The Accumulation by Dispossession after the February 6 Earthquakes

Abstract

To overcome its internal contradictions and open new areas for capital accumulation capitalism was reshaped with neoliberal paradigm in the 1970s. David Harvey explains the new accumulation model that emerged after the crisis of capitalism in the 1970s with the thesis of “accumulation by dispossession”. He particularly emphasizes that urban spaces have become important centers of this new wave of accumulation. According to Harvey, capital accumulation can only occur in an environment where both basic institutional structures such as private property, freedom of contract and law, and monetary security are ensured. Therefore, there is a need for a strong state that holds the monopoly of coercion. The state plays an important role in the accumulation process by both regulating capitalist institutions and privatizing or nationalizing assets. This study discusses the dynamics of the accumulation by dispossession process following the earthquakes centered in Maraş on February 6, 2023, which caused major destruction in 11 provinces in Turkey. The study concludes that post-earthquake practices such as urgent expropriation, reserve construction area and risky area declarations are legal tools of dispossession. These practices primarily serve capitalist accumulation through wealth transfer, not collective interest. In this context, it is possible to say that the ruling class alliance urbanized the hegemony by force through the reconstruction process of the cities destroyed after the earthquake. A reconstruction process that disregards right to the city and is carried out through the seizure of urban commons will deepen existing class inequalities and lead to cultural and ecological destruction.