Has the Community Overcome the Crisis, or Has It Established a New Status Quo?

Every crisis is essentially a mirror; the harder it hits, the clearer it reveals the true face of a structure. The last decade of the Cemaat (Community) was such a mirror. Today, there are those who ask, "Has the Cemaat overcome the crisis?" The answer is very clear: The crisis has not been overcome; the trauma has merely become institutionalized.

Two Winners, One Loser

From this murky picture emerged two winners and one loser. The first winner was the regime; it gradually established its system and consolidated its power upon these ruins. The second winner was the status quo, meaning the narrow cadre holding the reins of power; it used the trauma to strengthen its institutional structure and centralized decision-making mechanisms.

So, who lost? The grassroots. Prisons, exile, ruined careers, and shattered lives… A "common destiny" could not be established between the grassroots and the leadership. While the leadership operated its crisis reflexes within its own safe zone, the grassroots shouldered that heavy burden alone.

The Breaking of the Fabric

The December 17-25 process was a test of strength for the leadership; central decision-making mechanisms were reinforced, while the grassroots lost their sense of trust and belonging. July 15 was not limited to the purge of cadres; it led to the breaking of the natural fabric between the grassroots and the leadership. The structure that could previously lean on each other and produce solidarity during crises collapsed; the consciousness of a common destiny effectively disappeared.

To code those who speak the truth as an "opposing force" for the survival of the status quo is not an effort to survive; it is a mental purge carried out within one's own community.

Cold Status Quo

Today's status quo may seem strong from the outside, but it is actually fragile. Crisis reflexes are still at work, but these reflexes do not carry a bucket of water to the fire in the daily lives of the grassroots; on the contrary, they are busy pushing those who question the fire into the flames. Therefore, the structure only "survives," but can never produce a new idea, a new spirit.

The Cemaat did not emerge from the crisis. It merely built a new and cold status quo for itself from the traumas within that crisis. It physically persists; but it left its soul and identity in the shattered pieces of that mirror. No matter how solid a structure may seem, if there is no common consciousness of destiny between it and its grassroots, it is essentially only managing its own demise.