Peasantry and rural resistance in the 21st century Turkey: the case of Çiftçi-Sen

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Dr. Öğr. Üyesi JOSE DUARTE MEDEIROS RIBEIRO

Tez Türü: Bütünleşik Doktora

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Sosyoloji Bölümü, Türkiye

Tez Danışmanı: Hatice Ayşe Hoşgör

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2023

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Özet:

In Turkey, the neoliberal transformation of agriculture which started in the 1980s has been catalyzed since the beginning of the 21st century by the governing party extractivist ideology of a commodified countryside. While past state’s political elites always populistically approached the peasantry to deny their political agency, the current authoritarian context is facing a growing protest culture and potential organized resistance. The Çiftçiler Sendikası (Farmers Union) known as Çiftçi-Sen, was established in 2004 as an umbrella organization of different product-based unions extended across the country. This work demonstrates how this movement, recently refunded as a single union, resists while employing food sovereignty as a political program and constituting an unprecedented potential to activate peasant’s political agency. This is particularly important in a context where authoritarian neoliberalism in the Turkish countryside is expressed by extractivist projects that cause ecological demise.