A natural leaning?

I have a natural leaning towards protest and against interdictions (bans) of any kind and it upsets me that the water in the three village fountains has been piped into a closed circuit so that the source of drinking water for generations has become a stagnant, reduced flow from which we are forbidden to take any water at all. Une honte (a disgrace), say the inhabitants, quite rightly; a water-saving measure in a region short of water, says the municipality, while giving planning permission for new houses to cover a previously wild hillside. Now even the limited water has been turned off and this fountain in the centre of the village, Plan de Barri in Occitan, the village square, stands as a sad reminder of what was there before, for travellers and villagers, for hundreds of years.

I think we need to occupy our village square! And I'm moved by the protests taking place in Turkey this week. They began in Istanbul when protestors against proposals for a shopping centre in Taksim Square and its adjoining Gezi Park occupied the area. Taksim Square is a huge space in the centre of a busy city, where rallies, official and unofficial take place. Demonstrations of support and sympathy have spread throughout Turkey and beyond and have developed into a huge protest against an authoritarian government. I feel very close to this action, having spent my teenage years in the 1960s in Istanbul and lived just down the road from Taksim Square for several years. When I was asked at school to do a project following a single tree for a year, I chose one of the trees in Gezi Park. The novelist Elif Shafak explains the background to the protests in an article in today's Guardian and begins with a quote from one of the protestors:

"My dear Prime Minister, I was an apolitical man; then how come I took to the streets? Not for two trees. I rebelled after seeing how, early at dawn, you have attacked those youngsters who were silently protesting in their tents. I took to the streets because I do not wish my son to go through the same things and I would like him to live in a democratic country."

Governments the world over are so slow to recognise and respond to people's needs and ideas, so quick to oppress. I hope the Turkish people win back democracy and save Taksim Square and Gezi Park. On a lighter note, Lo Jardinièr points out that the places where I and my family have lived - Alexandria, Cairo, Benghazi, Istanbul - have turned into sites of protest and the beginning of revolution. Maybe the authorities where I now live should take note of this!

I've just realised this fountain is on my one street. I may add a poem later.

Even on the closed system the water could look lovely in wintry low sun - blipped here, with a poem too.

poem added 05.06.13

Dead

Even at a slant this fountain
sheds no water, only the memories
of stars dancing in winter
and riders catching breath
and refreshment, a splash
of summer children, women who drew
from a cold stream flowing
from the hilltop and on
through the centuries. Once
not long ago, moss glittered green
where red now signals, orders
interdiction and life
has pulsed
drained
dried
from the stones.

© TW