Selfie as a tool for nonviolent civil resistance

Selfies are popular. The most recent selfie that got many talking/tweeting/blogging about it was from this year's Oscar's with Ellen DeGeneres and the rest of the stars of the Hollywood movie scene. 

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014

But there is a new selfie that would totally beat that. The one that was shared just recently, this past week in fact, during the clashes with police and the peaceful protesters all the way across the ocean, miles and miles away from the Hollywood's Dolby theater in a police van, in Turkey.

Ali Emre Mazlumoglu shared this seflie when detained. 

Selfie dediğin polis otosunda gözaltındayken çekilir (7 Mart) pic.twitter.com/oc5Lit3Z1z
— Ali Emre Mazlumoğlu (@AEMazlumoglu) March 10, 2014

I never thought that selfies could one day become a tool for civil disobedience in a way. Ever since the protests erupted and shook Turkey last summer, humor was one of the most commonly used tools when it came to showcasing the anger and frustration of the Turkish people against the ruling government of the Justice and Development Party. Many songs were written or lyrics re-adjusted, funny slogans and chants voiced, even graffiti had elements of humor especially in Istanbul.

And today as protests in Turkey continue, humor again is one of the most important tools used to keep the spirits high.

Dream of a young man- "Erdogan by Erdogan"

One of the best Gezi Park productions. Kudos to the creators! 

Basing the clip and the words on a song by Daft Punk "Giorgio by Moroder" the brain behind this idea did an amazing job. 

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the sound of Gezi Park and Erdogan's dream to crush his nation. 

 

Donkey Bloggers three years later

Seeing Adnan's Facebook status update reminded me of the first post I wrote on the "donkey bloggers" case three years ago, on July 9th, 2009 and other updates that followed, like this one for instance. 

I am happy that my friends are free today and that they left that part of their life behind, while moving forward. Needless to say, I wish for all innocent journalists, activists, and human rights defenders currently behind bars, on alleged charges released and charges against them dropped.

If you still haven't seen it or never heard of it, here is a video that eventually caused Adnan and Emin's arrest:

 

'Throwing Spitballs from Berlin to Baku'

This is one of my recent articles written for Transition Online about a young satirist, commentator and video blogger living in Berlin and doing what he does best- playing "satirical" games with Azerbaijan's government. Here is a short excerpt from that article, to read the full story click here.

[...] The satirical publications that have taken their place steer clear of politics. But not Abdullayev. The 28-year-old continues to throw pitballs at Aliyev and his henchmen from 2,200 miles away in Berlin, where he moved in 2002 to follow his father, a political activist who had been threatened by the government [...]

Azerbaijani police officer trying out for Hollywood

No, you didn't read the caption of this post wrong! This officer puts on a priceless look when dispersing the crowd of young protestors. And he is doing it so well that perhaps its time for his big career move? Try acting maybe? Judging by the number of times this photo was shared, people like his talent.

Some of the Facebook status updates using this photo had captions ranging from "This is Sparta", "Sparta", "For Sparta" to "This is Sparta in the streets of Baku! Light your fire!", "Superman! X-Men! Azerbaijani police" (accompanied by three photographs)". 

Revolution in three "easy" steps

Right, so for a while now I have been sharing some videos prepared by the School of Authentic Journalism and NarcoNewsTV. And here is their new piece of art, with Ivan Marovic, one of the founders of Otpor Movement talk about three "easy" steps in bringing down a dictator based on Otpor's experience. Enjoy!

'Baku state of mind'

I am sure many of you seen this video (below) about Baku prepared by two Peace Corp Volunteers, Tim and Brad (and if you haven't you must watch it). With catchy lyrics like

This is Azerbaijan, its called the land of fire

Where oil flows like honey

Nothing sweeter than my money

the duo is calling themselves 'Caspian Dreamers' and are in fact, candidates for the upcoming Eurovision song contest.

I should have written about them a while ago, but seeing an article in the Economist about them, actually prompted me to write this post only now. You can access the original article by the Economist here. The duo has a Facebook page too that you can access here.

I wonder if Kanye heard about this. I am sure he would have a great laugh too.

WikiLeaks vs. Mastercard

I thought this was very creative! Supporting WikiLeaks!

'Barrel of Laughs'

Ivan Marovic talks about Otpor- Serbian movement that brought down Milosevic in 2000- and about 'dilemma action' used widely by the movement. 

Prepared by the authentic journalists at the School of Authentic Journalists is a great insight into movements and tactics in just two minutes.

The story about 'Otpor'

Just wanted to share a video about Otpor movement that I watched earlier this morning during the workshop on civil resistance and non violent conflict told by one of the founders of the movement Ivan Marovic.