Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between social movements, urban regeneration programmes and media outlets in cities, with a focus on the transformation of urban culture in regards to people’s engagement with the spaces of media platforms. The argument is based on the study of cinema-going practices of an audience community in Istanbul, during and preceding the Gezi uprising. By employing ethnographic methods, this paper interrogates the activism of an audience community against the impact of shopping-mallisation and commodification of Istanbul’s urban spaces under AKP rule. In order to reclaim ownership of their spaces and future, this audience community claimed their right to the Emek movie theatre, Gezi Park and other parks whilst creating their own outdoor screenings and social media platforms. This paper also provides an interpretation of social movement development attached to media outlets such as film festivals and screenings, particularly the development of spatial activism in relation to people’s use of films, streets and movie theatres, thus illustrating, challenging and reinforcing rights to the city. More broadly, it gives new insights on the film and protest culture of a ‘secular’ group within a predominantly Muslim population and shows alternative and creative methods of protesting during a popular uprising.
RÉSUMÉ
Cet article explore la relation entre les mouvements sociaux, les programmes de régénération urbaine et les acces média dans la ville avec l’accent sur la transformation de la culture urbaine en ce qui concerne l’engagement du peuple avec les espaces de plateformes media. L’argument est basé sur l’étude des habitudes d’aller au cinéma d’une communauté d’audience a Istanbul pendant et précédent le soulévement Gezi. A travers les méthodes éthnographiques, cet article interroge l’activisme d’une communauté d’audience contre l’impact et l’emprise des centres commerciaux et la marchandisation des espaces urbains d’Istanbul sous le régime AKP. En vue de réclamer le droit a la propriété de son espace et de son avenir, cette communauté d’audience a déclaré son droit a la salle de cinéma Emek, le parc Gezi et d’autres parcs tout en créant son propre affichage de plein air et ses plateformes de médias sociaux. Cet article fournit aussi une interprétation du développement des mouvements sociaux attachés aux acces médias comme les festivals de cinéma et de projection, en particulier le développement d’un activisme d’espace en relation avec l’usage dont le peuple fait des films, des rues, et des salles de cinéma, en illustrant, en défiant et en renforçant ainsi son droit a la cité. Plus généralement, il donne de nouvelles idées sur le film et la culture de protestation d’un groupe ‘séculaire’ dans une population a prédominance musulmane et des méthodes créatives de protestations pendant un soulévement populaire.
RESUMEN
Esta tesis explora la relación entre los movimientos sociales, los programas de regeneración de la urbana y los medios de comunicación en las ciudades, centrándose en la transformación de la cultura urbana en lo que se refiere a la participación del público en los espacios de las plataformas de los medios. El argumento se basa en un estudio de las prácticas de la difusión cinematográfica de una comunidad de espectadores en Estambul durante y anterior al levantamiento Gezi. Mediante el empleo de los métodos etnográficos, esta tesis interroga el activismo de una comunidad de espectadores contra el impacto de la comercialización y la mercantilización de los espacios urbanos de Estambul bajo el gobierno de AKP. Para reclamar sus espacios y su futuro, esta comunidad de los espectadores demandó su derecho al cine de Emek, al Parque Gezi y a los otros parques mientras creando sus propios proyecciones y plataformas de redes sociales. Este trabajo también interpreta el desarrollo del movimiento social relacionado con la difusión del medio como los Festivales de cine, las proyecciones, en particular el desarrollo del activismo especial sobre el uso de las películas, las calles y los teatros del cine los cuales ilustran, desafían y refuerzan los derechos a la ciudad. En líneas generales, este trabajo sugiere una mirada a la cultura del cine y la protesta de un grupo ‘secular’ dentro de una población predominantemente musulmana, demostrando métodos alternativos y creativos de protesta durante el levantamiento popular.
Acknowledgements
This article is part of my doctoral research, so I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors Dr Ruxandra Trandafoiu, Dr Elke Weissmann and Prof Asuman Suner and examiners Prof Owen Evans and Dr David Archibald. I am also thankful to Dr Gavin Brown and the three anonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve the article. I would also like to thank Cansu Özdüzen, Serkan Ateşman and Denny Wiseman, who read the earlier versions of this paper. I am also thankful to Gamze Tekeler and Hasan Açanal for the Spanish and French translations. Above all, I am grateful to my research participants, who shared their experience of protests and their love of cinema with me.
Notes
1. AKP (the Justice and Development Party) is the governing party in Turkey from 2002 to the present day.
2. In 1994, the first movie theatre in a shopping centre was opened at Akmerkez shopping mall in Etiler, Istanbul.
3. The first military coup in Turkey happened in 1960, followed by the second one in 1971. The most severe coup d’etat was the 1980 military intervention, which lasted for more than two years.
4. The AKP is not the first Islamic party in power. It started with the 1994 municipal elections when the Welfare Party (RP) took power and later formed a coalition government. In the existing literature, the emergence of the RP as a powerful actor is commonly discussed as an example of the integration of political Islam into the relatively democratic political system (Yavuz, Citation1997, p. 63) or as a constitutional challenge to the secular foundations of the Turkish Republic (Öniş, Citation1997, p. 743). AKP is seen as a continuation of the RP, but also different because of its extended business network and newly defined conservative base (Gümüşçü & Sert, Citation2009, p. 954).
5. Turkey’s Mass Housing Administration, which was established in 1984, is the government agency that originally aimed to solve the housing shortage, now partners with global investors and private developers.
6. See for instance Kuyucu and Ünsal (Citation2010) for a comparative perspective on the Tarlabaşı Project, which implied a wholesale transformation of Tarlabaşı neighbourhood in Beyoğlu, symbolising ‘a radical state-led intervention into urban space and housing markets act as tools for “marketing” certain potential rent-zones to stronger actors that changes the whole fabric of the area’ (p. 17).
7. The EMT was constructed in 1884 as a school and was reopened as a movie theatre in 1924. In addition to being a symbolic venue for the cinema in Turkey, it was a centre of film festivals and political activism. For example, it hosted many political events, such as the meeting for the 1st of May celebrations in 1987, which were the first such celebrations following the 1980 military coup.
8. As an illustration of this, Duboc (Citation2013) conducted research in Egypt before a popular uprising among a group of secular intellectuals in 2007, where she argued that oppositional intellectuals emphasised the need for contentious action autonomous from political parties. These oppositional intellectuals constructed alternative channels of political expression such as the formation of literary groups and the creation of symbolic spaces for protests through literary or journalistic writing.
9. The original name of the movement is ‘Emek is ours, Istanbul is ours’ Platform, but for the purposes of this paper, I refer to it as the Emek movement.
10. When Erdoğan announced the project for the Gezi Park in 2013, he also declared two side projects for Beyoğlu; the demolishing of the AKM opera house and the construction of a mosque in the Taksim Square, which in his words, is ‘much needed’.
11. Since 2016, a new shopping mall namely Grand Pera, instead of the Cercle D’orient complex, has hosted the EMT.
12. Around one thousand people gathered in front of the EMT on 17 January 2015, in order to put an end to the ongoing construction of the ‘fake’ EMT. Following the two general elections in June and November 2015 and the bombings immediately preceding and following the elections, the pace of social movements in Turkey has slowed, reaching the lowest pace after the attempted coup in July 2016.
13. Ertuğrul Günay was the AKP Government’s Minister of Culture and Tourism from 2007 to 2013.
14. This collective, which is mainly constituted of cinephiles and urban activists in Istanbul, organised the protests against the demolition. They used a non-hierarchical organisation similar to the Taksim Dayanışması (Taksim Solidarity Group) that was actively involved in the consolidation of the Gezi uprising.
15. These awards were pseudo awards that were distributed to the owners and collaborators of the demolishing project, such as the municipality of Beyoğlu or the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey.
16. Yeşilçam Street was the home of the production and distribution companies in the Yeşilçam era (see Arslan [Citation2011, pp. 232–233] for an account of the street’s previous importance). The Yeşilçam film industry is commonly referred to as the Turkish Hollywood and was active from the early 1950s until the late 1980s. Following the decline of the industry, the production companies closed down but the large format movie theatres on and around the street remained active. In the 2000s, these movie theatres also started to be demolished or closed down.
17. Established in 1954, The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) was an active participant of not only the Emek movement but also the Gezi uprising.
18. In November 2013, the Başka Cinema was initiated with the motto of ‘festival all year long’. Using nine movie theatres in Istanbul and four movie theatres in other cities such as Izmir and Bursa, the Başka Cinema showcases alternative films from around the world throughout the year.
19. The Alkazar was a small independent movie theatre on Istiklal Street, Beyoğlu close to Yeşilçam Street, screening world and independent cinema. It was active from 1923 until 2010. In 2010, the managers announced its closing down due to financial issues.
20. They paid it to the Parks, Gardens and Green Areas Department, which is one of the bodies of the Istanbul Municipality, because the use of public spaces in such ways (like showing films) is prohibited.
21. The construction of the Third Bridge has created a negative response from wide-ranging activists not only because it has led to the destruction of a huge forest area that was the last remaining forest in Istanbul, but also because it will cross through several archaeological sites.
22. The Marmaray is now an active rail transportation project in Istanbul that mainly constitutes of a rail tunnel under the Bosphorus. Similarly, it also accelerated the loss of green spaces in the city.
23. The mainstream media in Turkey was referred to as ‘the penguin media’ during and after the Gezi uprising. There were millions of people protesting the government on the streets, while the TV channels such as CNN Turk showed documentaries about penguins.
24. Constructed in 1924, the Beyoğlu Pera movie theatre has faced financial issues in the 2010s, but it is still active.
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