Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the relationship between the theme of 'peace' and the struggle for academic freedom in the case of Academics for Peace in Turkey and focuses on the transformative practices of Peace Academics under the precarious conditions created by the punitive policies of the state.

Paper long abstract:

Over 2000 academics from various universities and abroad in Turkey signed a declaration called “We Will Not Be A Party to This Crime”, criticizing the state for its violence against Kurdish citizens and demanding peace in the resolution of the Kurdish problem. Since January 11, 2016, when the declaration was made public, signatory academics in Turkey have been subjected to a wide variety of pressures, such as detention and arrest, criminal investigations, forced resignation or dismissal, which completely abolished academic freedoms. After the state of emergency declared on July 15, 2016, these punitive practices turned into the expulsion of signatories from universities by decree laws.

However, peace academics also developed a wide variety of solidarity practices in order to maintain their critical academic existence and defend academic freedoms against these oppressive state policies. The most striking and long-lasting example of these collective resistance practices was the establishment of solidarity academies. Solidarity academies have became a means of self-empowering and regaining new spaces of speech and rights in the face of the authoritarian reinforcement of the precariousness created by neoliberal policies in universities over the years. However, these resistences were also open to vulnerabilities as well as new possibilities. The paper examines the opportunities and difficulties of these alternative practices, focusing on collective struggle against precarity. Drawing on the autoethnographic experience of the author as a co-founder of Kocaeli Solidarity Academy and an expelled peace academic, this inquiry aims to contribute to the strengthening and sustainability of the collective struggle.