May 1, Labor, Taksim and Affiliation of Square

On May 1, 2024, groups of workers who wanted to march to Taksim in Istanbul were not allowed to approach the square with intense police intervention and were also prevented from gathering outside the areas determined by the government. This situation constitutes the latest leg of the ongoing May 1 and Taksim conflict between the working class and the authorities in Turkey. As seen in recent times in Turkey, Europe and events such as the Arab Spring, squares contains both cultural, class and socioeconomic memory. In some cases, square is not only a public sphere but also an area that enables the development of that memory and culture. This study attempts to look at this ongoing situation by bringing a new approach to Henri Lefebvre's concept of habitat. According to Lefebvre, habitat is the outcome of capitalist organization of cities which turned them to sterile meaningless spaces. However, we can also think of habitat as the living space of a cultural organism. In some cases, subcultures and in some cases, organizations such as labor unions have vital ties with certain spaces. This study will also investigate how the union movement developed a repertoire through Taksim affiliation.