Deja vu: bloodshed in Berkeley and Istanbul

Notes from Underground

Istanbul
757Live via Flickr/Courtesy

For both Berkeley and Istanbul, 1969 was a year filled with bloodshed. On Feb. 16, 30,000 people marched to Taksim Square to protest against the government; two were killed and many were injured by the police. Almost three months after Turkey’s “Bloody Sunday,” 6,000 Berkeley dissenters, protesting against the university’s Read More…

A life of service

Not so funny, guise

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*mandee* via Creative Commons/Courtesy

While our college selves would still agree that picking up trash along a creek constitutes giving back to the community just as much as it did back in middle school, we now strive to be part of our environment in more integral and grandiose ways. As much as I respect Read More…

Protesters are gathered in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dispatches from Turkey: Standing up for democracy

Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series examining the political and social unrest in Turkey. Each post is written by UC Berkeley students spending the summer in Turkey. ANKARA, TURKEY — It was on May 31 when I first smelled the bitter scent of tear gas on the streets. Read More…

Since late May, Turkish protesters have been clashing with the police in cities across Turkey. Here, a protester is confronting the police in Taksim Square in Istanbul.

Introducing Dispatches from Turkey

On May 31, after videos and word of riot police using tear gas and pressured water to disperse a group of activists protesting the destruction of the green Gezi Park in central Istanbul, Turkey, spread via Twitter and other social media sites, thousands of people flooded into the park in Read More…

gun over american flag

A dummy’s guide to winning gun control debates

The right to choose

Rarely does a day pass before I hear or see another incredulous pro-gun argument in one medium or another. I see the memes on Facebook that say, “This woman fought back a burglar with a GUN! TAKE THAT, GUN CONTROL!” and the like. So I thought I would take a Read More…

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The race against time

Not so funny, guise

Tick tock. This ticking of an analog clock is more commonly known as the soundtrack to many of our lives. From the moment Cal became a reality, it seems as if many of us have been thrust into a race that has no foreseeable end. As students, we are trained Read More…

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Is the China Dream the next American Dream?

Notes from Underground

I have a dream. Gatsby has a dream. So does Xi Jinping. While watching “The Great Gatsby,” I couldn’t help but think about the ideal of the American Dream, that marvelous little cloud that hangs above us all. For a long time, however, that cloud was known to rest above Read More…