From a Conflictual Coalition to a Social Movement? The Transformative Capacity of the Gezi Protests

Abstract

The sustainability of the current wave of Occupy protests, taking place in various parts of the world since 2011, is a major outstanding question that is of concern to both movement actors and social movement scholars. In this regard, collective identity construction is a key element, as it facilitates the transformation of multi-issue and multi-actor coalitional networks into sustained movement networks. This paper analyses the Gezi protest as an eventful protest that created free spaces of emotions and cognition. I show that the extended, intensified, and accelerated relations that the protestors have built among themselves in these free spaces lead to the construction of inclusive frames and a collective identity. Yet, based on the data collected through in-depth interviews, it is argued that the transformative impact of the Gezi protests on subsequent mobilizations is neither absolute nor linear.