On “the Dawnfall” with Fikret Başkaya…

We interviewed writer Fikret Başkaya about his latest book called “The Dawnfall-An Essay on the Ultimate Crisis of Capitalism” and about his views on civil society.

What do you think the main aim of civil society should be?

There is a disturbing confusion about civil society. In what kind of conditions does civil society exist? Basically, there two types of CSO:  CSOs from the bottom and CSOs from the top… CSOs from the top are the ones established and instrumentalized by governments and the capital to legitimize existing system of oppression and exploitation. It is not right to call them civil society organizations as they are at the service of the state. Think-tanks should be included, too. For who, for whose benefit and for what do they produce thoughts?

CSOs should definitely take a stand with the oppressed and exploited. There are some organizations which have been instrumentalized to serve imperialism and aims to destroy governments and the unity among society.  

What are your thoughts about CSOs in Turkey?

There are organizations in Turkey which literally serves the civil society. They do some nice work too but most of them do not care enough about capitalism or its neoliberal version. There are some organizations which care only about identity problems. This is important but not enough. If you do not have an aim to change the regime, your achievements may not be persistent.