Does it matter whether I “like” Asli Erdogan’s writing or not? No, it does not. No more than it matters whether I agree or not with Wendell Berry’s views in The Unsettling of America. In both instances, works of theirs are on my writing table because the world in which I still live allows for the dissemination of ideas.

How does Wendell Berry wind his way into my thoughts, this morning? Through a small booklet acquired on the venue of last night’s concert. In an unheated hall, during a Christmas fair. A young man was there, offering works off his printing press. The same young man who hails from Martha’s Vineyard, and who replaced me as English teacher in this town’s schools (after I was un-hired for the crime of too many years of keeping body and soul together. I’m supposed to live off my pension – a physical impossibility in this country).

Back to the extract from Wendell Berry. “Once the revolution of exploitation is underway, statesmanship and craftsmanship are gradually replaced by salesmanship.(1). It’s stock in trade in politics is to sell despotism and avarice as freedom and democracy. In business it sells sham and frustration as luxury and satisfaction. The “constantly expanding market” first opened in the New World by the fur traders is still expanding – no longer so much by expansion of territory or population, but by the calculated outdating, outmoding, and degradation of goods and by the hysterical self-dissatisfaction of consumers that is indigenous to an exploitive economy.” (1.)The craft of persuading people to buy what they do not need, and do not want, for more than it’s worth.

I doubt salvation lies in Berry’s dream of the people returning to the land and   harrowing the clods. Still. Someone hand-setting the type, then hand-printing a booklet appeals to me. His venture is called Les Écrits 9 and he operates out of Gaillac.

All this is eons away from the jailing of voices displeasing to Turkey’s present leadership? Not. It was damn cold in that hall last night. The chill ran the whole length of my spine. But we could sing, we could dance, we could clown around. After doing so, we could go home to warm beds.  None of which applies to conditions inside Bakirkoy Prison and other detention centers where the innocent pile up. Guilty of what? Of speaking out. Of disturbing the leaders’ stories. Of insisting on speaking about the view from their perspective.

So, with a cold, a sore throat, sniffles and catching up to do on personal paperwork, I repeat, again: Asli Erdogan’s sentencing is scheduled for December 29th. The State is asking for life imprisonment for the crime of reporting on horrors committed by the State.

There are at least three petitions online calling for her release. You can find them by typing Asli Erdogan Petition. Or you can press here.

“…the care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope.” Wendell Berry

To that thought, I’d simply add what serves as title to this post.