You may proclaim that one must live
not as a tool, a number or a link
but as a human being-
then at once they handcuff your wrists.
You are free to be arrested, imprisoned
and even hanged.
Nazım Hikmet
Turkey has occupied the international agenda of all revolutionaries in the near past with its near-genocidal actions against the Kurdish people, both in its own territory and in Rojava. While the Turkish government’s military moves to suppress the serhildan (uprising) of Rojava, national chauvinism puts down the heads of anyone within Turkey who opposes these murderous attempts.
Lately, there has been an attack to the office of Şiar Rişvanoğlu, a revolutionary Marxist militant and a lawyer who has dedicated his career to defend the toilers and the oppressed peoples of Turkey. The mirrors of his office were stoned. Wrapped around one of the stones was a note, which read: “If you continue to pester the security forces of our glorious state, many other things will be shattered and scattered. Watch your step, you odious traitor!!!!!”
This is an explicit threat to Rişvanoğlu’s life! Rişvanoğlu has spent his life defending the workers, the Kurds, and all other oppressed in Turkey in court and organizing to end this brutal oppression. In the darkest hours, he has not given up his cause. When the Turkish president Erdoğan’s government razed the Kurdish town Cizre to the ground, Rişvanoğlu was there to observe and record the atrocities the Turkish troops committed. He is also a seasoned member of the Revolutionary Workers Party (Devrimci İşçi Partisi, DIP) of Turkey and has lent his effort to the revolutionary cause of international socialism through this organization for years. No genuine internationalist can afford to ignore this threat to such a comrade’s life!
We call for the unity of the anti-racist and workers’ struggles as the only way to end both capitalist and racist oppression in the United States. We cannot remain silent when someone fighting Turkish capitalism and racism is under threat!
We recognize that Turkey, a faithful and loyal member of NATO, is itself under the yoke of imperialism and that Erdoğan’s government is an agent of American (as well as European) imperialist oppression in the region. To fight against his oppressive, chauvinistic government is therefore to fight against the US imperialism on one front!
As internationalists, we, the members of UFCLP, condemn unequivocally this fascistic move against Rişvanoğlu! Our internationalist solidarity is with heval Rişvanoğlu, and all the oppressed of Turkey!
Berxwedan Jiyan E!
To live is to resist!
United Front Committee for Labor Party, UFCLP