the vistor stats are going down and /me feels like not having anything to blog about. jelana was suggesting to write about Svilengrad, but I think, everything is said already. It was enjoyable to hang out ın thıs tıny lıttle town for a day…
İ`m looking forward to the trip to adana.

well, I feel like some holiday and at least it should be warm there.

as every three month. hitchhiking to bulgaria, stayimg there some hours and go back. Just for a new stamp in the passport. and of course to get some wine, coffee and pork. hopefully it will be some fun too and after this trip: new visitors and then some holiday in the east. just the weather …. after some days of spring it`s ugly and cold at the moment.

already some days before there was some trouble in the mahalle. yesterday was nevroz, the start of spring in kurdish, arabic, sinti and many other tradition. for kurds is a date for demonstrations also and as tensions raised in recent times due to turkish ambitions in northern irak. So it was not really surprizing, that there have been some clashes in recent days. not as much as one year ago, or is it just me, who is not as much upset about this any more.
but differently to the last years riots, there was hardly any notice in international press.
in some weeks i`ll go to the east, maybe i will be able to estimate the situation better then.

some circumstances brought quite a bit inside view into turkish health system.

the ambulance

was to carry injured to the next hospital. there aren`t any emergency health care facilities on board.

the emergency station

if you bring somebody to a hospital in germany all responsibility is taken by the stuff and you`ll wait for everything being done without getting any information. Here you will have to do many things by yourself, lifting the patient on the x ray table, checking the mental state, all the things witch is not done by doctors. There is just not enough stuff for not being involved. One might get the feeling to be asked too much of this, but at least you see the results of any checkup immediately.

the state hospital

seems to be fine in regard to the knowledge of the doctors and the technical facilities. but up to eight patients in one romm + at least one relative each make the atmosphere a little bit stressful. Just one nurse for a station, so all the non medical care has to be by realtives or, if there aren`t any, friends. I wonder what happens, if there is nobody who feels responsible.

the private hospital

well, in turkey there is hardly any middle class, so there is no middle class hospital, either. The atmosphere is like in a deluxe hotel, the stuff polite and has all time you can imagine to read your wishes from your lips. evrything imaginable is done and i can`t get rid of the feeling, there is some overtreatment. and all the luxery is more impressing the visitors than a patient who has other problems like pain.

so I got an impression, what could be meant with a 2-classes health system

youtube is blocked by turkish isp`s. technically it means:

1. the name server entries are changed to the ip`s 212.175.13.55 and similar, so that users who use turkısh name servers see a announcement, that the page is blocked.
2. the original ip`s of www.youtube.com, e.g. 208.65.153.253, are blocked by turkish isp`s.

following ways to reach this site are working:

1. using tor, tested in a configuration where tor ıs lıstenıng to privoxy at localhost, easy to install like explained here (win) here (mac) or here (lınux). This is giving you quıte good anonymity, which is always a good idea, espacially in times, state authoritis try to show their power in the virtual world in.
2. using a static web proxy. there are some simple to use web interfaces like proxy.org, where you do not even need to configure any browser or internet properties.

both methods have the disadvantage that the connectivity is significantly reduced. other ways could be faster, espacially if some people outside turkey would donate some traffic capacities and provide fast secure proxies.

Even its really not a big deal to sidestep this demonstration of protecting the (heterosexual) honor of a nation, most users wouldn`t make this effort - and to be honest, most youtube clips it isn`t worth for. It is just to stay independent, to get access to the information you like to get.
More relevant than this action, which is more show than really the attempt to get control over the flow of bits and bytes, is to watch the traffic and try to structure the data to get an overview over activities, attitudes and communication structures. And to stay constantly anonymous and unanalyzable is a big deal. Some will, most not, even if they wanted. Nevertheless, even if politically scandalizing is as important as to be clever enough to don`t let you be impressed by this cheap demonstration of power. EDİT: i didn`t finish the sentence, let`s say: … stay clever.

EDIT2: for those who have access to a shell account with ssh-daemon ouside turkey there is a nice solution:
- establish a ssh tunnel: ssh -L8001:youtube.com:80 username@yourresurceoutsıdeturkey.org and type in your password.
- send your browser request now to localhost:8001
this is pretty fast dependıng to the resource connectivity, and the ınformation, that you connect to youtube is not seenable, but not a solution for evryone. maybe someone can establish a open tunnel slot, but who will be able to carry all the traffıc load of youtube …

still people find this blog by searchıng for skype and netbsd, but mine aren`t working any more:

vera@vera ~ $ skype
./skype: symbol lookup error: /lib/libm.so.0: undefined symbol: __infinity
[2] 29891
[2]+ Exit 127 skype

if someone has a hint for me or wants to offer help (by jaber?) -you are welcome …

I tried to find what kind of actıon could took place at march 8th ın istanbul. it turns out a little bit more complex.

what am i expecting, what am i looking for. march 8th ıs the traditional day for the fight … for womans rights or freedom, against patriarchy, sexism, freedom of working women, the day for bringing your wife flowers, as i found at my google research?

what i learned was a demontration in calayan on sunday march 4th. I dıdn`t find much information about so far, but I was told it would be women only. (No idea whether the organizer themselves explicitly announced like this or it was just meta-communicated and those telling me about the event told me.)
However, it seems to be a quite traditional, women-identity based rally. So in this style there is plenty of events, organized by communist partıes and labor unions. But as far as I can see, its all the fight of women.
İts not like I don`t see the need of that, but what about those, who don`t define themselves as female. or aren`t by others.

(and by the way, is it neccessary to use this style of 19th century for political propaganda).
I`m really unsure how to deal wıth ıt. I want to express my opposition to patriarchy, I see its structures quite unquestioned and unquestionable here, but I really wonder if I will be accepted there both with my body and my gender ıdentıty. I don`t think, that patrirachy can be overcome without deconstructing the gender identities and those events aren`t.
But on the other hand İ see, that deconstruction without a basic of equality can not do either. it could result in the impossibility to name sexism. but if so, if this women identity politic is necessary, whats my role to play? Just to stand beside and say: good look in YOUR fight, you are right?
These are just some thoughts and concerns before really seeing the events. I think I will observe them. If I wıll take part, I don`t know yet.

All this is not just a problem in turkey. If I look at the call for the rally in goettingen, they emphasize a deconstructıon of gender, but in the same time the rally is supporting women only rooms - which necessarily constructs gender. Not really consistent, but a contradiction, which seems to be needed in the world we are living in.

to be continued …