Disrupting the spectacle: the case of Capul TV during and after Turkey's Gezi uprising

Abstract

While Debord’s theorization of the Spectacle – permanent opium war – renders the audience passive, this does not make his work irrelevant. On the contrary, Debord’s theorization provides possibilities to challenge new forms of alienation as witnessed during Turkey’s Gezi Uprising in the Summer of 2013. One of the major outcomes of Gezi Uprisings has been to deconstruct the hegemonic system of representation exercised by Turkish media. Disappointed by the self-censorship of Turkish mainstream media, citizens and activists reversed Debord’s description of ‘having into appearing’ by implementing the very means of the Spectacle and creating new ‘situations’ to challenge increasing authoritarianism in Turkish politics. Rethinking Debord’s Spectacle Society within the context of Web 2.0, this chapter considers Capul TV, Gezi Uprising’s most important outlet for new media activism. While Capul TV activism has slowed down, if not withered, it provides important lessons in terms of thinking about the free labour of the activists and how sustainable alternative media praxis might look like within the age of communicative capitalism.