Turkey: Letter from 1st of May prisoners
Hereby we publish an unofficial translation of an statement published in Yeni Demokrasi.
In the letter they sent by the 1st of May prisoners, it is said: “We will destroy the sand castles and plastic barricades of the government by raising the flag of labor.”
The 1st of May prisoners, who were arrested for heading towards the police barricades in Saraçhane on May 1, carrying Partisan banners with the silhouette of İbrahim Kaypakkaya, and being detained while trying to go to Taksim and saying “cut off relations with Israel”, wrote a joint message, titled: “Long live May 1! We will neither give up on Taksim, we will resist!”:
We, as 1st of May prisoners, extend our sincere greetings to all class friends who raised the flag of labor on 1st of May, especially the workers, women and university students who resisted in every street going towards to the Taksim Square. We have been detained in prison since 5th of May, because we tried to go to Taksim Square on 1st of May.
SQUARES CANNOT BE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC!
Taksim Square, which has been haunted by the government’s nightmares since the Gezi resistance, was closed to workers on 1st of May of 2024. The closure of Taksim Square is the most specific indicator of the deepening economic crisis being blamed on the workers. The simultaneous implementation of austerity policies in line with the IMF further increases the poverty of workers. The prohibition decisions made for 1st of May, the measures taken, and the blockade covering half of Istanbul are also expressions of the government’s fear of the power, anger of the working masses and the potential for rebellion they have accumulated. It is this fear that underlies their arrest, targeting us with their nominally self-styled pro-government media. Our detention and the anger of the workers who exploded at the barricade on 1st of May have been proof that social opposition will not fade away. The government is repeating the familiar memorization that it has been trying for years. It is trying to criminalize us and intimidate us through political operations. On the other hand, it wants to create an opposition in its own image, within limits of legality that even itself has not followed with for a long time.
Another aspect of the government’s anger and fear is the persistent will that broke this image on 1st of May.
THE PALACES’ REIGN OVER THE SLAUGHTER AND BLOOD AND PERSECUTION WILL END ONE DAY!
Workers are still buried in İliç. The people are wanted to be educated in poverty. Tens of thousands of lives were left to die in the rubble during the earthquake. Despite this situation, the government can recklessly ban on 1st of May, discuss its political agenda and the new constitution. While the palace and its followers are gorging on tables that will feed millions, children with their tiny bodies are fainting from hunger in the classrooms. The barricades erected in Taksim are being erected to ensure that this order continues.
THE SPIRIT OF 1st OF MAY CANNOT FIT IN FOUR WALLS!
We call from here once again: It is right to rebel against hunger, exploitation and this obsolete order. We will destroy the sand castles and plastic barricades of the government by raising the flag of labor. We will come stronger for Mays, stronger at prisons, houses, streets, factories, universities; We will free the streets and squares.
Yaşasın 1 Mayıs, Biji yek gulan! [2 times “Long live 1st of May!”; in Turkish and Kurdish]
1st of May area is Taksim Square!
Squares cannot be closed to the public!
1st of May Prisoners
