Update on protests in Turkey

Things are not getting better in Turkey.

As you can see from this BBC article, protesters and the police are still fighting with each other.

It looks as if Erdogan has not learned his lesson.  The entire world is encouraging him to show some restraint and to work things out with the protesters, but he refuses to do this.  About 50% of Turkey disagrees with Erdogan, but he still feels as if he can ignore them. 

The article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22830558

Vocabulary to help you understand this article (most of these words below were defined in previous articles):

to show restraint - to stop oneself from doing something that one is thinking of doing or feels like doing.  Erdogan may be angry and he may want to harm the protesters, but it will continue to hurt Turkey if he does not show restraint and not do this.

to clash with - to fight with.

protesters/demonstrators - groups of people who come together.

to defy - not to do what someone has told you to do. To do exactly the opposite of what you were told to do.

tear gas and water canons - tear gas is gas that hurts a person's eyes and causes tears to come from a person's eyes.  A water canon is a type of 'gun' that shoots out water at a powerful force. It doesn't kill people but it forces them back.

civil unrest - unrest is the opposite of peace.  Civil unrest is when the people are unhappy and protesting.

anti-government - anti means against.

to spark - to cause.

a crackdown - when force is used to stop something the government doesn't like.

early elections - the protesters want elections to be held earlier than normal to get rid of Erdogan.  He will not od this, obviously.

authoritarian - an authoritarian government is one that does what it wants regardless of what the people want.

to impose - to force on.

secular - non-religious

rival football clubs - football clubs that compete against each other, play against each other

the epicenter - the center, the main area

fascism - a political philosophy in which the government controls everything and does what it wants to do regardless of what the people want.

shoulder to shoulder - fighting next to each other.

to mushroom - to grow quickly, the way a mushroom grows quickly in a forest.

to vow - to promise.

rare - if something is rare, there are not many things like it.

densely - crowded, packed closely together

Texas "Justice"

This is a VERY bizarre (strange)  story.

In Texas, there is a law which allows a person to kill another person if the other person is trying to steal something from the first person at night.

Yes.  It's a weird (strange) law.  If someone takes something from you - at night - and you have a gun with you, you may shoot and kill the other person to get your property back.

Texas.  This is a law in the US state of Texas, where you are also allowed to carry a concealed gun with you (concealed means hidden).

So here's the story.  A man used www.craigslist.org to hire a prostitute.  She came to his house, took his money and then decided not to have sex with him.  After she took his money she started to leave his house.  So she was going to try to 'cheat' him out of his money.  So what did this Texas man do? 

He grabbed his gun (an automatic weapon - an assault rifle - a type of rifle that shoots many bullets at one time - the type of rifle he used is shown above) ran after the prostitute, and he shot into the car that was trying to drive her away.  He killed her.

He was arrested, but he was found 'not guilty' because she had stolen his money, at night, and he had the right to shoot her.  Welcome to Texas.

Craigslist.org, by the way, is one of America's most popular and useful websites.  Within the past few years, however, people have been using craigslist to steal money from other people through various schemes/scams (illegal plans).

The article:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/jilted-john-acquitted-texas-prostitute-death-article-1.1365975

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a prostitute - a woman who sells her body for sex

to be jilted - if you are a jilted lover, it means the person you loved left you suddenly.  To be jilted, therefore, means that someone you expected to have some type of relationship with just suddenly leaves you.  i.e. a jilted bride, a jilted lover

to retrieve - to get back, to obtain, to recover

a jury - a group of 12 US citizens who determine whether a person on trial is guilty of a crime or innocent of a crime.

'he got off' - he was not found guilty. 

an AK 47 - a rifle that was used by the Russian army. It shoots lots of bullets at one time.

justified - if something is found to be justified, it is found to be OK, acceptable.

an escort - another term for a prostitute.  When prostitutes advertise their services they call themselves 'escorts' to avoid being arrested by the police. 

to be within his rights - it was legal for him to act this way.

to be cleared of murder - to be found not guilty of murder, to be found innocent of murder.

to spray her car - to spray bullets is to shoot in the direction of something while moving your gun back and forth.  You are not aiming at something, you are spraying at something.

alleged - if someone is an alleged 'something,' it means someone claims or says he is that something, but it hasn't been proved. 

a pimp - someone who tries to 'sell' the services of a prostitute and who 'protects' the prostitute.

to be paralyzed - to be unable to physically move.

to be hooked up to a respirator - to be unable to breathe on one's own, so the person has to be attached to a machine which breathes for the person.

to pull the plug - to stop the machine from keeping the person alive.  If a person is legally brain-dead in the USA, a family can 'pull the plug' on any machines that are keeping the person 'alive.'

to acquit someone/ an acquittal - to find someone not guilty, innocent.

to convict someone/ a conviction - to find someone guilty.

to hug - to place ones arms around another person and to gently squeeze that person.

a mental prison - he means that he has been suffering psychologically and emotionally since he killed the woman who was stealing his money.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Questions for discussion/writing:

If you had been on the jury, would you have found him not guilty?

What do you think of this law?

Do you think it was worth it to kill this woman in order to retrieve $150?  Should he have just let her go and called the police?  (Perhaps he felt the police would have arrested him for soliciting - asking for - prostitution.  In fact, I think this woman was probably doing this with her pimp to lots of guys, feeling that none of them would ever call the police.)

Mob "Justice" in Bolivia

Here's a story of mob justice in a village of Bolivia.  A mob is a group of people - actually, usually an angry group of people is referred to as a 'mob.'  When we speak of 'mob justice' we are being a bit ironic.  Mob justice is usually when a mob becomes angry and harms a person they feel is guilty of some crime. So it's not really a case of 'justice,' it's a case of a mob taking illegal action to satisfy its need for what it feels would be justice.

In this story, a mob caught a teenager they believed had murdered a woman and they buried him alive.  They threw him on top of the dead woman's coffin (the wooden box a dead person is buried in) and covered him with dirt (earth).

To bury something is to dig a hole in the ground and then place something in it and cover the hole with dirt again.

The article:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/bolivian-mob-buries-alive-suspected-murderer-article-1.1365894

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

suspected - thought to be; if someone is suspected of being a criminal, he is thought to be a criminal.

a funeral - the ceremony before a dead person's body (corpse) is disposed of (gotten rid of). A dead person can be buried in a cemetery or cremated (burned) in America.

allegedly - supposedly.  If a person allegedly did something, someone claims he did it, but it hasn't been proved in court yet.

sexual assault - to attack a person for sexual motives.

to strangle - to cut off a person's ability to breathe using one's hands or a rope or other thing. A person can strangle another person by placing his hands around the other person's neck and squeezing.

reportedly - apparently.

thrown in her grave - they threw him into the hole they had dug for her coffin (the box they placed her in).

to be buried alive - to throw someone into a hole and then to have dirt covering the person so that he suffocates (cannot breathe and dies).

to be apprehended - to be caught.

vigilante/vigilantes - a vigilante is someone or a group of people who do not trust the police and so they get 'justice' for themselves.

a casket - a coffin, the box you put a dead person in.

raping and murdering - rape is a terrible crime in which a man forces himself sexually on a woman.  Murder is the killing of another human being.

grieving - if you are grieving you are feeling the emotional pain of someone's death.

to grieve - the verb form.

grief - the noun form.

to capture - to catch.

a coffin - a box you put a dead body in.

to stone someone to death - to throw stones at a person until you kill him/her.

to be busted - to be arrested by the police. To be held by the police.

a lynching - this is when a mob takes action on its own to get justice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions for discussion/writing:

According to the article, the police in this area of Bolivia are corrupt and unreliable.  Do you think the villagers were justified in doing this to the apparent rapist/murderer?

Do you think the villagers who did this should be arrested and prosecuted for murder?  After all, it was never proved that this young man killed the woman. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like art, you might like my new blog about artists who show their work in New York City:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P

Links:
http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.

To the heroes of Tiananmen Square - 06/04/1989. You are remembered.

(All words in italics - italics - are defined below the reading passage.)

Above is the iconic photo of the man who tried to stop the Chinese tanks from driving into Tiananmen Square, where students were protesting the authoritarian nature of the Chinese government.

The current Chinese government will not even allow its citizens to obtain information about this massacre on the internet: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/04/china-bans-tiananmen-square-searches-in-hopes-to-ease-tensions/?test=latestnews

Indeed, Chinese people are even prevented from viewing blogs created through the service I am using.

In 1989 thousands of Chinese young people gathered into Tiananmen Square in Beijing to protest for democracy.  They refused to leave.  They stayed for several weeks. The government then sent in tanks and soldiers who opened fire on the students.  To this day nobody is really sure how many students were killed.  It is estimated that between 1,000 and 3,000 were killed.

Afterwards the Chinese government went on a witch-hunt, tracking down students who had been organizers of the demonstration.  Many were arrested before they could escape to freedom in the USA or other sympathetic countries.

Here is the Statue of Liberty the students built. Behind the statue is the image of Mao, one of the worst dictators and mass-murderers of the 20th Century.

I was very young when this happened, but I watched the TV news each night during these protests. When the Chinese government cracked down on these protesters, I, like most of the world, was devastated.


iconic - an iconic photo is a very famous photo.  It's usually one of the photos you think about when you think about a news story.  It is one of the most famous photos dealing with a particular news event.

to protest - to speak out against. A protest is often when a group of people get together to speak out against a government or business policy.

authoritarian - not democratic.  An authoritarian  government is not voted into power by the people.  They tend to follow rules they, themselves, created.

a massacre - (pronounced: MASS uh kur) this is when a large group of people is killed.  usually a massacre means that you have unarmed people (people without weapons) who are killed by soldiers or police.

to open fire on - to shoot at.

a witch-hunt - this is when the government is very angry and tries to gather as many people to be punished as possible.  The term witch-hunt comes from the practice, during the Middle Ages, of blaming bad social outcomes on witches and then randomly arresting people who could be executed (killed) as a punishment to deter (scare) others from becoming 'witches."

to track someone down - to take extra measures to find a person who might not be easy to find. This expression comes from hunting. If you go hunting, you might look for animal 'tracks' or foot/paw prints.  You might then track the animal down (follow it until you catch it.

sympathetic countries - countries that shared the values of the students.

a dictator - someone who holds absolute power.  An authoritarian leader.

a mass murderer - someone who has killed large numbers of people.  Nobody is really sure how many Chinese people died because of Mao, but millions and millions suffered and died because of him.

to crack down on - to take very forceful action against a group in order to stop that group from doing something.

devastated - to be extremely shocked and depressed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like art, you might like my new blog about artists who show their work in New York City:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P

Links:
http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Vocabulary Review 1 for "Is Erdogan mishandling..."

This blog has some AMAZING vocabulary review exercises.  These are all highly useful words you will hear and see a lot if you are learning English.

This review is from this link: http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/06/is-erdogan-mishandling-protests-will.html

Please review the vocabulary definitions from the link above, before you do this review.


Answers are below the exercises:

Words to be used:

undeterred, a bum, to compromise,
to reject, palpable, a confrontation,
to overreact, to convey, authoritarian

1)  The protesters in the park were acting peacefully.  They were engaged in what Americans call "civil disobedience."  This is when citizens peacefully act in a way to show their displeasure toward the government or a government policy.  They did not expect to have a violent ________________ with the police in which hundreds of people were injured and some killed.

2)  The methods that have been used to ___________ information around the world have changed over the centuries.  Once information had to travel from the USA to England through a trans-Atlantic cable.  Now, in a millisecond, a person can communicate with anyone in the world over the internet.

3)  Even though the USA, Japan and South Korea have imposed sanctions (economic punishments) on North Korea, this country's government seems to remain _______________. They continue taking threatening actions against South Korea, the USA and Japan.

4)  Many people in New York City have learned that they should not give money to __________ who beg on the street.  There are numerous programs where the homeless can receive free food, medical help and clothing, as well as job training (if they want it).

5)  The US Constitution tried to make it impossible for a president to become too _______________. Although he is called 'the most powerful person in the world," this is not true.  The president's power is limited by The Congress and the Supreme Court.

6)  When a person buys flowers for his/her lover on Valentine's Day, he/she shows his/her affection in a quite ______________ way.

7)  When protesters had taken over Zuccotti Park in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg did not _______________ by sending in the police to attack the demonstrators.  He waited until the right time before he took action and peacefully removed the protesters who had illegally camped in the park.

8)  Although Bob needed a job, he felt that the salary offer of the company that wanted to hire him was too low; therefore he ______________ the offer.

9)  When Bill Clinton was president, he was known to _____________ a great deal.  This meant that he found some middle ground with people who disagreed with him, and he was able to get his policies passed as laws.


Answers:






Answers:

1) confrontation
2) convey
3) undeterred 
4) bums 
5) authoritarian
6) palpable
7) overreact
8) rejected
9) compromise

Is Erdogan mishandling the protests? Will they get worse now?

Everybody already knows that the Turkish police over-reacted and unjustly harmed hundreds of peaceful protesters.

The Turkish TV stations and newspapers are currently not reporting the truth about what is going on - Turks are conveying the truth to each other through various types of social media.

In this article we see that Erdogan does not seem to realize how serious the situation is.  He is calling the protesters 'looters' and 'bums,' but they look like average Turkish citizens to me. 

Instead of compromising and acting with civility, he is acting like the dictator many of his people are calling him. 

to mishandle something - if a person mishandles something, that means the person does not handle (or do) something as well as he should have.  Often if a person mishandles a situation, he/she makes the situation worse. If you handle a situation well, you do a good job in regard to the situation.

a protest - when a group of people gather together to express the fact that they are unhappy about a government policy.

to over-react - to use too much force in a situation; to do too much; to do something harmful which was not necessary

to convey - to express, to reveal

a looter - someone who breaks into a business during an emergency (when the police are busy) and who steals something.

a bum - a homeless person who is too lazy to work

a dictator - a leader who does not listen to what the people want, but who does what he wants.

to compromise - to negotiate. To work out a deal with someone who disagrees with you.

civility - decency. If you act with civility, you act like a civilized person.

The article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkeys-prime-minister-recep-erdogan-dismisses-protesters-as-just-a-few-looters-as-thousands-return-to-taksim-square-8641336.html

Vocabulary from the article:

to dismiss - if you dismiss something that someone said, that means you do not consider what was said to have been important.  to disregard; to indicate something is not important.

to reject - to dismiss; to claim that something is not true

to take to the streets - to go into the streets to protest

authoritarian - not democratic.  An authoritarian politician does not listen to the people.

to spiral into - to develop into; to get worse

a confrontation - when two different people or groups meet each other in anger

to evict - to get rid of, to force off of land

demonstrators - people who are protesting

heavy-handed tactics - tactics or actions which are too forceful

to spark - to cause

to be injured - to be hurt

to chant slogans - to repeat statements over and over again.  "Erdogan must go! Erdogan must go!  Erdogan must go!"

to resign - to leave a job

undeterred - unfrightened; not stopped; to deter someone means to frighten him from doing something

to rebuke - to attack with words, to scold

to revamp - to fix up, to make better

a pitched battle - a battle between two well-organized groups in one place

to be detained - to be held by the police

to be wounded - to be harmed

palpable - real; if something is palpable, you can feel it

unrest - the opposite of peace

anti-government movement - a real effort by a group of people to get rid of the current government

to nod approval - to move one's head up and down, meaning you agree

Questions for discussion/writing:

When a large group of people begins to protest to this extent, what should a leader of a country do? 

Do you feel Erdogan is handling this situation correctly?

Erdogan is, technically, not a dictator.  He was elected to office and he is exercising power that was voted to him by building a mosque (Islamic place of worship) in this park.  Do you think the protesters are right in calling for him to resign?

Do you think there is room for compromise between the protesters and Erdogan?

What do you think will happen in the future?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.

It's not about the trees; it's about freedom in Turkey

Intro:

One of the more amazing world leaders of the 20th century is not as well known around the world as he ought to be.  Indeed, this is surprising because what he did in his home country was remarkable.

The person's name was Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938).

Please click on this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ataturk_kemal.shtml

He is considered a national hero by many Turks these days, although some of the things he did were controversial. 

Basically, Ataturk decided that Turkey was at a cross-roads.  In the future Turkey could become a 'western' country and embrace modernization and western economic development, or Turkey could function as a type of Islamic theocracy (as Iran is today).  Ataturk worked hard to make sure that Turkey became 'westernized' and he established the groundwork for the economic development of his country and attempted to align Turkey more with the West and not as much with the Middle East.

This meant that in recent history Turks enjoyed an immense amount of freedom.  It is an Islamic country, but not a country where the Islamists control the thoughts or behavior of its people.  Contemporary Turks often pride themselves on being open-minded and tolerant people.

Slowly but surely, however, many Turks feel that Erdogan (their current leader) has been taking away the rights of Turks.  Journalists and artists have been arrested for speaking freely and recently a law was even passed making it illegal for people to drink alcohol after 10pm.  Slowly but surely many people in Turkey feel that Erdogan has been intruding into the daily lives of Turks and many 'secular' Turks feel that he is trying to turn Turkey into an "Islamic Republic" like Iran.

During the last election, a little more than half the Turks voted for Erdogan and about half voted against him.  Therefore the country of Turkey is quite divided politically.  It seems that Erdogan has a great amount of power and feels safe in making changes to Turkey because the economy is strong now.  The recent protests, however, show that many Turks feel they have been pushed too far.

Here is the article (The article I chose is called: Is This A Turkish Spring?):

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/02/days-of-intense-protests-in-turkey-prompt-the-question-is-this-a-turkish-spring/

(I don't think you can call this a Turkish 'spring' because Erdogan was elected to be the leader of the country through fair elections.  Perhaps, however, he has learned a lesson from this incident and he will not try to be as forceful as he was becoming.)

Vocabulary from the introduction:

remarkable - if someone or something is remarkable, it stands out; it is special.

controversial - a controversial topic or person is something or someone that people like to argue about.

a cross-roads - a place and time where change can occur.  If you are at a cross-roads in your life, you have to make decisions about what your life will be like in the future.  Your decisions will take you along some roads and you will not take other available roads.

theocracy - a government run according to religious principles.

groundwork - a basis for something, a solid beginning for something.  You can build something on top of a groundwork.

to align with, to become aligned with - to become allies or friends with.  If one country becomes aligned with another, they begin to cooperate.  Many NATO countries aligned themselves with the USA for the war on terror, but did not align themselves with the USA in the war against Iraq.

to embrace - to accept

immense - huge, large

contemporary - right now

tolerant - accepting of differences of others

to intrude in - to get involved in someone's business or life without them wanting you to.  To be intrusive...

secular - non-religious

to be pushed too far - if a person is pushed too far, this means he/she never wanted to fight, but things have gotten worse and worse and now the person feels he/she has to fight.  i.e.  You pushed me too far this time!  I quit!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like art, you might like my new blog about artists who show their work in New York City:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P

Links:
http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/
---------------------------------------------------------------------