Emergency Brake

It was a packed weekend, so I couldn't publish the weekly update on Sunday. Another one-day-late edition. Fascism became a catch-all phrase for leftists to criticize their adversaries. It is a term that has a historical meaning, and I don't want to repeat the same mistake of muddying the definition. By fascism I mean: - consolidation of power in a single powerful leader, - dismantling of all institutions to remove any safety brakes in the system, - controlling a large part of the economy and corporations, - ultranationalist rhetoric, - cult of regenerative violence, - separating society into two blocs: decent citizens and indecent others, - cancelling elections or rendering them meaningless. Today, Turkey is at high risk of being ruled by a proper fascist government. Out of the pillars of fascism that I listed above, four of the seven are firmly in place, two are forming: - Erdogan was the strong authoritarian leader from the start in 2002; he reached the peak of his power in 2017 by changing the constitution after the failed coup d'état in 2016. - Since 2008, all major institutions were either taken over or shut down. It started with the military, then the media, and lastly the whole legal system. - The government controls many conglomerates directly, and others need to align themselves with it under the threat of otherwise being unable to do business. - Nationalism is at a strange point right now. Between 2013 and 2024, government supporters were the primary nationalist group, with smaller groups on the opposition side as well. The balance changed after the government started peace talks with the Kurdish armed organization PKK. Today, there is a strong ultranationalist reaction against Kurds, especially on the opposition side. Erdogan is overseeing the whole resolution process with the PKK from a safe distance, so he still has room to maneuver and channel the reactionary nationalist sentiment for his own gain. - I don't think the violence is institutionalized, but cliques in the government are experienced in doing psyops through conventional and social media to amplify the bloodthirsty demands of radical groups ("slaughter all stray dogs", "deport all the immigrants"). - Erdogan and his AKP separate society into two: immoral atheist laics and decent Muslim conservatives. In 2025, they started putting together the last pillar: no elections. It started with arresting the popular presidential candidate of the opposition, Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, in March 2025. Last week, it reached its peak with removing the whole leadership of the main opposition party from their posts through legal shenanigans. Today, the risk of fascism is higher than ever. We have been protesting every day since Friday. The numbers on the street were not huge—definitely lower than what we had when Imamoglu got arrested. Nevertheless, the bright side is that we didn't give up; there are still people who care to resist. Is it going to be enough? I don't think so. We desperately need something that can radically redefine the rules of the game, because we are losing the one Erdogan defined. As Hannah Arendt describes, totalitarian systems are capable of eventually restructuring reality to make it coherent with their goals. What we need in Turkey right now is a revolution—not the revolution as the locomotive of history as Marx puts it, but the Benjaminian revolution as the emergency brake.