Everyone speaks for the people, but the people are kept out of politics.
We have been told the same story for years.
“We do politics for the people.”
“We include everyone.”
“We are different.”
But isn't it time to stop and ask?
Are you really different, or are you just moving words around?
Because for a long time, politics has turned into a closed space that revolves within itself and reproduces itself rather than solving social problems. Politics is a space where the door seems to be open to everyone, but few have the key in their pocket. You are allowed to enter, but not to determine its direction, rules and future...
This is precisely why the term “men's club”, which is often used when talking about politics, is not an analogy but points to a structural reality.
It is not just a question of the abundance of men.
It is a question of whose word counts, who can make decisions, who is permanent at the table.
We look at the table.
Same faces.
Same relationships.
Same power networks.
Politics is presented as a field whose door is open to the people, but the people do not hold the key. That key has been in the same pockets for years.
And there are people waiting outside that door.
For a long time.
With patience
But interestingly, those who enter that door often forget those who remain in front of it. Worse still, when those waiting in front of the door raise their voices, object, criticize or protest, barriers are erected in front of the door.
Sometimes barriers are put up.
Sometimes security.
Sometimes law enforcement.
Suddenly, the place where the door was said to be open becomes impassable.
The problem was not waiting at the door; the problem was making noise.
Parties talk about different ideologies. One says it looks from the right, another from the left. Another claims to be “center”.
But when it comes to party programs and policy texts, the picture is surprisingly familiar. The sentences are similar. Concepts are swapped. Some words are removed and replaced with new ones. But the essence does not change. They talk about different ideologies, but what emerges are different dialects of the same order.
And it is here that another metaphor comes into play:
“We are in the same boat.”
“When they said ”we are in the same boat", the people were never passengers on that boat. The public was a crowd that was remembered when the ship took on water; a crowd that was expected to enter the water and hold the ship on its back so that it would not sink.
When the ship started taking on water,
“We will save it together”.
But again, only ordinary people are thrown overboard to float that ship.
Choke on it.
Swimming.
Load on their backs.
The ship is being repaired...
But the people are still trying to survive with poverty, with precariousness, with breathlessness.
The ship is surviving.
But the contents are the same.
And here we come to the most disturbing question about politics:
By whom and for whom is this politics being done?
Because almost everyone in politics today is somehow “other”.
But interestingly, those who are not the other are very few.
Who are they?
Middle and upper class men.
Educated, middle and upper class women who can articulate with them.
Everyone else - the poor, women, poor men, youth, children, the elderly, people with special needs - are excluded from politics for different reasons but in the same way.
But it is not just a question of exclusion.
At the same time, decisions are made on behalf of these groups.
“We will think for you.”
“We will save you.”
“We will organize your life.”
They say they will end the killings.
They say they will eradicate poverty.
They say they will make life better.
But something is really changing in the process.
Not for everyone, of course.
Those who can get into politics,
who can walk through that door,
the lives of those who can stay at that table are changing.
One moves from an ordinary apartment to bigger houses. From slums to residences, from residences to mansions and palaces.
Positions are rising.
Opportunities are multiplying.
Powers are expanding.
But this change clearly shows that politics does not work for the people, but for a narrow circle that can take part in politics.
And then there are those who speak for “the people”.
“We are here for the people”.
“Chanting slogans of ”For the people, against the people".
But when it really comes to the people, this time we hear from the same mouths
“But the people don't want it.”
“But the candidate can't win.”
That's where it becomes clear.
It was not about the people.
It was not important what the people wanted; it was important who would win and who would not lose.
And at that point, they take sides.
Not on the side of the people; on the side of rent.
Not on the side of change; on the side of the broken order.
Not on the side of risk; on the side of comfort.
There is one thing that has not changed:
“Lives that were told ”we will save you".
For our part, it is always the same sentences:
“A little more patience.”
“Now is not the time.”
“Can we talk now?”
“You cannot oppose the opposition.”
“This is not the time for criticism.”
“We'll talk later.”
But that “then” never comes.
And it is precisely at this point that politics ceases to be for the people and turns into a rent-fueled field.
Small rents as well as big rents sustain this system.
Not giving up a seat.
Not sharing a mandate.
Keeping decision-making in a narrow circle...
Great injustices often begin with the persistent protection of small privileges.
Today politics is more about representing the people,
he prefers to speak for the people.
We feel represented, but when we look at the decision-making processes, we are not there.
We are being talked about but we cannot talk.
We are spoken for, but we have no say.
It is not only a question of which party is in power.
The question is what kind of world politics builds.
Maybe the real issue is this:
It is not a question of not being represented;
we think we are represented.
And at that table, there are those who carry the key in their pockets.
But we, as a people, are still in front of the door and we are alone, because none of those inside remember the front door anymore.