The Podium of Injustice Set Up in Social Memory: The Case of Uğur Mumcu

When concerned people feel justice has not been achieved, they try to find ways to adapt, and a fundamental tool in their process of adaptation is social memory. In this context, this article focuses on the assassination of Uğur Mumcu and the communities that commemorate him, and seeks to reveal how the perception of injustice dominant in human groups builds structures in social memory. On 24 January 1993, Uğur Mumcu, one of Turkey's well-known journalists and writers, was assassinated, and despite the decades that have passed since his murder, some communities have continued to commemorate him. In these events, rituals, symbols, discourses, memory spaces, some of which are unique to Uğur Mumcu commemorations, have emerged, and a calendar, sentiment and organization of the events have emerged. In the process, social memory was instrumentalized by those who were deprived of the restorative or, in other words, soothing aspect of justice. The perception of injustice creates a ground that nourishes the identities of social actors and a ground on which they can disclose those identities. This ground derives its legitimacy from the social justification of the search for justice and can be conceptualized as a "podium of injustice." Through the activities, performances, attitudes and rituals practiced here, communities display their identities to themselves and to society. In this framework, the discourse on the search for justice and on Uğur Mumcu as a social figure have acquired new meanings and functions in the process. As a result, society uses social memory in an effort to adapt to injustice, and over time, the same social memory turns into a space where groups can make their identities visible. This article attempts an "ethnography of injustice" on the basis of social memory, and an analysis of the reflections and social structures created by the perception of injustice in the social life of communities.