Protests as “Events”: The Symbolic Struggles in 2013 Demonstrations in Turkey and Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: The concept of “event” offers a valuable lens to understand the discursive contestations in and around protests. Events create ruptures that disturb the logic of continuity and open up new way of thinking and talking about the past and the future. Drawing on this concept, this article analyzes the 2013 protests in Turkey and Brazil. It investigates how the causes of these protests were framed and debated in each country and how these frames shifted over time by opening up new interpretations of the past and the future. Materials and Methods: Data is generated from four Facebook pages capturing the messages posted during the first 30 days of protests in each country. In the Brazilian case, we collected the posts of: (1) Passe Livre São Paulo (301,787 likes), the group that started the wave of protests; and (2) O Gigante Acordou (155,690 likes), a collective that emerged during the protests, representing nationalist perspectives. In total, 626 posts were collected from both pages. In the Turkish case, we analyzed posts that appeared on the pages of : (1) Taksim Dayanismasi (82,479 likes), an association that played a significant role in organizing and mobilizing Gezi Park protests; and (2) Recep Tayyip Erdogan (6,957,408 likes), a pro-government and inherently anti-protest page. We coded each post inductively focusing particularly on the way they framed the causes of the protests. We then identified the number of times each frame was mentioned during the first 30 days of the protests and explored whether and how frames changed over time. Results: Our analysis reveals a significant shift in the way the causes of the protests were framed over time in both countries, yet with different implications. While in Brazil, we observe a frame transformation undermining the initial rationale of the protests, in Turkey we see a frame extension and the emergence of broader issues as the real causes of protests, such as the authoritarian nature of the regime and the restriction of democratic rights in this country. Discussion: The article offers a way of analysing protests based on a conceptual lens of event. It sheds light on the role of social media as a platform for symbolic struggles over the protests. Furthermore, the article opens up a debate about the developments of democracy in both countries.

More than Words: A Multidimensional Approach to Deliberative Democracy

“…Over a million Brazilians took the streets in more than a hundred cities in a huge cycle of protest that opened a period of extreme polarization in the country’s politics. The protests soon evolved into multiple and competing agendas, which ranged from corruption to police brutality and the consequences of preparations for two mega sports events in the country – the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 summer Olympic Games (Mendonça et al, 2019; Alonso and Mische, 2017; Bringel and Pleyers, 2015; Mendonça and Ercan, 2015; Singer, 2014). In these protests, drums were used to express arguments, besides cheering on activists.…”

Back to the Future: Changing Repertoire in Contemporary Protests

“…The Brazilian 2013 cycle of protests was triggered by demonstrations against an increase in public transport charges in the city of São Paulo, which evolved into a plural and complex process of contention, addressing diverse issues such as the impact of mega‐sports events, the quality of public services, the brutality of the police and corruption in the country (Maricato, 2013; Ricci and Arley, 2014; Singer, 2014; Bringel and Pleyers, 2015; Losekann, 2015; Avritzer, 2016; Tavares, Roriz and Oliveira, 2016; Mendonça et al, 2019). This cycle of protests was triggered by a movement coming from an autonomist tradition – the Free Fare Movement (FFM) (Liberato, 2006; MPL, 2013; Ortellado, 2013).…”

“…Similar to what had recently happened in contexts as different as Spain, Turkey and Egypt, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians were engaged in street demonstrations, occupations and activities on social media. As in similar experiences worldwide, such activity was chaotic in the sense that it could not be easily comprehended (Mendonça et al, 2019).…”

A política como (des)construção de sujeitos: desencaixes e rearticulações identitárias em protestos multitudinários contemporâneos

“…Essa ilustração se volta para protestos multitudinários recentes, como aqueles observados em contextos tão variados como a Islândia, o Egito, os Estados Unidos, a Espanha, a Turquia e o Brasil (CASTELLS, 2013;FOMINAYA, 2014;DELA PORTA, 2015). Diante do caos e da incerteza alimentados por tais manifestações (DOMINGUES, 2014;MENDONÇA et al, 2016), e da força de manifestações individuais nesses processos (BENNETT & SEGERBERG, 2013;CASTELLS, 2013), tornou-se importante discutir os elementos configuradores de identidades coletivas ao longo desses processos (MENDONÇA, 2015;GERBAUDO, 2015;GERBAUDO & TRERÉ, 2015;MONTERDE et al 2015). Pautada na discussão mais tradicional sobre confronto político, e inspirada nas discussões canônicas de Melucci (1996) sobre identidade coletiva, essa literatura busca identificar as condições de tessitura de um "nós", ainda que instável, heterogêneo e plural, a atravessar tais ciclos de protestos.…”

“…Entendemos, portanto, que protestos como as Jornadas de Junho não foram um simples encontro de insatisfações diversas. Sua natureza acontecimental (MENDONÇA et al, 2016) está ligada ao fato de tais protestos serem atravessados por processos nos quais os próprios sujeitos se repensam, desencaixam-se e desconstroem-se. Como Butler e Markell argumentam, embora por caminhos diversos, a ação tem precedência sobre a identidade.…”