Sendika.Org, which was launched on 10 April 2001 and has had to endure 11 closures in the last nine months, is turning 15 in an oppressive atmosphere in which “more illustrious” newspapers have been taken over, censorship has been imposed with the heaviest methods possible, and many newspapers TV stations and websites have been forced […]
Sendika.Org, which was launched on 10 April 2001 and has had to endure 11 closures in the last nine months, is turning 15 in an oppressive atmosphere in which “more illustrious” newspapers have been taken over, censorship has been imposed with the heaviest methods possible, and many newspapers TV stations and websites have been forced to cease operations. We salute all our readers, as well as all friends whose labor, contributions and solidarity have help create and sustain Sendika.Org. We call on everyone to help foster this solidarity. Amid the bombs and destruction, we participated in the 10 October Ankara Peace Rally with a banner that read “We won’t accept censorship, and we won’t bow to the Palace.” Now, on the occasion of our 15th anniversary, we repeat another of our promises made on that day: “The destruction of the Palace will be televised”
Sendika.Org, which was launched on 10 April 2001, has turned 15 in an oppressive atmosphere in which “more illustrious” newspapers have been taken over, censorship has been imposed with the heaviest methods possible, and many newspapers TV stations and websites have been forced to cease operations.
Although the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) has shut our site 11 times since July 2015, when the current war began along with a large-scale censorship operation, our site has refused to bow to the censorship, continuing to publish and broadcast at Sendika10.Org with the mantra that “Sendika.Org will not be silenced.”
As the media of the great working class, the societal opposition, the people’s resistance, volunteer workers and societal solidarity, we hold our heads up high. We march forward with the strength we draw from our militant approach to covering the news and our collective method of production.
Entirely independent of the state and capital, and refusing to accept any advertisements or funds, we continue on our path that is inextricably linked to the struggle of the working class.
Fifteen years ago, as the capitalist world was crying “the working class is dead” in the wake of its declaration of “the end of history,” we chose the name “sendika” (union), positing that the crux of the matter was class struggle.
We have maintained this consciousness while providing minute-by-minute news from barricades in the four corners of the country, revealing the relationship between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) before it came to the attention of the rest of the world, pursuing those responsible for massacres, focusing on the working class movement and providing a space on our pages for the defenders of life who are fighting for their towns and nature alongside women, the LGBTI community and the youth.
For 15 years, we have been on the street and at the center of the resistance, becoming a collective organizer of such resistance. Never for a moment have we hesitated from defending the right of the people to reach the news.
For these past 15 years, all of our operations, from our establishment to our technical infrastructure and content production, are conducted with volunteer labor relying on private and donation financing. We have created and sustained the Sendika.Org venture thanks to numerous writers that run the gamut from professors to university students and from union experts to subcontracted workers, as well as volunteer translators and volunteer reporters. We have introduced the agenda of Turkey’s opposition to the world with our English-language site. In the past 15 years, we have published thousands of articles, translations, discussions and exclusive news stories. Thanks to our undertaking, Latinbilgi.net, 5deniz.net, sendika.tv and Çapul.tv have all put down roots.
Looking back, we see 15 years of an honorable history; looking forward, we anticipate continuing to organize the struggle by drawing strength from this proud history. We are excited and determined – just like we were on day one.
In the face of a capital that is floundering, rotting and resorting to ever more oppression as its long-standing political representative, the Palace-AKP, continues to ramp up its bellicose policies; in the face of the bombs that are raining down on Kurdish workers; in the face of a discourse of martyrdom that is sending the sons of Turkish workers to their deaths; in the face of the rise of precarious labor arrangements; in the face of the growing terror that is designed to protect this reactionary-market-based order and in the face of all the theft, murder, sexual abuse and censorship, we declare our hope in the workers’ struggle, from Cerattepe to Sur and from Bursa to Karaman. We also proclaim our page anew in the midst of our 15th-anniversary celebrations.
We salute once more all of our friends whose labor, contributions and solidarity have gone into making Sendika.Org into what it is today, as well as our comrades-in-arms, readers and all other media laborers who have also experienced similar – if not more severe – conditions in attempting to defend the people’s right to the news. We’re glad you’re here; you are the essence of our belief that we can change this rotten system.
Amid the bombs and destruction, we participated in the 10 October Ankara Peace Rally with a banner that read “We won’t accept censorship, and we won’t bow to the Palace.” Now, on the occasion of our 15th anniversary, we repeat another of our promises made on that day: “The destruction of the Palace will be televised.”
Sendika.Org
