NON VIOLENT CHALLENGES

A couple of events challenging authority occurred on the 12^th March, one eventually more effective than the other. Both were the begun as a non violent challenge, sort of.

In Turkey on the 12 March 1971, the Chief of the General Staff,  Memduh Tağmaç, handed prime minister Süleyman Demirel a memorandum, really amounting to an ultimatum by the armed forces. It demanded "the formation, within the context of democratic principles, of a strong and credible government, which will neutralise the current anarchical situation and which, inspired by Atatürk's views, will implement the reformist laws envisaged by the constitution", putting an end to the "anarchy, fratricidal strife, and social and economic unrest". If the demands were not met, the army would "exercise its constitutional duty" and take over power itself. Demirel resigned after a three-hour meeting with his cabinet; veteran politician and opposition leader İsmet İnönü sharply denounced any military meddling in politics. While the precise reasons for the intervention remain disputed, there were three broad motivations behind the memorandum. First, senior commanders believed Demirel had lost his grip on power and was unable to deal with rising public disorder and political terrorism, so they wished to return order to Turkey. Second, many officers seem to have been unwilling to bear responsibility for the government's violent measures, such as the suppression of Istanbul workers' demonstrations the previous June; more radical members believed coercion alone could not stop popular unrest and Marxist revolutionary movements, and that the social and economic reformism behind the 1960 coup needed to be put into practice. Finally, a minority of senior officers concluded that progress within a liberal democratic system was impossible, and that authoritarianism would result in a more egalitarian, independent and "modern" Turkey; other officers felt they had to intervene, if only to forestall these radical elements.

Demiral

Known as the "coup by memorandum", which the military delivered in lieu of sending out tanks, as it had done previously, it came amid worsening domestic strife, but ultimately did little to halt this phenomenon. It seems the aspirations of the coup met with little success, but it may be the first time a military coup was handled with a memorandum - truly an effective piece of performance writing. Was it more like a threatening note? “I have a gun in my pocket – resign”. Perhaps I’m wrong.

Süleyman Demirel, a survivor of several ‘coups’, did go on to serve five more times as Prime Minister  and as the ninth President of Turkey.

The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha began with the Dandi March on 12^th March, 1930, and was an important part of the Indian Independence movement. It was a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and triggered the wider Civil Disobedience Movement. This was the most significant organized challenge to British authority since the Non-cooperation movement of 1920–22, and directly followed the Purna Swaraj declaration of independence by the Indian National Congress on 26^th January, 1930. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi  led the Dandi march from his base, Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad, to the sea coast near the village of Dandi.