On May 28th, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) initiated an investigation into six channels for their non-compliance with the broadcasting bans imposed by the Supreme Election Council (YSK) during the presidential runoff. It is interesting to note that these channels (HALK TV, TELE 1, KRT, TV4, Flash Haber, and SZC TV) share a common broadcasting policy that opposes the government. In the RTÜK announcement, it was reported that the statement made by Çiğdem Toker, a programmer at FOX TV, saying "Democracy does not consist of the ballot box," is under review by the board. The Supreme Council will decide on this matter once the report is finalized.Furthermore, the announcement mentioned that complaints from viewers have been received regarding speeches that aim to demean our honorable nation with insults and attacks following the opening of the polls and the announcement of results. These complaints are also being examined.In response to the investigation, RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin stated, "We will not stay silent in the face of these attitudes that disrespect the national will, democracy, and election results, and insult our people while attempting to humiliate our beloved nation." He hinted at the possibility of imposing fines on opposition channels.Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that Çiğdem Toker's statement, "democracy does not consist of the ballot box," which prompted an investigation by RTÜK, is not problematic. Political science and democratic theory have extensively discussed and defended this viewpoint. The phrase "democracy does not consist of the ballot box" implies that elections alone are not sufficient to establish a democratic political system. While elections are a necessary component, a truly democratic system also upholds individual rights and freedoms through constitutional protections, independent of the majority's will. This comprehensive understanding of democracy, often referred to as liberal democracy, emphasizes the importance of pluralism. Therefore, interpreting this statement as advocating for non-electoral means to determine or remove a government, or as endorsing a coup d'état, reflects either a limited understanding or malicious intent on the part of those who do so.RTÜK's investigation into opposition channels does not come as a surprise. It has been evident for many years that both the Chairman of the Board and the Board's decisions have been driven by a clear intention to penalize opposition media outlets whenever possible. However, it is crucial to recognize that this attempt to punish opposition channels under the pretense of "protecting democracy (!)" is tragically detrimental to democracy itself.Democracy is not solely about the expression of "national will." It encompasses a wide range of liberal-democratic values, including free and fair electoral competition, civil liberties such as freedom of expression, press freedom, and association, as well as the rule of law, checks and balances, and judicial independence. Disregarding these fundamental principles leads to the dominance of the majority, where the democratic system transforms into a zero-sum game where the winner takes all and the loser loses everything.The supposed motive of "protecting democracy" behind the targeting of opposition media outlets is deeply concerning, as it undermines the very essence of democracy. Instead of fostering a healthy democratic environment that embraces diverse perspectives and encourages robust debate, such actions contribute to the erosion of democratic values and the concentration of power. It is crucial to uphold the principles of democracy, including the protection of freedom of the press and the independence of media outlets, to ensure a vibrant and pluralistic democratic society.

The Freedom Observer

RTÜK's investigation into opposition channels does not come as a surprise. It has been evident for many years that both the Chairman of the Board and the Board's decisions have been driven by a clear intention to penalize opposition media outlets whenever possible. 

RTÜK Has Launched an Investigation Against Six Channels

Political scientist Prof. Dr. Francis Fukuyama from Stanford University connected online to the Second Economic Congress of the Century in Izmir and gave a speech on the crisis of liberal democracies in the world and the opportunities that the 2023 elections could provide for Turkey. We interviewed Fukuyama, whose thesis 'The End of History and the Last Man' marked an era, immediately after his speech.Abdullah EsinHello Prof. Fukuyama, thanks so much for talking to us, Aposto. I have just listened to your speech at Congress for Future’s Economy. You are one of the prominent figures of liberal democracy and mostly known by your historical book “The End of History”. As you have mentioned in your speech, liberal democracy is in crisis throughout the World. The number of autocracies is on the rise while liberal democracies are falling. How do you analyze the current struggle of liberal democracy? What are the main dynamics behind the crisis of democracy? What the democrats should do to restore the liberal democracy in the world?<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/2/0/1679201816412.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="3.59" width="550" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"> <blockquote fr-original-style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9);" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(94, 53, 177); padding-left: 5px; box-sizing: border-box;">Well, there are several different threats to liberal democracy. There is a geopolitical threat right now that is exemplified by Russia and China. That has turned into a military threat with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So, I think that is important at a geopolitical level to show these countries that they can’t get away with attacking democracy using military force, to deter future attempts to use force in a similar way. I think the one people are worrying most is China attacking Taiwan in the same way Russia attacked Ukraine.But for other countries, in particular for Turkey, the struggle is internal, domestic one. The main issue is winning elections. I think there is an opportunity for Turkish democracy to make a comeback if the opposition can actually organize well enough to win the upcoming election.This is the same issue for us in the United States. The only way that we are going to defeat our form of populism is by winning elections. I think the election last November was good for the democracy in America, because a lot of the pro-Trump populist candidates lost their election bids. I think something like that needs to happen in every country where elections are still possible.Unfortunately, there are a lot of countries where authoritarianism has consolidated to the point that there really are not meaningful elections. In those cases, there are much longer-term struggle going on. I don’t think Turkey is there yet, so you got an opportunity to use the ballot box to reverse the kind of trends we have seen in the last decade.</blockquote><img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/2/0/1679201845574.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="1.58" width="550" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"> If the pro-democracy opposition in Turkey would win the election, what do you think about the challenges they might face? Will it be easy to restore democracy?<blockquote fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(94, 53, 177); padding-left: 5px; box-sizing: border-box;">It is going to be a huge challenge. The first challenge is going to be economic. Turkey has an incredibly high rate of inflation that brought on deliberately by Erdoğan’s crazy monetary policy. I think there is a budget deficit and it need to rein in the money supply.Those are all going to be very painful measures, because interest rates are going to have to go up. It is likely to trigger a recession. That is going to be very bad for the incoming government to have to deal with this legacy.Unfortunately to some extent, it can’t be avoided. Because, Turkey’s economy is heading in the wrong direction. Unless there is a big shift in the policy, it is going to continue to deteriorate.But there are other aspects of democratic governance that are important. What I said in my talk is that, what people want out of democracy is in a way very local and oriented towards service which governments are expected to provide. The failure to respond adequately to the earthquake was damaging to the current government. So a new government needs to make sure that it has the authority to actually build roads, make sure the electricity stays on and all of these relatively day to day activities that may not seem very dramatic but are really what in the end people want a democratically accountable government to provide for them. I would say that focus needs to be there.</blockquote>I want to ask a question about the election strategy of the opposition. In Turkey,, the pro-democracy opposition from very different ideologies is trying to defeat the authoritarian populist government by forming a wide alliance. Same election strategy failed in Hungary against Orban, but the same strategy worked in Israel against Netanyahu. However, in that case, we have seen the comeback of Netanyahu as a result of the internal disagreements in the coalition. Do you think forming a wide democratic alliance is a sustainable and successful option to defeat authoritarianism?<blockquote fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(94, 53, 177); padding-left: 5px; box-sizing: border-box;">There is no alternative. You are not going to restore democracy unless you gain political power. Right now, the only way of gaining political power is through winning an election. You are not going to win an election unless you got this kind of broad coalition. Just because it did not work in Hungary and in few other places does not mean it’s a failing strategy.Democratically inclined people in Turkey really have to concentrate on coalition building and coming up with the program that is actually going to be popular if they do succeed in coming to power.</blockquote>In your speech, you mentioned the importance of a common national identity to restore democracy. Nationalism and national identity have always been a conflict area in Turkey because of secularism debate and also because of the Kurdish issue. How do you think we can build a common national identity without falling to the trap of an ethnic or religious conflict?<blockquote fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(94, 53, 177); padding-left: 5px; box-sizing: border-box;">As I said, I don’t think that national identity in Turkey should be built around religion. That was one of Atatürk’s great contribution to redefine a Turkish nationalism that was not based in religion.You know the reasons for that, the religion is a very divisive issue. That is what divides many of the countries in the Middle East. Even if they are majority Muslim, there are huge splits within the world of Islam. In Turkey, you have a major split between religious people and secular people. So, if you base national identity on religion, you are going to inevitably have a huge internal social conflict. That’s really the reason that liberalism is created in the first place.Liberalism aroused in Europe in the middle of the 17th century, after Europe’s wars of religion. Europeans spent 150 years killing each other over whether they are Protestant or Catholic. They were all Christians but they had this sectarian division. Liberalism was created in order to allow people to live in religiously diverse societies. I believe that is what Turkey needs to have.</blockquote>How do you see the current relations between Turkey and the European Union? Turkey’s EU membership ideal was a part of the democratization process. Do you think there will be another rounds of negotiations after the election if opposition wins? Or is it too late already after the years of destruction?<blockquote fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(94, 53, 177); padding-left: 5px; box-sizing: border-box;">Well I think that it is going to take a while before Europe is ready to consider Turkey again. First of all, assuming that the democratic forces win the election, there is still going to be a lot of uncertainty about how stable the coalition will be, whether there will be a return of Erdoğan and anti-democratic forces.Until it is clear that Turkey has returned to a stable democratic path, I think Europe is probably going to be reluctant. The other problem right now is that there is a lot of competition to get in to the EU, there are a lot Eastern European countries which have been waiting for years such as Ukraine and Moldova. A lot of existing member countries are reluctant to accept new members until they are more sure of what are the politics of the new members.Hungary is an important one, it was seen as a stable democracy and entered the EU. Since then it became an autocratic government and the EU hasn’t really got a mechanism to deal with that kind of backsliding. EU is going to be very careful about taking in any new members, not just Turkey.</blockquote>My last question is about the globe. I don’t know if you agree but in Global North, the rise of the right-wing populism is seen as the result of negative consequences of globalization. In the Global South, the reason is seen as the the rise of a neo-middle class. But the result is the same in both hemispheres of the globe. Why and how different consequences of globalization have produced the same result, as the rise of the right-wing populism?<blockquote fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(94, 53, 177); padding-left: 5px; box-sizing: border-box;">Actually, I think it is not just the difference between the Global South and North. There are many different varieties of populism. The classic form of populism was a left wing populism. You still see that in many places. In Latin America for instance, you have a number of populist presidents who have been elected, in Chile, Colombia, Peru. They are not like European populists. They are traditional people, worry about economic inequality. That is also true in many parts of the Global South.The other think is that there is resentment to western domination of the global economy. That is not necessarily ideological but it is the experience of colonialism and the past several decades of western policies. It made people unhappy that the west continues to dominate global institutions.All of those are separate reasons and I don’t think you are going to cure them with a single solution.</blockquote>

Spektrum

"Democratically inclined people in Turkey really have to concentrate on coalition building and coming up with the program that is actually going to be popular if they do succeed in coming to power."

On liberal democracy, elections, and Turkey with Francis Fukuyama

Although we have not yet begun to experience its consequences widely, the Amendment of the Press Law No. 7418 of 13.10.2022 and Some Laws, which is known as the "censorship law," stipulates that those who spread "false information" will be punished from 1 to 3 years, seems to put civil society in a more difficult situation after the 2023 elections.<a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">[1] This Law, which we will talk about frequently this year, will be at the top of the civil society issues we will follow in the bulletins.</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">Although the government argues that Law No. 7418 was not prepared with political concerns and did not contain any censorship regulations</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">[2], accompanied by Law No. 7262 on the Prevention of Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (the new "NGO Law"), it becomes easy to understand how much the civil society in Turkey is currently under intense pressure.</a><a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="" target="_blank" fr-original-style="" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;"></a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">As a matter of fact, Law No. 7418 has exposed non-governmental organizations to the risk of being imprisoned for up to three years for allegedly disseminating "false information" due to the ideas expressed on their platforms and the data contained in the studies they publish. The Law No. 7262, on the other hand, with its vague definition of terrorism, uncertain sanctions, and controls, serves as a "Sword of Damocles" on non-governmental organizations. For this reason, non-governmental organizations have to continue their activities under the risk of being accused of supporting terrorism with the people and institutions they cooperate with, the reports they publish, or the grants they receive.</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">&nbsp;</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">These laws, which are clearly not "regulations that protect and develop rights and freedoms in related fields," can actually be described as initiatives that further erode the rule of law in Turkey. In the meantime, it should be noted that the Venice Commission also criticized the Law No. 7262 on the disproportionateness of the penal sanctions it envisaged as doubtful. Legislation processes that do not rely on impartial, concrete, and transparent data, do not take diversity and participation into account, as well as omnibus laws that cannot be discussed sufficiently have become ordinary legislative processes in the country. Suffice it to claim that his situation continues to cause irreparable wounds in liberal democracy, the rule of law, and social peace and reconciliation.</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">[3]</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title=""> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;"></a><a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title="" target="_blank" fr-original-style="" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;"></a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">[1]&nbsp;</a><a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2022/10/20221018-1.htm" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2022/10/20221018-1.htm</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">[2]&nbsp;</a><a fr-original-style="" href="https://t24.com.tr/haber/akp-li-mahir-unal-dan-sansur-yasasi-elestirilerine-yanit-bes-kriterin-besi-de-varsa-suca-girer,1065907" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">https://t24.com.tr/haber/akp-li-mahir-unal-dan-sansur-yasasi-elestirilerine-yanit-bes-kriterin-besi-de-varsa-suca-girer,1065907</a><a fr-original-style="" href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank" title="">[3]&nbsp;</a><a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.mlsaturkey.com/tr/sansur-yasasi-ve-stklerde-son-durum/" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">https://www.mlsaturkey.com/tr/sansur-yasasi-ve-stklerde-son-durum/</a>

The year 2022 has witnessed increasing pressure on Turkish civil society which has reached alarming levels. 

‘Censorship Law’ No. 7418 and ‘New NGO Law’ No. 7262

The title of this article could have easily been "Can you paint the picture of happiness for me, Wellbutrin?" (For those who don't know yet: "Wellbutrin" is a drug used to treat certain symptoms of depression.) But I didn't want to rely on Nazım Hikmet again, and Milan Kundera didn't seem like a bad alternative this week. I was still at university when The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) came to the bookstores in Turkey. I remember that I found the book too "bourgeois" and refused to read it because I was very leftist at the time. When I read it later, I was quite impressed. Those years, of course, I was as surprised as everyone else. The "iron curtain" was coming down piece by piece in Czechoslovakia and Poland. So much so that when the Soviet Union, accompanied by the concepts of Glastnost and Perestroika, which Gorbachev taught the whole world, flipped the switch in 1989, not only the iron curtain but also an era in the world was coming down. In those years, Francis Fukuyama, with his book The End of History and the Last Man, heralded that Western liberal democracy had become the political norm all over the world.Especially when we look at the developments in recent years that make the hairs on the back of the neck stand with fear, anxiety and sadness of anyone with a modicum of conscience and reason, we can discuss how politically liberal this world is. But the fact that the dominance of liberalism in the economic sphere and the discursive/ideological hegemony of liberalism has come to this day without being shaken is pretty much undebatable. Even though the 2008 Crisis and most recently COVID have beaten people into seeing that it can't go on like this for much longer, thanks to this hegemony, people almost everywhere in the world have learned to be individuals, to think individualistically.Almost all of us have internalized being an individual by printing our names on coffee cups, or by eating chocolates and biscuits that express our emotions, and we have embedded it into the values of our daily lives, especially through consumption practices.In the post-1980s, when neo-liberal capitalism became unrivaled, the world has become a place of “every man for himself,” where the ones at the bottom can’t raise their voices even when they are suffering. And how do we know this? The number of impoverished people has steadily increased, and inequality has multiplied. At the same time, social protection networks have been pierced more and more; the public space that would pave the way for the pluralization of demands for rights into collective actions, and the transformation of grievances into political demand has become smaller and smaller.It has become increasingly difficult to be happy in such a world. Perhaps this is precisely why happiness is no longer just a personal matter, it has moved out of the private sphere and has become an area that needs to be researched, studied, and regulated through interventions. Under the umbrella of what Wiliam Davies calls the "happiness industry", economists, psychologists, doctors, neuro-scientists, market researchers, and publishers have been working hard to access and disseminate the knowledge of happiness. Not to be misunderstood when I say dissemination, I mean "for a price" of course ... A psycho-therapy session, a workshop on "well-being", a pill for depression, an anti-anxiety medication, or a strategy book on the path to happiness all have a price tag. Everything from watching television shows that seem to be free of charge and "make dreams come true and make people shed tears of happiness" to our posts on Facebook has turned into an economic input in the economy where emotions are bought, sold, and measured through ratings and likes, even if they are not directly monetized.William Davies's book The Happiness Industry (2018, Sel Publishing) provides a gripping account of the main building blocks of this economy, especially large corporations and states, its historical development with a focus on the transformation of the concept of happiness, and its manifestations in everyday life in many different ways over the last 20-30 years. From the prevalence of studies on happiness in behavioral economics to the indices developed by international organizations such as the OECD to measure wellbeing, the book provides an engaging discussion of the prevalence of the pursuit of happiness today. As a result, as the wheels of the happiness industry efficiently turn, achievements, responsibilities, and freedoms are defined on an individual scale, while the social processes behind them are increasingly invisible.In such a world, it is no wonder that self-help books have been bestsellers for years. It is hard to know what and how much people learn from these books. But what is certain is that people have a great appetite for books that teach them the secrets of a good and happy life. Bookstore chains (nowadays the book market is largely dominated by chains and online sales) have much wider shelves for such books now than ever before. From "the rules of lasting love" to "learning in infancy", from "preparing for an exam with your family" to "feeling like yourself", from "minds that talk to the body" to "nonviolent communication", many aspects of daily life and human relations are the subjects of these books. On the other hand, if we take into account the different categories of books that guide, advise, and help people organize their lives under different headings such as business and management, health and food, we can easily say that the concern for personal development covers every aspect of life.It can be said that there have always been people in a corner of some newspapers and magazines who answered readers' questions on different topics, especially intimate matters, and provided guidance. Yes, but the general visibility of such "columns" was limited, and although they seemed to address the individual, they were much more "social" in terms of both function and content. They were not yet specialized through books or advice platforms on the web, they did not seem to be written "for you personally". There were answers to problems that anyone could face, that everyone could understand and agree on. Moreover, things were not yet professionalized. In other words, the columnist was a journalist, not an expert on the subjects they wrote about. Like all areas of consumption, the consumption of happiness has not only expanded, but has also become more effective and complex. It has become a field that reflects social inequalities on the one hand and constructs them on the other.Today, not everyone is equal in terms of consuming enough to be happy, to benefit from the products of the happiness industry, and ultimately to feel good. While a smaller minority has the financial means to become "clients", a larger majority is content with being "spectators". While the lucky individuals of the middle class run from one appointment to another with their doulas, life coaches and "mindfulness" instructors in order to feel lighter, gain self-confidence and achieve success, the poorer ones are left to survive on city buses, in overcrowded hospitals, in jobs that are here today and gone tomorrow, trying to find ways to survive one way or another, and raise their children. Who is happier?Unfortunately, the ways to be happy are lost for everyone in a life where happiness is talked about so much. While one side of the world is on fire, the other side is never able to enjoy life in their own homes as they wish. Wherever you go, the city follows you with its racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, class hatred, and the violence that is created by all of these. Where there is violence, there is anxiety, fear, and uncertainty, but happiness, even in the best of situations, is always an "as if.” It is time to read <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51295/the-city-56d22eef2f768" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">C. P. CAVAFY and his poem "The City"…</a> You said: "I’ll go to another country, go to another shore,find another city better than this one.Whatever I try to do is fated to turn out wrongand my heart lies buried like something dead.How long can I let my mind moulder in this place?Wherever I turn, wherever I look,I see the black ruins of my life, here,where I’ve spent so many years, wasted them, destroyed them totally." You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore.This city will always pursue you.You’ll walk the same streets, grow oldin the same neighborhoods, turn gray in these same houses.You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere:there’s no ship for you, there’s no road.Now that you’ve wasted your life here, in this small corner,you’ve destroyed it everywhere in the world. Let's imagine for a moment that the following scenario is real: You enter a bookstore and the first books that greet you are not books on how to raise your child as a leader, the 10 golden rules of competition, or the story of who knows who that will be an example/inspiration for everyone. Rather, books such as the virtues of solidarity, forty-one ways of collective work, and how we can multiply our commonalities are placed right at the entrance. In a huge section, books on social welfare and collective well-being, suggesting strategies and tactics to achieve this are displayed. So many books have been written on cooperatives, trade unions, and NGOs that more shelves were needed... Wouldn't the world we live in be a very different place? One, because it already would be a different place. Two, the world would continue to be a different place because more books like this would be written and read. If half of the time and energy spent on writing and reading books on how to be happier were devoted to answering the question "how can we make this world better together", we would probably be less tired and happier.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/7/3/1660141521644.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.36" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">If you want to hear first-hand how real people experience many emotions, including surprise, disappointment, loss and happiness, in real relationships and love and affairs, I have an exciting podcast recommendation for you: "Modern Love". This podcast is like the audio version of a huge industry on its own. A popular column in the New York Times for 15 years, Daniel Jones has been editing the series, and two years ago Amazon Video made a series. There is also a book version of Modern Love published in 2019.That's it for this week. The cover image, "Değirmendere, 1999" belongs to my dear friend Özge Açıkkol. I would like to thank her again for sharing her photo with me. Now for my usual reminders: You can forward this publication to your circle, tell them to sign up for free at apos.to/n/zappa-times. You can contact me at zappazamanlar@gmail.com, share your thoughts and reading, listening suggestions with me.I wish everyone a wonderful, healthy week.

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