Contextualising Feminist Global Justice Activism: A Case Study of the Gezi Park Protests

Abstract

Neoliberal globalisation has not affected everywhere equally. It has deepened the socio-economic inequalities and in some regions has stimulated conservative counter-movements, which affect women more than men. Feminists in the Global Justice Movement draw attention to such issues by highlighting the interrelated nature of patriarchy and the global economic order. In this way, they could incorporate gender justice claims into the wider agenda of the Global Justice Movement and increase their influence as a political actor. This article examines the Gezi Park protests in Turkey as an example of this particular type of feminist activism and contextualises it in local forms of collective action. Utilising Eschle and Maiguashca’s (2010) framework, this article explores how women experience unjust global patterns in local contexts and how oppressive patriarchal neoliberal structures at different levels speak to each other. In Turkey’s context, neoliberal restructuring policies are accompanied by the promotion of religious, familial and heterosexual values along with the state’s penetration into private space, which affects women disproportionally. Turkish feminists in the local Gezi Park protests responded to such regional and national contexts, whilst also defining power relations, injustices and demands in line with international frameworks of feminist anti-globalisation activisms.

Keywords

• globalisation
• neoliberalisation
• Gezi Park protests
• feminist activism
• Turkey