Nonviolence Currents: Exploring the Taksim Square Protests (Turkey)

by

Nonviolence Currents – Bridging Nonviolence and Current Events in the Classroom

A service of the Metta Center for Nonviolence

LESSON PLAN #6

policymic 7-5PolicyMic Article: Taksim Square Protest: Turkey Isn’t Egypt Or Libya, and Occupy Gezi Isn’t the Arab Spring

Themes: Democracy, Occupy & activism, International Current Events,

Target age group: Ages 15 & up

Subject areas: History, Social Studies, Government, Civics

Pre-reading vocabulary check: Ask students to skim the article and look up unfamiliar words.

Pre-reading discussion:

  • Where is Turkey? Locate it on a map and  research its history as a class.

  • What do students know about what is happening in Turkey right now?

  • What do students know about Occupy and the Arab Spring?

    –Discuss the Occupy movement: What is it? How did the protesters make their point?  What is the import of occupying public spaces?  What were the problems Occupy wanted to address?

    -Discuss the Arab Spring:  What countries are involved?  What were the protesters trying to change?

  • Discuss democracy: How do students define a democracy? What are the characteristics of democracy in your country?

Reading: Set aside time in class to read the article (10-15 minutes) or assign the reading for homework the night before class.

Post-reading discussion:Turkey

1. How does the author distinguish between the Turkish protest movement and the Arab Spring movements? Do you agree or disagree? Why?

2. How does the author define democracy? How does that compare to your definition of democracy (in the pre-reading discussion)?

4. Why do you think that the Turkish protesters named their movement after Occupy rather than align themselves with the Arab Spring?

5. Discuss the point the author makes about the responsibility of a democratic leader.  How can he/she balance the needs of all people, not just those who elected him/her?

Extension 1: Individually, in small groups, or as a class:

  • Examine the nonviolent tactics of the Occupy movement, the Arab Spring, and in Turkey
    – What tactics were used?
    – What were the strengths and weaknesses of the movement?
    – What was the response by the government to these tactics?
    – How can we examine the effectiveness of the tactics?

  • Compare/contrast – As a class, create a table that compares and contrasts the movement in Turkey and Arab spring (alternatively, you could add another movement such as Occupy, the 2013 Brazilian protests, etc.). Begin with the similarities and differences that the author discusses in the article. Then expand to include other elements (you may want to do some additional research for this).

Extension 2: Have students research and prepare presentations about individual countries experiencing the Arab Spring, Turkey’s Occupy movement, and the Occupy movement in the USA, including the ongoing projects such as Rolling Jubilee.

Additional Reading and Resources:

Lesson plan created and developed by Anna Leinberger, Stephanie Van Hook, and Stephanie Knox Cubbon of the Metta Center for Nonviolence.

If you have any questions about this lesson, or if you use it and would like to tell us about it, please write to use at education@mettacenter.org. We would love to hear from you!