The Watch Movement: Searching Justice for Workers and its Families

In Turkey, four people die every day due to workplace accidents. Instead of bringing new regulations for the workers’ safety, the inspection responsibilities as well as the authority of the state in the workplace have been privatized. Therefore, a group of families who lost their relatives in workplace accidents, started a movement (the Watch for Conscience and Justice) requesting public to monitor accidents and related legal regulations. Thanks to their persistent protests, workplace accidents are started to be reframed (at least in popular cases) by not only the authorities but also by the public conscience. Although mainstream media ignore these incidents unless death tolls are relatively high, these families could form a counterpublic to discuss workplace safety. Analyzing this case, I argue that the formation of counterpublic is indispensable to construct social consensus and to challenge the state’s neo-liberal policies.