Having been out of touch for a few days, in my TV-free, internet-free room, it was late this afternoon that I first heard of the murder of two policemen in Brooklyn. As I stated in official papers before, I grew up in an environment where I and my two siblings took it for granted that policemen are good guys. Our father taught, part time, in the Police Academy in Ankara, and many of his students seemed to remember him fondly (greeting him on the street, etc.). As we grew up, we all learned that the truth has many gray areas, and we learned about torture, etc., at the hands of policemen. Unlike my siblings, I grew to adhere to anti-statist ideas, but I never ceased to believe that some policing has to be part of human security. I also went out of my way to cooperate with police officers in several occasions, and used 9-1-1 to inform them about incidents, etc. Since Dec. 2009, I belong to a small group of people who reported a violent attack only to be arrested by the police as the attacker. The consequences of my arrest and further slanders cost me enormously. Even after that, I continued to call the police to tell them about shootings, etc., that I witnessed in different neighborhoods. It was in the late 90s that I first saw Ragtime (the movie). [More info at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_%28film%29 In the movie, there are some bad apples among firefighters, too. (I had no experience of this kind with firefighters; but I do allow for the possibility.) Later, I also heard about looting practices of the volunteer firefighters (tulumbacilar) of Istanbul, in the 1900s. The way I see it, just as it would be indefensible to refuse to cooperate with firefighters, owing to criminal practices of some of them, and allowing fires to rage, it is indefensible for anti-statists like myself to sever our connections with local security forces. In my case, some of my criticism of police forces (and the military) is based on their inability to address many forms of crime that the system condones or overlooks. In other words, I am in favor of more security, not less. I also accept a personal responsibility to work toward such security (which can never be absolute). As part of that obligation, I can be counted on as one more set of eyes and ears... Sadly, this message was written in a hurry. The topic deserves much time and dedication. I am deeply saddened by the killings of the two officers. Together with members of War Resisters League whose e-mails I had been reading, I believe that some of us should make efforts that go beyond symbolic gestures. [To be continued.]
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 23:43:08 +0000