[Leica] There is a future for photojournalism

[mak at teleport.com (Mark Kronquist)]

Dad,
I think that a shot of Officer Friendly would really speak to the  
people of Turkey right now. It's a great shot and I would like to post  
it on facebook. Can you email it to me?

Ian Kronquist Age 18 Adana Turkey




I was hoping you just had a digital copy you could beam over to me. It  
may not be worth the trouble, but I keep thinking of it. The  
impersonal visor, the baton, the B&W which was instagram before it was  
cool.
I am not allowed to go anywhere near them. I really want to be out  
there, they're protesting about  overreaching executive power and  
police brutality. Some parks in Adana are swarming with protestors as  
we speak. I'm afraid if I go I'll be sent home.
We have been told to stay home tomorrow and not go to school. School's  
safe but they aren't taking any chances.
The US government also keeps sending me emails not to go to any  
protests or demonstrations.
Here's something which I wrote about it:
Doubtless many of you have heard about massive protests in Istanbul  
and other parts of Turkey.  What began as a simple sit in to save a  
park from development has now turned into a national movement against  
Prime Minister Erdo?an and the majority party.

In the US some things have been misunderstood or misreported, so I  
want to provide a view of what things look like from Adana.

The surprising thing about these protests is not the use of pepper  
gas, fire hoses, or rubber bullets. The Turkish government routinely  
employs these against protestors across the country, you usually see  
them around once every two weeks on television. The surprise is the  
scale of the protests, how many people have taken the streets in  
Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and even Adana. The police have only  
increased their use of force to match. As a result the Prime Minister  
has actually promised an investigation into the use of excessive force  
by the police. Yes, many people have been arrested or injured during  
the protests, but given the heavy hand of the Turkish Police, I'm not  
surprised.

The media has always had close ties with the government and regularly  
undergoes censorship. However, there is no total news blackout, as is  
sometimes claimed. Everyone knows what's happening in Istanbul, it's  
just a pain to find it outside of regular scheduled news programs. The  
crowds are prominently displayed on the front page of most national  
newspapers and news websites. What's missing here is the scale of  
coverage people want, as well as a the scale of the pro-government  
bias across the whole media.

Finally when you hear about the Islamist majority party it may conjure  
images of Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, or the Ayatollah. In Turkey an Islamist  
party allows (not requires) people to wear head scarves in public  
schools, and passes laws prohibiting drinking in public places. Both  
of these probably don't seem so foreign or conservative in the US.

This is not a revolution. The government will not collapse. I even  
doubt that the time has come for a vote of no confidence to take down  
the majority party. Time will tell how the protests develop and  
whether momentum is retained over the coming days.

Ian



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