Cross-posted on Global Voices

Kazakhstan Fashion Week at Registan.net


Police and protesters in Almaty, at svoboda.kz

“I phoned Sanzhar [Bokaev, a shortly detained leader of the movement against the ban of the right-hand-drive cars], he is in Almaty district police, which is next to Nikolski bazaar. Help him if you are a lawyer! He can answer the phone though, he can speak, he is safe, they are not beating him… And hello to a pretty BBC correspondent that I invited for a cup of tea…” – LJ user da_simon, coming home after the protests. Read the full story »

According to the information agency 24.kg ,November 30 in Bishkek will be marked as a day when all those advocating abolishing death penalty in Kyrgyzstan will be rallying in the downtown of the Kyrgyz capital. This rally is a part of the worldwide rally “Cities for life-cities against the death penalty”. It covers more than 500 cities in 30 countries on the globe.

The rally is supported by the local administration of Bishkek, which promised to illuminate the capital with red lamps and to let out doves when the rally is over. High officials, including the mayor of Bishkek, the chair of the Comission on Human Rights, the minister of justice and human rights advocates from fifferent organizations.

Probably, it’s going to be quite impressive. Especially, when you try not to think about what really caused this event .

At the very same day, students and human rights advocates are planning to start collecting signatures for the petition to the president of the country. The main demand in this petition is to ban death penalty in the country. At the moment , it should be emphasized that a moratorium on the death penalty is in action in Kyrgyzstan.

I have very ambiguous feelings about this whole issue. On the one hand, humanism is a good thing, on the other- it’s not quite clear whether those signing the petition are, indeed, genius. It’s also questionable whether it is appropriate for contemporary Kyrgyzstan.

Some of the recent newspaper headlines scream:

-This August in one of the cities of the country the family of 3 was killed. One of the suspected used to live in this family as an adopted child.
-This November teenage “kids” attacked the taxi driver and shoot him dead.
-Recently the gang of teenagers that is responsible for killing elderly people in their own apartments was detained.

It all sounds scary but it happens pretty often. It is also scary that we are getting used to such news pieces. The only hope for everyone is the perception that the punishment for criminals is inescapable. So far.
I’ve met many people that genuinely don’t understand why we should apply humanism to those who commit homicides and hardly care about the value of the human life. Shouldn’t we be more careful about prioritizing here? It’s a paradox, indeed: we all pay taxes that are in part spent to sustain those prisons where those sentenced to death spent years and years while different moratoriums on death penalty are in effect, but we, tax payers and citizens, are potentially susceptible to becoming victims of those with whom we are currently trying to be “humanistic”.
After all, this blind humanism can potentially cause lots of problems, since replicating experiences of leading countries that can afford applying principles of humanism on the ground, we are taking a risk of falling into a trap of complying with global roles but neglecting the specificities of the reality we exist in.

On November 30, 2006, Bishkek is going to host a big action named “Bishkek for Life – Against the Death Penalty” aimed at supporting the abolition of capital punishment in Kyrgyzstan under the worldwide action “Cities for Life – Against Death Penalty” organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio. Bishkek is not the only city that will hold such an action. On the same day the same action will be held in about 500 cities (30 capitals) all over the globe.

During a roundtable discussion held on November 21, 2006 with the mayor of Bishkek city, Mr. Arstanbek Nogoev, preparation works for this event were discussed. On November 24, 2006, Mr. Nogoev signed an agreement that says that the city hall of Bishkek will officially support the action “Bishkek for Life – Against Capital Punishment.” The city promises that the event will stay in the memories of city dwellers for a long time as one of the colorful days in the history of Bishkek. The statue “Erkindik” (Liberty), which is on the main square of the city, will be illuminated and all citizens, particularly school and university, students will be invited. The action will begin at 17:00.

There will be speeches by many high officials including members of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights, the Ministry of Law, deputies from the Jogorku Kenesh, and leaders of leading NGOs.

The event will close with the release of many pigeons into the sky and will be followed by fireworks. Participants will sing the song “Bishkegim” (My Bishkek).

If you are against capital punishment and want to abolish it all over the world, I strongly advise you not to miss your chance to take part in this action.

P.S. In the new constitution of Kyrgyz Republic, capital punishment is eliminated ?

Assuming that some of the readers might be seeking for a nice place to visit while on a vacation in Uzbekistan, this picture post on my blog might be a good advice on how to make an extended stay in Uzbekistan more of an adventure. While travelling to Boysun in winter might be a real challenge for the most of foreign visitors it is a must check destination in spring and summer. Here are some of the photos that me and my friends took in 2002 during the “Boysun Bahori” annual folk festival. Read the full story »

This is a translation of an interview with Merkhat Sharipzhan, Director of “Azattyq”, Kazakh service of RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), made and posted by Adam Kesher on Russian-language neweurasia Kazakhstan.

- What is the target audience of “Azattyq” radio station?

It is a difficult question to address and it is a problem that we are trying to solve now. Only 3% of the population in Kazakhstan is our audience. Kazakhstan is not a country like Turkmenistan, and it is not the USSR – few people today would make efforts to get objective news on short wave and in Kazakh; besides, it is difficult to compete with entertainment radio stations.

It is not only a problem of the radio or people’s attitude to information. There is also a problem in how the language is used. Since Soviet times it is a common understanding that Kazakh should be used in talking about traditions, agriculture… I was unpleasantly surprised to see a “Who wants to be a Millionaire” show in Kazakh, where the majority of questions were about the nomadic way of life. Why not ask about James Bond in Kazakh? Read the full story »

I am looking into Kazakhstan’s centre-periphery relations for my Master’s thesis, and I am currently sighting the available literature. Essentially, the question is: How are centre-periphery relations shaping the implementation of development strategies taking into account both economic decentralisation and growing oil windfalls. A couple of interesting tidbits (comments on any of these aspects most welcome):

Over the last years, Kazakhstan has seen a gradual economic decentralisation coming from below. Although a de jure unitary state, the regions have been able to act more independently and the central state reacts by either ‘legitimising’ what is already occuring in practice or ignores what’s going on in order to avoid the appearance of ‘weakness’. Read the full story »

When my Korean economics lecturer told us that during the 25-odd years he was living in South Korea, he experienced a rise in living standards comparable to 100 years of economic development in Western Europe before the First World War. Which I found a great way of putting the East Asian Miracle into context.

Now, we know that the East Asian development model is revered in Kazakhstan, and President Nazarbayev wants his country to become the “Central Asian snow leopard”, akin to the East Asian Tigers South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. And Kazakhstan is actually outpacing their experience in only 15 years of independence:

These 15 years can be compared to 150 years of calm history of humankind, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev said today at a special press conference following the results of a meeting of the Government members with city and oblast akims of Kazakhstan.

(…)

The world has not seen this kind of experience, and our country is the first to have such tremendous reforms. We have carried them out in our unique Kazakhstan way. It could be compared to great revolutions.

While one can only hope that this revolution is not over yet, it is probably fair to say that Kazakhstan has achieved a lot in its relatively short span of independence. Nevertheless, there are still major construction sites that could, conservatively speaking, take another 15-50 years to finish.

But let we just speak Nazarbayev’s beautiful words for themselves and not further speak ill of these tremendous reforms. In the extended entry, you can find some of his own words on the Snow Leopard Development Theorem, taken from his late-nineties “Kazakhstan 2030″ strategy. This man should become a poet once he retires in 2013. Read the full story »

Here we present a roundup of the posts that appeared in the blogsphere of Kyrgyzstan for the past 2 weeks.

As political passions subsided Kyrgyz bloggers finally switched from an exclusively political discussion to discussing different issues of interest.

Thus, Alieva on Russian neweurasia discusses the growing popularity of the “national” light drug nasvai. In her investigation she mentions that young people in Central Asia chose nasvai because it’s cheap. Alieva writes :

“One of the reasons of the growing popularity of nasvai is its low price. It can be compared to the price of sunflower seeds. In Kazakhstan for instance you can pay 10 American cents and get a pack of nasvai consisting of 30 portions. In Kyrgyzstan you can purchase the very same pack for only 5 American cents. When nasvai gets transported to Russia its price “skyrockets” as high as $3 for the pack”.

According to Alieva there are various recipes, which are used for preparing nasvai. The most popular components that are normally included are tobacco or the plant, called “nas”, special Central Asian makhorka, slaked lime, plant’s ash, and, as one of the most exotic components, chicken droppings and camel’s excrements. In her post Alieva also warns that the danger of chewing nasvai is underestimated, since according to specialists nasvai consumption can cause far more serious problems such as tongue and lips cancer. Though, it is still one of the post popular drugs in Central Asia where it is called a “hookah for the poor”.

Inga discusses the plan that was recently announced by the Kyrgyz government in the sphere of military cooperation. Thus, according to Kyrgyz officials, the country is ready to export military equipment to Angola, Libya, Eritrea, etc. Inga mentions:

“When I heard about that I started wondering what exactly we were going to export, or, to be precise, whether we still produce or have something left to export”.

When she digs deeper Inga discovers that there are still plenty of things that can be extremely attractive to potential warriors from abroad. She even offers a list of heavy industry factories that potentially can cater military appetites of different parties. The list includes the former factory named after Lenin that in the Soviet times was the bandwagon in terms of producing patrons for famous Kalashnikovs. Inga also mentions about Dastan Corporation that from Soviet times inherited a tradition of producing details and electric devices for military equipment and a joint venture called “Lake” that was renowned as one the main suppliers the details for submarines in the former Soviet Union. There is certain skepticism, though, when it comes to the ability of Kyrgyzstan to become a real competitor when it comes to selling arms. Inga for her post interviewed a former head of the National Guard units Abdigul Chotbaev. Here is one of the quote from his interview:

“ I think Kyrgyzstan will hardly bother to produce military equipments exclusively to cater an order from the small nations that got bogged into internal military skirmishes. We’ll probably be selling them something that has already been used. Though, it’s natural that our government is trying to make this deal legal and is planning to adopt certain laws. I think it’ll be a good deal for us to sell our all everything that is outdated and to spend money on restoring our military industry. Another question is whether we still have everything necessary for that. I personally have a feeling that many things have been sold our even before the decision was officially made ”.

Edil Baysalov in his live journal comments on the dispute about the status and the functions of the State Broadcasting Corporation (GTRK). This TV channel that covers all regions of Kyrgyzstan is a corner stone for the proponents of the concept of state owned television and the advocated of public television. It has recently been announced that in order to reach a compromise on this issue opposing parties decided to create Public Council that could theoretically become an organ for overlooking GTRK. Baysalov is skeptical about this idea. He emphasizes that the Public Council will become a nominal and artificial creature. According to Baysalov: “in will hardly be interfering with the work of GTRK since only the president of Kyrgyzstan will be in control of the official broadcasting ”. Baysalov also mentions that not only political but also business interests intersect when the discussion about the status of the State Broadcasting Corporation starts.

Cross-posted on Global Voices

Astana (Kazakhstan) – Waiting for a bus – photograph taken by Richard Messenger (Many more bus stops here)

While we’re waiting for the bus, why not check out some of this week’s highlights from the Central Asian and Caucasian blogosphere, brought to you bi-weekly by neweurasia?

Web 2.0 in Central Asia
Nathan of The Registan links to a new Youtube video posted by the Kazakhstani US embassy’s spokesman Roman Vassilenko. Taking into account that Mr Vassilenko has commented on blogs before, he might be duly called Kazakhstan’s Cyber Ambassador. In contrast to Kazakhstan’s increasing media savviness, Uzbekistan’s ads on Youtube don’t fare that well. Presenting one of the first-ever podcasts on the region, Bicyclemark interviewed Amanda of ChristianAid about her work in Tajikistan. Read the full story »

Greetings from Kazakhstan. The weather has finally turned cold for good, and a white, snowy blanket stretches from the mountains of Almaty to the northern steppe. My name is Arthur Kennan, and this is the first of what I hope will be many posts on Neweurasia.

First a word of warning: I am not formally trained as a journalist, nor will I be able to reveal many sources, dates, or locations. My position here in Kazakhstan prevents a complete account of myself or my circumstances; though the government is certainly more tolerant here than elsewhere in Central Asia, they keep their eyes firmly on certain foreign nationals. I also live rather far from the two primary news-generating cities (Almaty and Astana), so timely on-the-scenes reporting on most major events is not possible.

My writing will be more experiential. I may also write more in-depth pieces on long-term trends. If either of these writing styles does not suit your tastes or your news-junky desires, I politely suggest you skip over my posts; there are plenty of other great sources of information on this website.

For my first story I feel compelled to relate an incident of about two months ago. For Kazakhstanis it is nothing, but for a foreigner like me it was nothing short of shocking- a police roadblock/shakedown. It was my first face-to-face encounter with corruption in this county, though I am sure it will not be my last. Read the full story »