish
flag?more later) to assess what has happened since the Gezi Park occupation began and 
where the movement is going. Hundreds lined up behind the stage to talk for two or three 
minutes each, while the assembled crowd signaled agreement and disagreement by waving 
their hands or crossing their arms. Unlike Turkish parliament it was an exercise in direct 
democracy.

Even after midnight, when the loudhailer was turned off to respect the local citizens? 
rights of silence and peace, speaker after speaker came up to have their say by shouting 
out to the crowd. One speaker noted how appropriate it was that this amphitheater was 
finally being used for the purpose for which the Greeks invented it.

Here are some (admittedly random) highlights of the discussions, and some indications of 
the crowd?s reactions [+ for waving hands in agreement, - for crossing arms in 
disagreement; ++ indicates widespread agreement, etc.]. Let me just say that this was a
totally positive meeting, not a single bit of aggro, and it was really a joy to be in such 
company. I believe the discussion represents a very new kind of politics in Turkey, very 
unlike what I have heard from many discussions with leftists and Kurdish activists from
the 1980s to today, for whom the transition even to the "new left" was cut short many 
years ago and the style of politics is centralist and vertical.

One of the most interesting speakers is a regular attender of the daily 10am meetings of 
the Taksim Solidarity Platform, a smaller group that loosely leads the protest, talks 
strategy, and makes public pronouncements. He told the crowd that the Taksim Solidarity
meetings are attended by about 130 people, of whom less than 30 are under 25 years of age 
[-]. They are leftists [+] but they are caught up in the old style of writing long 
manifestos [--]. In this day and age of twitter, such manifestos are forgotten after ten 
minutes [+] and we have to find a new and better way to communicate [++]. The young man
said that he and five other young students were going to work at the protestors' public
relations office in Karakoy, a neighborhood of Istanbul, because the office needed new 
volunteers who could develop a new form of communicating [++].

[There was much talk of the need to find a new way of communicating, of how we should 
communicate to the "other 50 percent"; whether it was elitist to even pretend one could
tell the "other 50 percent" anything; whether there really IS an "other 50 percent" or we 
are all part of the 99 percent, and so on.]
Whenever I listen to the mainstream media I also feel like saying ?Fuck Us!? We must use a 
different language to show that we want to share and to give, not to destroy [++].

As long as this state of exception continues, every park is Gezi [++] and Taksim is 
everywhere [++].

If every park is Gezi [+] then anyone can meet there and the police [--] cannot prevent
people from meeting [+]. There we will meet with those who bang their pots and pans [++] 
and until the state of exception is lifted that is how it should be [++].

The 80?s generation of activists carries fears of what happens to you if you organize 
because they were tortured and disappeared [-] but we must overcome these fears [+]. The 
best way to succeed is to get organized [++].

We need to embrace these older activists from the 1980s and learn from them [mostly +]. We 
should look to them as our leaders [+ and -].

As we receive support from foreign countries, we should also do something to support the 
people in places such as Brasil [++].

Please be careful about your garbage [++].

I spoke to shopkeepers and traders in Eminonu [where the spice market is located] to find 
out why they are so afraid of what is going on. They say that we are threatening tourism 
and hence their business and that things need to go back to ordinary [-]. We need to talk 
to people like these and explain what we are about [++].

With reference to the shopkeepers and getting back to normal, I want to say that freedom 
does not come about easily [++]. The way to get democracy is not through normal life but 
to stop ordinary life and to do extraordinary things [+++]. We must get organized. We need 
to write a manifesto [+ and -] and if the political parties [-] don?t want to sign on we 
should just go forward as ourselves [+++].

I talked to the cops [---]?[laughing] no, I went up to them because I thought we should
open a dialogue [+ and -]. They said, well, if you hang around with PKK [the Kurdish 
guerrillas] then as far as we are concerned you are all PKK [+ and -]. I said to them, ?We 
are not PKK, we are just children of the people [+++]. Is it not the government that talks 
to the PKK?? [+++]

The government says that I am marginal, that I am a bandit, that I am capulcu. And I say 
YES, I AM a bandit, yes I AM marginal, yes I AM a capulcu. Instead of trampling over other 
peoples? rights, I would rather be called these things [+++]. In this park at this moment 
we are building a beautiful thing [+++]. This humor, this creativity, this literature and 
cleverness, NOBODY can stop this [+++]. We are NOT the ones who produce violence and we
WILL NOT BE the ones who produce violence [+++]. We must overcome this image [++].

I don?t want to meet under this [Turkish] flag [mostly + some -]. We are not a movement of 
any flags [++].

We don?t need any of the political parties [+++]. May 31 was unexpected by all of them.
The people should start a new organization [++]. Let?s create people?s councils in every 
street and neighborhood [+++]. Let?s establish a platform first, NOT a political party [++].

If we have a party, let us call it the Open Party [+].

[From an older man] I have been through many generations of leftist activities and 
movements and I can tell you that there has never been this kind of democratic experience 
lived through in this country [+++].

We all know many experts like political scientists and we should call on them to be our
leaders [---; I saw one +]

I have been preparing my papers and filling out forms for months to try and leave this 
country. Thank you all for giving me a reason to stay in this country [+++]. I have a five 
year old son and now I feel like he has a future and I don?t feel any more like I am on my 
own. I couldn't have done this on my own so thanks for your support. Thank you [+++].

It was Taksim Solidarity Platform that suggested going to the Prime Minister?s speech at 
Kazlicesme [---] [site of PM Erdogan's recent "monster rally" and speech against the 
protests; also the place where the state says anyone can hold meetings, "if you want to
have a meeting, don't go to Taksim, go to Kazlicesme. If you want to camp, Gezi Park is
not the place, go to the mountains. There is a proper place for everything."].

[A young man] They stopped us in Taksim and now we have learned how to stand in Taksim 
[?stop? and ?stand? are the same verb, durmak, in Turkish]. Some people are standing in
Taksim. Some are reading. Each one is doing their own thing. Tomorrow I am going to sit in 
Taksim Square and I am going to knit as my grandmother taught me [+]. If we use violence 
we will be beaten but we can be more creative than that [mostly +]. They may have kicked 
the people out of Gezi but they cannot kick Gezi out of the people."