« Today is a good day / Bugün güzel bir gün | Main | Spreading the word / Sözü yaymak »
May 31, 2005
Uncle Sam
Melda talkin to 2 young visitors / Photo by Philip
Monday 30
Jens Munch and Omar Oueini
Roughly three weeks into the activities of the peace-embassy in Incirlik there was a replacement of volunteers. One of our most active volonteers, Bahadir, had to go back to his job, while three new volunteers, Melda from Turkey, Jens and Randa, from Lebanon arrived Saturday and on Sunday Philip from England. As we become more acquainted with the village and it with us, some interesting things have come to light. One of these are the different groups which live here. The villagers who have businesses on the main road, facing the base, have a very different attitude to both Greenpeace and the American base from those who live further away. As we come out of the embassy in the morning we enter directly onto the main street along which the barbed-wire fence of the base stretches.
Along this street the businesses have names such as, Uncle Sam's Clothing and Woody Woodpecker's Furniture, and the people waiting in the doorways have newly acquired American accents riddled with military slang. This is where we have so far encountered most resistance and, although increasingly rarely, hostility. The times we have been out at night to visit the many bars frequented by American servicemen along this street there have been times when we have politely been asked to leave and others when we have only been made aware that our presence is not desired. Although attitudes are changing there are still shopkeepers who believe that the peace-embassy is a threat to their business interests.
Over the last few days, though, more and more people have been visiting the embassy and shown interest in our message. Today two local youngsters came to visit and we were interested to find that they were much more curious about the recent war on Iraq, voicing specific opinions about it being a war for oil, and less interested in our information about nuclear weapons. Especially since their concerns were so much at odds with the logos on their T-shirts.
We have also been spending more time with the people further removed from the business interests of the main street. These areas also have strong ties to the base but in a different way. Many have worked on the base as firemen, maintenance, construction etc. Here people are often more critical towards the base. One of the things we are trying to achieve at the moment is gaining the confidence of this part of the village. Addressing and listening to their interests holds many possibilities for our work. A large part of our work here still contains a great deal of walking and talking around the village and making ourselves known. As people open up more we continue to learn about different ways in which our work here can be furthered.
------------------------------------------------------------
Barış Elçiliği'nin etkinliklerinin ikinci haftasında gönüllülerden bazıları ayrıldı ve yeni arkadaşlar bize katıldı. Lübnan'dan gelen yeni iki gönüllümüz Jens ve Randa Cumartesi, İngiltere'den gelen Philip ise Pazar günü İncirlik'e vardı. Köyle tanışıklığımız daha fazla arttıkça, ilginç bazı bilgiler edindik. Bunlardan bir bçlümü burada yaşayan farklı gruplarla ilgiliydi. Üsse bakan ana cadde üzerinde dükkanı olan köylülerin, Greenpeace'e ve Amerikan üssüne olan tavırları, daha uzakta yaşayanlara oranla oldukça farklı. Sabahları elçilikten çıktığımızda doğruca, üssün dikenli tellerinin uzandığı ana caddeye ulaşıyoruz.
Bu caddedeki dükkanların "UncleSam's Clothing", "Woody Woodpecker's Furniture" gibi isimleri var ve yeni kazanmış oldukları askeri argo ile karışık bir Amerikan aksanıyla konuşuyorlar. Başlangıçta en fazla dirençle ve gittikçe daha az da olsa düşmanca bir tutumla karşılaştığımız yer burası oldu. Caddede Amerikalı askerlerin sürekli gittiği barlara gittiğimiz zamanlarda bazen oradan ayrılmamız için kibarca uyarıldığımız, bazen de buradaki varlığımızın istenmediği bize hissettirildiği oldu. Bu tavır son zamanlarda değişimeye başladığı halde, dükkan sahipleri arasında barış elçiliğimizin ticari çıkarlarına bir tehdit olduğuna inananlar var.
Son birkaç günde, mesajımıza ilgi duyarak elçiliğimizi ziyaret edenlerin sayısı gittikçe artıyor.
Posted by Omar at May 31, 2005 02:21 PM
