A solidarity event was held in Toronto on Sunday, February 2, by readers of the Evrensel Daily in Canada and the Labor Working Group of North America.
The event was held in the Greek-Canadian Democratic Organization to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Evrensel Daily and against Press Advertisement Agency's (BIK) announcements censorship over Evrensel Daily. The message was given is that Evrensel Daily can survive in the social and political storms of Turkey by getting its power only from laborers.
In the event, which is also important since it is a first in Canada, Evrensel Daily's Editor-in-Chief Fatih Polat, solidarity messages were shared from well-known Turkish socialist intellectual Aydın Çubukçu, Afro-American Journalist and Black Rights Advocate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been in prison for over 30 years, Larry Goldbetter, the President of the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981), Alfonso Casal, the National Chair of the American Party of Labor (APL) and Ekim Kılıç, U.S. correspondent of Evrensel Daily. In the event, the musician Burhan Berken showed a great music performance by singing and playing Kurdish songs.
US political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, in a message from prison, said, "Please send my best wishes to the staff and contributors to Evrensel Daily. In times of state repression, the press can serve as a beacon of hope and true democracy for a vision of the state serving the people rather than the people serving the state. That is, of course, unless the state strangles the press by the forces of fear. Isn't it interesting that the US state stands by in silence when the Turkish state assails and attack's the press? We stand with our brothers and sisters struggling against Turkish state repression!"
In his message to the solidarity event, President of the American Party of Labor, Alfonso Casal, stated that Evrensel sets a high standard both in terms of journalistic excellence, and in terms of its commitment to labor and the struggles of the poor and oppressed. In Casal's message, "Evrensel is truly a "sword" of the Turkish working class. Try though it might, the Turkish government can never silence Evrensel. Just as it can never silence the people's cry for freedom and liberation."
Larry Goldbetter, President of the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981), said that Evrensel is no small accomplishment to not only survive over the past 25 tumultuous years of setbacks and reversals for the working class but to grow.
Goldbetter continued by saying, "And that is especially true for our comrades in Turkey, where the contradictions of world imperialism have produced seismic shocks internally, in the class struggle and across the border into Syria. In this period, the voice of class struggle, of international solidarity and of anti-racism, is as important as air to breath." He stated that they sent warmest regards and deepest solidarity from the National Writers Union.
Aydın Çubukçu, a columnist of Evrensel Daily, expressed that Evrensel Daily could survive in the social and political storms of Turkey by getting its power only from laborers for 25 years. Çubukçu pointed out that Evrensel publishes the truth every day, and it is the spokesperson of the peoples and bringing up the cries of the masses of workers and laborers, women, young people, intellectuals. Çubukçu said, "I greet you here as a part of this great struggle, to gather for solidarity with Evrensel DAily. I know that even your smallest contribution will find its meaning in this great march and will strengthen the excitement and determination of those who have given the newspaper not only their efforts but also their energy, lives, and futures".
In the message that was sent by Evrensel Daily's Editor-in-Chief Fatih Polat, he stated that "Evrensel Daily is a newspaper that could not be silenced, our main goal is to contribute to the struggle to create a country and world without exploitation, war and with freedom." He added that "The challenges didn't start with the AKP government for the people, who publish based on freedom of obtainment of information in Turkey and the right to be informed accurately."
"For example, June 7, 1995, the headline of our very first issue was 'Here Turkey's Truth' to draw attention to the relations of exploitation and oppression in the country. For this very first title, they filed a suit against us. Our correspondent friend, dear Metin Göktepe, was detained by the police while covering the news on January 8, 1996, and was beaten to death in Eyüp Sports Hall," said Polat.
After he described our understanding of journalism by saying "5W 1H + 11th thesis," he thanked everyone who organized the solidarity event with Evrensel Daily in Canada. (Toronto/Evrensel Daily)
Hediye Levent
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir