CREATIVE EXILE: FROM INDIVIDUALS TO THE COLLECTIVE SUBJECT Engin Erkiner
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CREATIVE EXILE: FROM INDIVIDUALS TO COLLECTIVE SUBJECT Engin Erkiner The difference between the sum of individuals -in other words, the singulars that make up the plural- and the collective subject is as follows: when it comes to creative exile, individuals are shown as examples and a large number of people are counted. In the collective subject, individuals are not important; everyone who makes up the multitude has become creative with their joint efforts at different rates. The example of Alevis and Kurds will be examined as collective subjects, but first, creative exile should be emphasized. Although research on the history of exile in different countries goes back to old times, creative exile is a relatively new concept. Exile has been evaluated within the framework of constantly feeling the pain of those who had to be left behind for years, being cut off from language and relationships, and being disconnected from relationships, muteness and loneliness in the new country one has arrived in. There are countless exiles who have experienced these and the rate of creative exiles is low. This scarcity has caused it to be neglected for years. Although the activities of people who did not disappear in exile and who were productive were mentioned, this group was not seen as a different group of exiles. The history of those who had to leave Germany because of the Nazis is the best-researched history of exile. Although Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment, which is considered one of the leading philosophical works of the 20th century, and Anna Seghers' novels written in other countries -other names and works can be added- are known, creative exile was not seen as a separate category for years. The situation is even stranger in our creative exile. For political exiles, although there were a few, 53 years have passed if you take 1971, and 44 years if you take 1980, when the mass exile began, but this concept is only recently coming to the agenda. The oldest creative exile can be stated as Nazım Hikmet, who wrote many poems that remained even years later. Then, Doğan Özgüden and İnci Tuğsavul should be counted among the 1971 exiles. Erdem Buri and Tülay German, who had to leave the country after March 12, should also be added. There are many creative exiles after 1980, and it is especially strange that this concept is new to us. Server Tanilli, Yusuf Ziya Bahadınlı, Fakir Baykurt, Doğan Akhanlı, Yılmaz Güney, Demir Özlü, Oya Baydar, Dursun Akçam, Nihat Behram, Ataol Behramoğlu, Abdülkadir Konuk, Gökhan Harmandalıoğlu, İsmail Çoban, Tektaş Ağaoğlu… This list is incomplete, but even these many names show the prevalence of creative exile in our example. Two questions should be asked here. The first is why so late. 44 years have passed since September 12, but the European Exiles Assembly (ASM) was founded 11 years ago. For years, Turkish exiles did not care about exile and even immigration in general, thinking that they would return soon. So much so that even strange statements such as “exiles do not learn a language” were made, and many exiles were able to understand the importance of learning the language of the country they live in years later. Many exiles remained in the “we will return anyway; this place is not important, activities should be carried out mainly for the country we had to leave” psychology that they entered in the first 5-10 years. Just think, the fact that even the word exile has been adopted and used is a product of the last few years. ASM has made great efforts in this regard. We have come from the strange statement of “we are not immigrants but revolutionaries” of 35-40 years ago to the acceptance of exile, which is a type of immigration. The second question is as follows: where does the high number of productive exiles in our country originate from? We left one Turkey and came to another Turkey. In the early 1980s, there were approximately three million people from Turkey living in European countries, mostly in West Germany. There was no language problem when you lived among them. The existence of this group encouraged the exiles to produce. There was a group that had buyers in European countries for their production. Various political organizations had been working within this group for years; in other words, this group was not politically empty even if it was viewed only from the left. The participation of 30 thousand people in the protest march held in Frankfurt, Germany on the first anniversary of September 12 is an important indicator in this regard. No exact number can be given, but the majority of the participants were not exiles, they were people with Turkish passports. Even before a large number of political people had to come from the country, there was a not-so-small political group, especially in West Germany. The situation of exiles from other countries, such as the Chileans in the Netherlands, is different. First of all, they had language problems and they were not among a large group of people who had come from their country. The surprising thing is that we understood our creative exile very late.it is the work of the irreducible, collective subject. The communications revolution after 1990 has greatly facilitated the emergence of the collective subject, and it has become easier to communicate with people in other countries, including the country left behind. Creative exile, while not disappearing, has ceased to be the activity of single individuals. In addition to these names or singulars, there is also the creative exile of plurals or different subject clusters. Exile is found in the history of almost every country. I do not know all of them, but I think that the creative exile of collective subjects is specific to us. Here, we are not talking about names, but about collective essence.it is the work of the irreducible, collective subject. The communications revolution after 1990 has greatly facilitated the emergence of the collective subject, and it has become easier to communicate with people in other countries, including the country left behind. Creative exile, while not disappearing, has ceased to be the activity of single individuals.
