Istanbul

ISTANBUL "... Destroying and burning and replacing it with a "Western, modern" apartment building is also a way of forgetting. All this indifference and destruction eventually increases the feeling of sadness by adding to it the timbre of futility and misery. This sense of sadness, developed by the pain of destruction, loss and poverty, prepares the inhabitants of Istanbul for new defeats and other forms of poverty...." Orhan Pamuk, 2003 We believed in the human mind. We admired the creativity of man in his struggle to change and transform nature; we believed that in the process of establishing sovereignty over nature, the productivity of the land could be unlimitedly increased through the application of capital, labor and science; we forgot that we are part of nature with our flesh, blood and brains. We perceived the process in which the number of people living on earth has increased 10-fold to 8 billion since the beginning of the industrial revolution (and with a rising momentum, especially in the last 50 years), and energy consumption has increased 20-fold to more than 160 thousand TWh per year due to the change in consumption habits and social life, as a victory over nature. We were talking about a process in which man, alienated from his labor, alienates himself along with the nature of which he is a part, and ultimately destroys his own species due to his desire to dominate the "other" without borders. Global warming, melting glaciers, avian flu, the Kyoto Protocol, SARS, ozone depletion... We were watching all these developments, but most of us seemed to be having a theoretical discussion, looking at an uncertain future and the suffering of others from a distance. We were not questioning whether we were contributing to the reproduction of this process. Yet, inevitably, we now perceive that our planet is sick and we see our helplessness. Our advanced technologies and smart bombs are no remedy. We cannot see the limits of the cost of interfering with natural balances that have been established over millions of years, and we are horrified. Still, those with the loudest voices blame the "other" for what is happening and some dream of "turning this situation into an opportunity". We don't know if humanity will stop watching this poorly written, poorly acted piece of theater, but species solidarity is an option.