In another sign that Kazakhstan’s nascent protest movement is withering on the vine, kazaxia has received this photo of a toy protest, allegedly from Almaty.
While toy protests in Russia and Belarus have targeted the authorities, Kazakhstan’s toys seem to be coming out in support of the status quo.
The toys can be seen holding placards proclaiming ” The leader is our leader” and “We love NAN” [possibly a reference to the president’s initials or a flat bread cooked in a tandoor oven].
Here’s a link to an interesting NYT blog featuring the work of Japanese photographer Ikuru Kuwajima. He’s been living in Kazakhstan since late 2010 and has been working on some great projects.
One captures the contrasts between indoor and outdoor life in Astana, Kazakhstan’s chilly capital, and another focuses on the desolation of the Saryshagan Soviet-era anti-ballistic missile testing site on the west bank of Lake Balkhash.
Turkish budget airline Pegasus has started up a twice-weekly Istanbul- Almaty flight, which provides some welcome competition for Air Astana and Turkish Airlines. With prices starting at $200 for a one-way ticket, this twice-weekly service seriously undercuts its main rivals.
A return on Air Astana is from around $550, while a return on Turkish is from around $500, offering a substantial saving. Pegasus offers flights from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen airport on the Asian side on Monday and Thursday, with the return from Almaty leaving on Tuesday and Friday.
Pegasus is a no-frills airline so you don’t get food included for this price. Hot meals or sandwiches can be ordered on board if you can’t wait for Istanbul’s culinary delights or want something reasonably edible before hitting Almaty.
Flying to Istanbul opens up a number of options for those travelling on a budget – Pegasus has cheap flights to many destinations in Turkey and beyond. It flies to 30 destinations worldwide including Beirut, London, Berlin, Paris and Rome.
The organisers of the rally were rounded up before it took place, leaving other activists to lead the protest. Several arrests were made by snatch squads as the authorities came down hard on what it regards as an unsanctioned rally, despite Kazakhstan’s constitution safeguarding the right to free assembly.
This show of strength sent out a strong message that Astana is in no mood to compromise and that it will crush any dissent with an iron fist. Does anyone else sense an air of desperation in these actions, as the powers that be are increasingly backed into a corner with violence and intimidation as the last resort?
Image taken from Ivan Krupchik's blog http://ivan-krupchik.livejournal.com/11965.html
Reports are coming in from Kazakhstan on a crackdown on the sale of children’s toys ahead of the protests planned by opposition groups for Saturday, 25 February. Kazaxia tried to go to the Childrens’ World (Detsky Mir) store in downtown Almaty but found the doors firmly closed on a recent Thursday evening.
The authorities are worried that the toys might fall into the wrong hands after toy demos in Barnaul, Russia and Minsk, Belarus. Observers say that unsanctioned copycat demos, involving toys holding placards showing anti-government slogans, could break out in Kazakhstan unless steps are taken to restrict the sale of toys.
It is likely that Astana will follow Russia’s lead and ban toy rallies as toys are not considered to be citizens of Kazakhstan
“As you understand, toys, especially imported toys, are not only not citizens of Russia but they are not even people,” Andrei Lyapunov, a spokesman for Barnaul, told local media.
When Kazaxia called Detsky Mir to ask for comment on whether they had been told to ban toy sales to those over the age of 13, no-one answered the phone.
With Kazakhstan’s jails already overfilled with opposition figures, imprisoned for upholding their constitutional right to free assembly (via unsanctioned rallies), Astana will be keen not to see over-aged toy purchasers joining them.
With unsanctioned gatherings set to become a feature of the political landscape in Kazakhstan, maybe it’s time for the beleaguered opposition to look to expand its horizons by tapping into some of the methods being used in Russia.
Pussy Riot perform in their trademark day-glo balaclavas (http://pussy-riot.livejournal.com)
Kazaxia was particularly taken with Pussy Riot, the female Russian punk collective, which has played a series of impromptu gigs on Red Square and atop a detention centre and a trolley bus to demonstrate against the men of short stature tandem running the Kremlin.
How about a dombra-wielding collective comprised of feminists from Kazakhstan to shake up the grey suited men of both the authorities and the opposition?
In common with Kazkahstan, Russia also has strict controls on people exercising their constitutional right to free assembly – some witty types in Barnaul came up with a toy protest with toy figures holding mini placards. This has got the authorities wondering whether such a gathering can be classified as ‘unsanctioned’.
Kazakhstan’s crackdown on dissent, which has been unfolding since an ‘unsanctioned’ opposition rally in Almaty on 28 January, has seen performance artist Kanat Ibragimov hauled in to stand trial alongside well-known opposition figures such as Bolat Abilyov, Mukhtar Shakhanov and Gulzhan Yergaliyeva.
Kanat Ibragimov screams for democracy in Almaty on 28 January 2012
Kanat Ibragimov, unlike Bolat Abilov, escaped a prison sentence and was given a fine for daring to take to the podium and call for democracy. In the generally grey world of Kazakh politics, Kanat cuts a colourful figure with his history of protest actions. He posits himself on the side of art rather than politics, but his activities carry an edge that never fails to needle the authorities.
A panda meets an untimely end at the hands of Kanat Ibragimov, Almaty, January 2010
Kazaxia first came across Kanat at a rally in January 2010. The demonstration was protesting Chinese expansionism into Kazakhstan and Kanat’s response was to symbolically decapitate a toy panda. Other actions he has initiated include ‘A Fish Rots from the Head Down‘ in which he savages a fish with an axe on Almaty’s Republic Square. I wonder who the ‘head’ could refer to here?
While Astana can cope with any amount of shouting and barracking from the podium by the usual suspects, Kanat Ibragimov’s humour is an approach that the stilted grey men are ill-equipped to deal with. Fines and prison sentences will only spur this performance artist onto greater things.
In a rare moment of modesty for a member of Kazakhstan’s ruling elite, Aliya Nazarbayeva’s top- end jewellery line, Alsara, is now being promoted in Almaty with an image of a piece from the collection rather than featuring Aliya as a model.
Alsara billboard in downtown Almaty without Aliya Nazarbayeva
Aliya Nazarbayeva teamed up with Italian jewellers Damiani in 2011 to produce Alsara, an exclusive collection of 30 diamond-studded pieces. The brand is a combination of the names of Aliya and her mother Sara and is aimed at Kazakhstan’s high-rollers with prices ranging from 15,000 to 70,000 euros. Here’s how the collection was being promoted.
Aliya Nazarbayeva promotes her Alsara jewellery brand
Kazaxia has received the following contribution from Dr Boris B. Eltway of the Free University of Trans-Dniester Moldavian Republic on the recent election in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan has just been to the polls in what many observers are hailing as a major step forward on the long, rocky road to democracy. In the wake of Nur Otan’s crushing victory Astana is soaking up the plaudits for moving from a one-party parliament to a multi-party one with room being made in parliament for two other parties.
But hang on a minute, this is hardly Myanmar or some such place we’re discussing here. The one-party parliament only came about as no other party was able to exceed the seven percent threshold in 2007’s election. In 2004 Kazakhstan had a multi-party parliament with five political forces represented, including an earlier incarnation of Ak Zhol when it was a genuine opposition party, although it only took up its seat after a split in the party. So is this really a step forward?
Now the president’s party Nur Otan is being kept company by the latest model of Ak Zhol and The Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan (not to be confused with the outlawed Communist Party of Kazakhstan). We have a very cosy little parliament with Ak Zhol a pro-business party, the split-off commies on the left and the center dominated by the party of power. Both the newcomers are pro-presidential – no statements were made in the election campaign to suggest otherwise.
In fact, very few issues were mentioned in the campaign anyway. The elephants in the corner – terrorism and industrial unrest were kept off the agenda and the massacre in Zhanaozen was deftly spun by the state-controlled media as being down to mysterious ‘third forces’ and oil company executives mishandling the situation.
That these two new arrivals are sham opposition parties is not under discussion in Astana – it is enough for the spin doctors and window dressers to merely be able to provide a semblance of a functioning democracy to the outside world.
Real power remains in the hands of one man – no matter how many parties are represented in parliament be they sham or genuine opposition, it remains a toothless, rubber-stamp body that carries out the orders of the executive without question.
The people of Kazakhstan deserve better from their leaders and from their nascent democracy.
Kazaxia has received the following contribution from Britain’s Lord Venal, who was recently in Kazakhstan to observe the parliamentary elections.
I’ve just returned to Venal Towers after another successful observation trip to Kazakhstan (kindly subsidised by Kleptys Oil and Gas (KOG)) and I’d like to share my positive feelings that the election has left me with.
First off I’d like to offer my hearty congratulations to Kazakhstan as it enters an exciting new phase of multi-party democracy. The election itself was very well-managed and went off without a hitch in this vast country that straddles both Europe and Asia.
It was an early start on the Sunday as I was ferried to the nearest polling station from my diggings at the splendid Rixos Hotel. Polling was sluggish in the morning session, but that came as no surprise to me as Sundays are always slow to get off the ground in the Venal household. By the time my minder from KOG suggested a spot of lunch at 12.30 turnout was a somewhat low 6.9%.
After a splendid lunch – hospitality is something that Kazakhstan excels at – I was feeling a bit woozy so I retired to my suite for a quick power snooze. By the time I got back to the polling station at 18.30 there had been a surge in voter activity and the turnout stood at an impressive 79.1%.
The last 90 minutes of voting passed by quickly as we cracked open a few bottles of bubbly to celebrate a good day’s work. Then it was off to the KOG post-election party at a secret location where representatives of Kazakhstan’s high and mighty were schmoozed until the early hours.
When one has been observing elections as long as I have, one sometimes thinks that one has seen it all, but this election threw up a few surprises even for me. As I mentioned in my earlier report from the Presidential election last April, Kazakhstan has a splendid tradition of giving presents to senior citizens and first-time voters – take note Britain!
Some other innovations that could well prove popular in Britain included ‘carousel voting’ where the voters are taken by mini bus to different polling stations and ‘family voting‘ where a representative votes for all the family members.
My only regret is that the next elections in Kazakhstan will not be until 2016. But with KOG’s new contacts made at the post-election bash, I’m sure I will be visiting these shores again in the not too distant future.
(Editor’s note: Lord Venal is a contributor to this blog and his views are not necessarily those of Kazaxia)
Kazaxia 