çapuling

The Turkish word “çapul” has many meanings, including pillage; rage; plunder and booty to spoil; foray; root; and maraud, according to the Tureng online translation service. It’s unclear exactly where the term originated, but it might be a reference to Erdogan’s description of protesters as “looters.” The accompanying “Everyday I’m Çapuling!” video is likely designed to disarm the word by showing protesters engaged in non-looting activities that aim to counter his use of the loaded term….

çapuling

At the bottom of the mine You’re the one that resists

May 20, 2014 Thomas Büsch

No accident, But Murder! It is not known yet how many more are underground … Following the mine disater in

çapuling

Using graffiti, Turks share tips for getting around youtube ban

April 30, 2014 Thomas Büsch

Turkey may have blocked the use of youtube and Twitter, but that hasn’t stopped many Turks from continuing to tweet

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Istanbul United

April 9, 2014 Thomas Büsch

All over the world we can witness acts of civil disobedience against the ruling powers these days. The groups of

All Posts çapuling Places

The Transformation of Berlin Kreuzberg

January 2, 2014 Sabine Küper

After WWII Berlin had lost lot’s of the Housing, that had patterned the city in the 19th century. The Social

All Posts çapuling Three Sided Football Voices

2013: the year of the Gezi miracle

December 30, 2013 Sabine Küper

In 2013 Istanbul got the centre of a miracle that spreaded across whole Turkey. The urban transformation policy

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Tear Gas and Graffiti

October 30, 2013 Thomas Büsch

A documentary by Sabine Küper-Büsch and Thomas Büsch about the culture of capuling during the protests in Turkey in the

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Media Award for Standing Man / Duran Adam

August 27, 2013 Wu Ming

White shirt, gray pants and a backpack at his feet…the ‘Duranadam’ (standing man). The performance artists Erdem Gündüz will be

çapuling

Gas Man Festival

July 7, 2013 Thomas Büsch

First “Man of gas” festival (GazdanAdam Festivali) in Istanbul, July 7 – 5:30 pm at Kadiköy Istanbul After the Turkish

çapuling

DIREN GEZI

July 4, 2013 Wu Ming

Students of Istanbul Technical University’s (İTÜ) Maritime Faculty staged an unconventional protest in support of Gezi Park activists by welcoming

Chapulling (Turkish: çapuling) is a neologism originating in the 2013 protests in Turkey, coined from Prime Minister Erdoğan's use of the term çapulcu (roughly translated to "looters") to describe the protestors.

The protests started with the occupation of the Istanbul Gezi Park by a small group protesting against the demolition of a symbolic park in the center of the City, finally it became a mass demonstration with a general strike on June 17th 2013.

The word Çapuling quickly caught on, adopted by the demonstrators and online activists, and became a viral video.

Many took the concept further by integrating the unique nature of the demonstrations and defined it as "to act towards taking the democracy of a nation to the next step by reminding governments of their reason for existence in a peaceful and humorous manner."

The Çapuling section of InEnArt describes and reflects the visual culture, humor and irony of the peaceful protestors (the Çapulcu) as it developed in many forms in Turkey during 2013.

The authors of InEnArt will publish regular one phenomen of the Çapuling Culture: e.g. the Duran Adam (Standing Man), the penguin, gas festival, the woman in red...

Read also: Why Turks are good in protesting!