Trust in the Hunger Strike Activists!
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The hunger strike resistance, which was started by Leyla Güven on 8 November, passed its 150th day. This action has started under such political circumstances, where no voice could be raised against the violence of fascism, where anyone who tries to do it will face heavy suppressions and where those who are willing to do whatever it takes are having hard time finding masses around them, although masses do not ideologically yield to the fascist regime. The purity of the resistance brings about a defiant stronghold with the embodiment in a Kurdish woman at the most sensitive point of the Turkish state, at the sharpest edge of political struggle.
The hunger strike resistance, firstly, enlarged outside of the prisons with the participation of activists in Turkey, Kurdistan, Europe and Canada; then, played an important role to swiftly consolidate the revolutionary vanguard forces after the start of hunger strikes of more than 7000 prisoners, who approach their historical responsibilities once again with a vanguard rise on 1 March. Today, it continues in the form of a battle of will as the foremost position of the antifascist struggle against the political islamist fascist chieftaincy regime of Erdoğan. On these days when the health of hunger strikers critically worsens, eight political prisoners sacrificed their lives for the sake of blazing up the fire of resistance.
The fascist regime buried the bodies of these eight sacrificers secretly by abducting the funerals from the peoples and even from their families. Afraid of even funeral ceremonies, completely out of humane thinking, the political power, right now, tries its utmost with violence to get rid of any kind of possibility of a political spark. No one from the government up to now has made a comment about the hunger strike actions, they all close their eyes and apply a total blackout in the media over which they hold a full control. The fascist palace regime has long been criminalizing the HDP (Peo-ples' Democratic Party), which is a democratic legal political party. But during this process, in addition to this criminalization, they set on the police to attack the street actions organized by HDP members and violate the political immunity rights of HDP parliamentarians practically. They prevent masses from gathering around the HDP, apply blockades to HDP masses, take the resisting people into custody or directly arrest them; thus, turn the democratic struggle field into a rough battlefield.
In this scenario, hunger strike activists raise a level of struggle in which resistance forces can gather around, grow upon and defeat fascism, with the sacrifice of their lives. In this sense, we can easily claim that this is a resistance that can shape politics with its historical results. Yet, how can hunger strike resistance succeed in spite of such pressure and denial? What are the criteria for their success? What are the tasks and responsibilities that fall to the revolutionaries and communists from Turkey and Kurdistan? How can the psychology of defeat be avoided if the comrades falling martyrs due to increasing sacrifice actions despite the statement of PKK demanding to end such individual actions or when the news of martyrdom from the comrades as natural results of hunger strikes start to spread? The most determined answers to these questions come from a communist prisoner who is prosecuted for MLKP case:
"Although the resistance of Hewal (comrade) Leyla on the 8 November started with the demand to give Öcalan his political and legal rights; it is, at the same time, clearly a move to break the oppression and persecution on the oppressed sections."
"She has carried the struggle to another level by opening a new path. Limiting this only with a responsibility to be taken by our Kurdish people would be a political blindness. This is also an effort to overcome the congestion in the struggle and the boundaries of the freedom forces against the fascist siege on our peoples from different religions, women and the youth. It is a powerful intervention to women‘s movement at the same time."
"As the resistance spreading across prisons meets with the street actions more, it will become the basis for pushing back the fascist aggression... This resistance has humane and legitimate demands. It is very critical to carry these demands, which are responded by our Kurdish people with a strong will, to the western part of the country. And this duty is primarily on the shoulders of those who are exposed to the attacks of fascism. The level of Newroz actions which has recently echoed in the West presents a strong basis for this."
As the communist comrade stated, the hunger strike resistance is a battle in a war against the enemy. Its success cannot be evaluated by looking only at whether its demands are met or not, but rather looking at its role in the whole struggle and its meaning for peoples. It is quite obvious that in order to push the state to take some concrete steps, a qualitatively greater effort must be brought about. For instance, political-military actions and larger massive rises can play the role of prisoners and Leyla Güven on the streets. It is also obvious that despite all the challenges, when the mass potential appears to burst out, it can be achieved to force the state to step up.
On the other hand, the hesitation of some sections of laboring left movement in Turkey in the face of this channel of resistance is actually a sign of the quality of struggle of these subjects. There is no apparent answer to the question of what kind of an alternative antifascist resistance line they propose at this moment. Whereas the criticism which states that the hunger strike resistance is waged for only one person is a big example of apolitical approach. We can find the answer to this criticism again in the history of resistance: The international campaign for Dimitrov carried out in 1933 to free him from the hands of Nazis, the campaign for the MLKP commander of the Gazi uprising Hasan Ocak against the attempt to disappear him under custody had given birth to big political results affecting the general antifascist struggle despite their seemingly focus on one person. Those who see Öcalan only as a figure of Kurdish national liberation struggle cannot also understand the fact that it wasn't important at the first sight that Dimitrov was a communist. What was important is that Dimitrov turned the banches into a place to judge fascism. The defeat of Nazi conspiracy and the release of Dimitrov meant opening a hole on the wall of fascism.
The resistance leaped to become an action of vanguard offense through solving ambiguities and question marks by overcoming the obstacles and traps put against its determination one by one. It met with the masses at a certain level, it was responded internationally, beyond Kurdistan. Undoubtedly, solidarity actions going on all around the world put political pressure on the fascist palace regime, this has to be raised even more. Historical consciousness risen from dungeons opened a new battlefield in the war against the state, today by demanding the most basic constitutional right, the demand to remove isolation policy, against the policy of fascism to crush even the specks of hope. Therefore, we appeal everyone to take part in this battle with this consciousness. "Leyla Güven is right, isolation must be removed!"
 

 

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Trust in the Hunger Strike Activists!
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The hunger strike resistance, which was started by Leyla Güven on 8 November, passed its 150th day. This action has started under such political circumstances, where no voice could be raised against the violence of fascism, where anyone who tries to do it will face heavy suppressions and where those who are willing to do whatever it takes are having hard time finding masses around them, although masses do not ideologically yield to the fascist regime. The purity of the resistance brings about a defiant stronghold with the embodiment in a Kurdish woman at the most sensitive point of the Turkish state, at the sharpest edge of political struggle.
The hunger strike resistance, firstly, enlarged outside of the prisons with the participation of activists in Turkey, Kurdistan, Europe and Canada; then, played an important role to swiftly consolidate the revolutionary vanguard forces after the start of hunger strikes of more than 7000 prisoners, who approach their historical responsibilities once again with a vanguard rise on 1 March. Today, it continues in the form of a battle of will as the foremost position of the antifascist struggle against the political islamist fascist chieftaincy regime of Erdoğan. On these days when the health of hunger strikers critically worsens, eight political prisoners sacrificed their lives for the sake of blazing up the fire of resistance.
The fascist regime buried the bodies of these eight sacrificers secretly by abducting the funerals from the peoples and even from their families. Afraid of even funeral ceremonies, completely out of humane thinking, the political power, right now, tries its utmost with violence to get rid of any kind of possibility of a political spark. No one from the government up to now has made a comment about the hunger strike actions, they all close their eyes and apply a total blackout in the media over which they hold a full control. The fascist palace regime has long been criminalizing the HDP (Peo-ples' Democratic Party), which is a democratic legal political party. But during this process, in addition to this criminalization, they set on the police to attack the street actions organized by HDP members and violate the political immunity rights of HDP parliamentarians practically. They prevent masses from gathering around the HDP, apply blockades to HDP masses, take the resisting people into custody or directly arrest them; thus, turn the democratic struggle field into a rough battlefield.
In this scenario, hunger strike activists raise a level of struggle in which resistance forces can gather around, grow upon and defeat fascism, with the sacrifice of their lives. In this sense, we can easily claim that this is a resistance that can shape politics with its historical results. Yet, how can hunger strike resistance succeed in spite of such pressure and denial? What are the criteria for their success? What are the tasks and responsibilities that fall to the revolutionaries and communists from Turkey and Kurdistan? How can the psychology of defeat be avoided if the comrades falling martyrs due to increasing sacrifice actions despite the statement of PKK demanding to end such individual actions or when the news of martyrdom from the comrades as natural results of hunger strikes start to spread? The most determined answers to these questions come from a communist prisoner who is prosecuted for MLKP case:
"Although the resistance of Hewal (comrade) Leyla on the 8 November started with the demand to give Öcalan his political and legal rights; it is, at the same time, clearly a move to break the oppression and persecution on the oppressed sections."
"She has carried the struggle to another level by opening a new path. Limiting this only with a responsibility to be taken by our Kurdish people would be a political blindness. This is also an effort to overcome the congestion in the struggle and the boundaries of the freedom forces against the fascist siege on our peoples from different religions, women and the youth. It is a powerful intervention to women‘s movement at the same time."
"As the resistance spreading across prisons meets with the street actions more, it will become the basis for pushing back the fascist aggression... This resistance has humane and legitimate demands. It is very critical to carry these demands, which are responded by our Kurdish people with a strong will, to the western part of the country. And this duty is primarily on the shoulders of those who are exposed to the attacks of fascism. The level of Newroz actions which has recently echoed in the West presents a strong basis for this."
As the communist comrade stated, the hunger strike resistance is a battle in a war against the enemy. Its success cannot be evaluated by looking only at whether its demands are met or not, but rather looking at its role in the whole struggle and its meaning for peoples. It is quite obvious that in order to push the state to take some concrete steps, a qualitatively greater effort must be brought about. For instance, political-military actions and larger massive rises can play the role of prisoners and Leyla Güven on the streets. It is also obvious that despite all the challenges, when the mass potential appears to burst out, it can be achieved to force the state to step up.
On the other hand, the hesitation of some sections of laboring left movement in Turkey in the face of this channel of resistance is actually a sign of the quality of struggle of these subjects. There is no apparent answer to the question of what kind of an alternative antifascist resistance line they propose at this moment. Whereas the criticism which states that the hunger strike resistance is waged for only one person is a big example of apolitical approach. We can find the answer to this criticism again in the history of resistance: The international campaign for Dimitrov carried out in 1933 to free him from the hands of Nazis, the campaign for the MLKP commander of the Gazi uprising Hasan Ocak against the attempt to disappear him under custody had given birth to big political results affecting the general antifascist struggle despite their seemingly focus on one person. Those who see Öcalan only as a figure of Kurdish national liberation struggle cannot also understand the fact that it wasn't important at the first sight that Dimitrov was a communist. What was important is that Dimitrov turned the banches into a place to judge fascism. The defeat of Nazi conspiracy and the release of Dimitrov meant opening a hole on the wall of fascism.
The resistance leaped to become an action of vanguard offense through solving ambiguities and question marks by overcoming the obstacles and traps put against its determination one by one. It met with the masses at a certain level, it was responded internationally, beyond Kurdistan. Undoubtedly, solidarity actions going on all around the world put political pressure on the fascist palace regime, this has to be raised even more. Historical consciousness risen from dungeons opened a new battlefield in the war against the state, today by demanding the most basic constitutional right, the demand to remove isolation policy, against the policy of fascism to crush even the specks of hope. Therefore, we appeal everyone to take part in this battle with this consciousness. "Leyla Güven is right, isolation must be removed!"