The Absence of Politics and Its Remedy: Micro-Struggle

For some time now, we have not been discussing politics in Turkey. Our topics of discussion are politicians, their personal affairs, their immoralities, their identities, their backroom dealings... The things discussed in the name of politics not only hide the absence of politics but also reduce criminal cases to the mundane events of politics. 

We watch criminal events with great excitement. This scene reminds one of the Sunday mornings with Sedat Peker. 

Even discussions that appear relatively more political cannot truly penetrate beyond the periphery of actual politics. The rising ''secular'' nationalism, militarism, liberalism, and ultimately, Salafi movements resemble emotional reactions to an emotional and structural upheaval rather than politics. 

Especially among the youth, the excitement surrounding ''secular'' nationalism and militarism appears to be an expression of anti-immigrant/refugee sentiment, weariness with social issues, and suppressed anger. 

The real and unscientific liberal rhetoric displayed under the name of ''liberalism'' relies on old narratives, the anti-left lies of the system's propaganda tools, and the urge to fall for the conventional media's ''dream of becoming rich.''

Salafi movements, on the other hand, emerge as a flattening, rude, and destructive result of moral collapse.

In short, with the collapse of the middle class, radical and emotional outbursts have begun to occupy politics. At the old center of ''politics,'' a non-political game of musical chairs is taking place. If the parties to which the ''politicians'' appearing on television belong were not written at the bottom of the screen, it would be nearly impossible to distinguish between them. 

Large segments of society that the center and conventional communication tools cannot reach are either becoming apolitical or are being captured by the field of radical emotional reaction on the periphery of politics.

In this climate of hopelessness that surrounds us, we must turn our backs on the passivity that is our cultural destiny and build our own space. For this construction, we do not need to cling to grand discourses or dead or crippled ideological rhetoric. Coming together to solve the problems we face every day can pave our way. I prefer to call these problems ''micro-problems.'' Because the problems in the lexicon of old politics are far too ''macro.''

I find it appropriate to call the struggle against micro-problems a ''micro-struggle.''

Today, micro-struggles appear more favorable both in terms of their chances of success and as a gateway for different social segments to unite. In fact, when we engage in these micro-struggles, the structures that appear ''macro'' will become tangible. But when we do not engage in this work, these structures continue to appear ''macro'' or unreachable. 

One of the most urgent problems of the micro-struggle is undoubtedly the problem of access to food. Especially when we correct the heading to ''the problem of access to healthy food,'' we have reached a problem that is common to very broad segments of society. We live in a country suitable for healthy food production. However, due to lack of planning, lack of organization, and indifference, we are living in hunger. Most of those who are fed cannot access healthy food. We will feel the problem of access to healthy food even more intensely soon. When that day comes, we will probably host food experts on all channels and become experts on this subject as well. We should address this urgent problem directly without waiting for that day. 

Another field of micro-struggle is the communication problem. Even in metropolises, we do not have cheap, robust, and secure communication facilities. We have no shortage in this regard. We have both the materials and the people to build the infrastructure. We are already paying tons of money for backward technologies. Yet, for some reason, liberal theory does not work, and we are faced with the worst service. 

Another field of micro-struggle that also gives rise to the absence of politics is the method of selecting representatives. Even though we have the technology to solve this problem, it is not the people but the headquarters that determine members of parliament and mayors. Yet, today, we could easily determine our representative candidates using blockchain technology. 

Another field of micro-struggle is addiction problems. I will address these problems at length. For now, let me touch upon them briefly. While drug wars are taking place among high school students in the heart of Ankara's Çankaya district, while hundreds of thousands of our citizens are suffering both health-wise and economically due to tobacco products, and while young and old alike cannot walk on the street due to cell phone addiction, we all live as if this problem does not exist. Yet, even if we cannot solve this problem entirely, there are ways to alleviate it. But we do not discuss these. 

Let me briefly recall the camps we are divided into due to the topics we discuss:

1. Turkish literature or literature from Turkey?

2. Is saying ''Kurdistan'' a crime or not?

3. Who will condemn the massacre or genocide in Gaza more?

We can undoubtedly multiply the examples. However, the only thing done regarding the micro-struggle topics I briefly touched upon, and even that is rare, is the rejection of research proposals submitted by opposition party deputies by the parliamentary majority. While talking about macro issues, we are slowly depleting, slowly disappearing. 

Most of us do not even attempt to address micro-issues, arguing that macro-issues cannot be solved. I think the reason why macro-issues are talked about so much by conventional media is to suggest to people that these problems cannot be solved and that, therefore, remaining passive is the smartest thing to do. To me, one should remember the words of Lao Tzu: ''A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.''