Analysis Of The Gezi Movement In Fahrenheit 451

The Gezi movement was a spark that ignited a wave of rebellion; it managed to wake up even the unpolitical people sitting in front of their TVs and spread awareness of the country’s economic, social and political situation. It wasn’t part of an already ongoing movement; it emerged from a very small nature protection protest, but as it grew, it made people really reflect on what is going on around them and pulled them out of their couches down to the streets. The sudden spark of awareness resembles Montag’s realization in Fahrenheit 451. Beatty describes his realization as an itch: “‘At least once in his career, every fireman gets an itch. What do the books say, he wonders. Oh, to scratch that itch, eh?’” (Bradbury, 59) Montag didn’t really

It was a spark of curiosity that made him do it, that made him open his eyes and realize that something is wrong and must be fixed. Same happened with Gezi: people sensed that something was wrong with the government, but it was until the police attacked innocent environment protectors that people started to realize, go out on the streets and voice their discontents. A spark turned into a wave of realization; it became “an eye-opener for many.” “‘We have become political,’ [a young man said], ‘because we are revolting against injustice’” (Turkey’s). When the already-questioning people realized that you can’t even make a peaceful environment protest in a public park in today’s Turkey, they were convinced that there was injustice to be revolted against. Then, they were able to see the bigger picture and make new connections: teenagers became more reactive against the new Internet restriction laws; apolitical labourers became political leftists because they were aware of the harsh capitalism that infringed their laws. Therefore, Gezi created the questioning and reflecting environment that is mentioned by Ray Bradbury: “‘We're going to go build a mirror-factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them.’” (Bradbury,

It created a common ground for environment demonstrators, leftist protesters, Kurdish parties, even non-ideological people who are just there because of discontent of the government’s actions and many others. LGBT people and radical Muslims stood shoulder by shoulder in Taksim Square. The reason for these irrelevant or maybe even opposing sides to come together was the fact that there was a common discontent: the government did not satisfy its people. “Gezi [did] not define itself as a political ideology. Rather, it view[ed] itself as a reservoir of peaceful activists from all camps” (Turkey’s). By creating this unity, Gezi got support from a very large scale of political views, and became more powerful because it now represented the views of not one party but a very wide range of ideologies. This proved that their cause was legitimate; they wouldn’t come together otherwise. The nature of uniting for a cause, which happened in Gezi, is also explained by Ray Bradbury: “He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day, after everything had mixed and simmered and worked away in silence, there would be neither fire nor water, but wine” (Bradbury, 99). Although the case in Fahrenheit 451 differs from the Gezi movement because both Montag and Faber carried the same goals, this quote still applies because it is about how harmony is created. Montag and Faber were very different in terms of