Sweeping away reactionism along with the suffering in 2025

In 2024, humanity experienced the shackles of reactionism alongside its suffering.

If you wish, let us begin with the Middle East, where this suffering and reactionism have been lived.

What Happened in the Middle East?

The imperialist gang formed by the partnership of the US, Britain, and the EU, which descended upon the Middle East after Africa, did not merely remain silent while millions of people were destroyed for "black gold" using local collaborators; it also supported their drowning in a sea of blood.

Imperialists used kings, princes, sheikhs, and presidents who cooperated with Israel—their primary base in the Middle East—until their expiration dates. Because almost all of them were tribal statelets whose borders were drawn by the British and French joint-production Sykes-Picot ruler.

However, some sought other partners to hold on and escape Western imperial control. The partners these despots sought were Russia, which was trying to reappear on the stage as an imperial power, and Iran, which aspired to be the master of the Middle East.

By the time the despots, who tried to stay afloat with the support of Russia and Iran without securing their own internal fronts, realized they had been sold out, it was too late. The fates of Saddam in Iraq, Gaddafi in Libya, Sadat and Mubarak in Egypt, Ben Ali in Tunisia, Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, and finally Assad in Syria have remained in memory as cautionary tales.

While we are at it, let us make another observation.

It must be stated here that it is a necessity for third-world countries to follow a policy based on populism and statism during the process of nation-building.

Only in this way can the taxes collected by the state be reflected back to its people on the basis of egalitarianism in the form of jobs and bread.

Otherwise, divisions based on ethnicity and religion may become dominant.

The basis of the drama that befell Syria has also been this.

If you wish, let us elaborate on this subject. Starting from the year 2000, a predominantly neoliberal economy began to be implemented in Syria.

Starting with banking, privatizations and investments were implemented in every field of the economy under the guidance of imperial states—for example, Iran and the Saudis, the Netherlands, India, the US, Canada, and China.

As a result, poverty became widespread among the masses, with the exception of a small minority.

The people were brought to a state of seeking solutions in organizations based on ethnicity and religion.

Is it not necessary to point out that the reason for the masses turning a blind eye to the destruction of their state, let alone Assad, should be sought here?

Let us come to the suffering created by the capitalism that created the imperial order.

Is Hunger at the Forefront of Suffering?

At the forefront of suffering, beyond death, is the inability of people to access food, which is their most basic need. Billions of people are forced to live on the edge of hunger.

Capitalism, which creates hunger, acts more ruthlessly in third-world countries tied to the system.

Through organizations under their control such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, they transfer the goods and services produced by these countries to themselves at the cheapest cost; this is not enough, they also seize their lands.

The ruling classes of the third world are also in cooperation with them.

The bad part of the business is that the working segments of wealthy countries also receive a share of the resources their own capitalists transfer from oppressed countries. For this reason, they do not take an effective stance against the system.

In third-world countries, collaborator governments and the foreign investors who oversee them forcibly seize the lands of farmers. For example, did this forced seizure not happen in Africa?

Let us recall that this seizure was actually started with Christianization, which was used as a tool of colonization.

Kenya's Founding President Jomo Kenyatta expressed this as follows: "When the Europeans came, they had the Bible in their hands, and we had our land. They taught us to close our eyes and pray. When we opened our eyes, we saw that the Bible was in our hands. And our land had become the white man's."

Sweeping Away Reactionism Along with Suffering—Possible with Atatürkism

Let us recall once again that the system that creates suffering and reactionism is capitalism and the colonialism it creates, and let us state that the way out is possible with Atatürkism.

Did Atatürk not express this in 1933 as follows?: "Look at the sun rising from the East! Just as I see the dawn of the day today, I see the awakening of all Eastern states from afar... Colonialism and imperialism will vanish from the face of the earth, and a new era of harmony and cooperation that does not discriminate between nations based on color, religion, or race will prevail."

Moreover, Atatürk saw and implemented that it was a condition and necessity for oppressed nations to apply an economy based on statism and populism in the struggle to be waged against colonialism and imperialism.

In a short period of 15 years, Atatürk had brought about numerous works and factories. Thus, it was possible to prevent imperial states from regaining control of the economy in Turkey, and the wreckage inherited from the Ottoman Empire was eliminated.

In summary, as citizens in 2025, our primary duty at a much higher level is;

"To own the gains of the republic as a political force, and not to fall back from those gains.

In parallel with this, I think it is necessary to socialize the class struggle and the struggle for secularism on the basis of equality in income distribution(*) against the capitalist capital order, feudal remnants that still maintain their weight, and political approaches that try to implicitly hide the exploitation of religion and labor."

I wish equality for all humanity in the world we will create with hope laden with consciousness in 2025.

(*) I would like to draw your attention to the income distribution reported by TUIK in the media on December 27, 2024. According to the report, the first twenty percent of the population owns 48.1 percent of the national income, while the last twenty percent owns 6.3 percent. There is an 8-fold difference in between. What do you say, the sharing has been very fair(!), hasn't it?

According to the Gini coefficient, Turkey ranks first in Europe in income distribution inequality.

Inequality in income distribution is one of the biggest obstacles to social justice and social peace. In Turkey, while the poor have become even poorer due to the economic situation in recent years, the rich have rapidly increased their wealth.

On the other hand, while the share workers receive from the national income is decreasing, the share of companies is increasing.