Ideology in Action: Symbolic Localization of Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey

Abstract

Revolutionary ideologies such as Marxism and Islamism often aim to transform dominant local structures, leading their proponents to find themselves torn between global ideologies and local politics. A critical question arises: What does happen when a revolutionary movement's ideology drastically contradicts with the movement's local pragmatic purposes? Analyzing Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey, this article explores the complex process of ideological transformation under the forces of local competition. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's dialogic approach, I introduce the concept of symbolic localization to understand how revolutionary ideologies evolve through pragmatic concerns. Symbolic localization refers to a discursive process of collective reputation work in which social movement activists blend local cultural repertoires and their "we" identity in order to build recognition, legitimacy, and prestige in the eyes of local population. Three major mechanisms of the symbolic localization process are identified: moral authority building, public symbolism, and memory work. Symbolic localization suggests analyzing movement ideology as a discursive process and illuminates how political activists are shaped by relational local engagements."Employing a Marxist discourse in the region is like dancing without music! The Southeast (Turkey) is extremely conservative!" These are the words of a pro-Kurdish activist who complains about the stigma attached to the Kurdish leftist ideology. What does happen when a revolutionary movement's ideology is largely seen as incongruent with the popular culture? Scholars demonstrate that social movement activists not only seek material resources but also symbolic ones such as recognition, prestige, and legitimacy in public eye; thus, they often attempt to resonate with the local cultural repertoires (Snow and Benford 1988). The process of cultural resonance, however, is especially challenging for revolutionary groups, which generally have strong ideological commitments. Since revolutionary ideologies such as Marxism and Islamism aim to transform dominant local structures, revolutionaries often find themselves in between global ideologies and local politics, asking to what extent they should harness local culture in their efforts to resonate. The strategy of utilizing dominant local culture may not only challenge their ideological standpoints but also harm their efforts to transform that particular local culture. In other words, "activists appropriating ideas from the dominant

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