Postcard from Bishkek

The Prague Spring began on a winter’s day – 5th January, 1968 - when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected the First Secretary of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.  It continued until 21 August when the Soviet Union and all members of the Warsaw Pact, (with the notable exception of Romania), invaded the country to halt the reforms.

I was an impressionable teenager at the time, just 14 going on 15, and it wasn’t until much later that the momentous events in Central Europe, (as Neville Chamberlain said at the time of the Munich crisis?: “a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing”), came to my attention.  By that point the Soviet tanks were already across the border and on their way to quell what they saw as a disruptive influence.

I remember one particular photograph which seemed to hit the right note in those days of “flower power” … hippies and the Peace Movement … protesters surrounding a tank, arguing with the Soldiers, “Why have you done this? Why have you come?, Why are you here?”, and placing daffodils in the gun barrels.  I have tried to find it since – but it doesn’t seem to be in any of the on-line archives … perhaps I dreamed it.

Anyway, over the years I have met several Czechs, including one who told me that he saw the columns of tanks advancing on the capital and stood by in bemused confusion … “How could this be happening?”

The subject came because he was the director of a tour company and I had mentioned the fact that the young Alexander Dubček grew up here in Bishkek, (or Frunze, as it was then called).  His parents were devout socialists who joined Interhelpa, a group of Czechs who answered Vladimir Ilyich’s (Lenin’s) call to the Socialists of the world to come and help develop the fledgling Soviet Union and build a Socialist paradise here on earth.

The Prague Spring was to have considerable repercussions … not only in the immediate affect it was to have on international relations.  Just as Nikita Khrushchev’s experiences during the Second World War gave him a hatred and fear of war so that he would later do almost anything to avoid another – including backing down in the face of US brinkmanship over Soviet missiles in Cuba, The Prague Spring had a similar effect on one young Russian, who was sent to Czechoslovakia to help with the reconstruction and re-education of the masses.  The reception that he and his fellow Russians received, (people going silent and turning their backs on them), was to have a lasting effect on him which he says he never forgot and helped to shape his future thinking … his name?: Mikhail Gorbachev.

The story is a fascinating one and the accounts in Dubček’s autobiography are well worth reading …

I wonder if Alexander would recognize Bishkek today.  Although a few of the buildings that the Interhelpa group built still exist, he left long before most of the buildings in the current city center were constructed … the classical Opera and Ballet Theater, the marble clad buildings of the Main Ala Too Square, the modern apartment blocks and shopping centers.

When I google for places where I lived back in Britain, (for example: Malvern, Oxford or Southgate), I am often amazed at how little it all seems to have changed … at least it is Church Street seems to look just as I remember it did.  There’s a clip on youtube of a car driving along the street where the house where I was born and grew is … it’s only one and a half minutes long, but the years of reminiscences that it evoked were incredible.

The kids were enthralled when I showed them, crying out, “Look, that the house where I was born!”  It’s only an ordinary suburban road but they enthused about it, commenting on how different it looked compared to Bishkek.  (There are, incidentally, some similar clips taken in Bishkek which are worth a look …).

There’s one thing he wouldn’t have seen.  This week saw the opening of a new museum in Bishkek: A museum of Radio and Television has opened in the building or the public broadcaster OTRK.   The exhibits will provide an archive of material covering the development of the media in the country since the 1930′s – featuring characters, documents, photos and awards as well as equipment.

It’s not just the physical look of the city, I think he would be astounded at the brightness of the city – lit by electric light … well, when we have electricity, that is.  They tell us that the repairs at the Toktogul power station are almost complete and the power cuts will soon stop … we are all hoping that this will be a prediction that will be fulfilled.   Certainly, we in the city center have experienced fewer power cuts this week.

We are all breathing a sigh of relief because the Meteorological Service have predicted that we won’t be experiencing abnormally cold temperatures in January, as we did last month.   The night of December 19th/20th was recorded as as one of the coldest for many years – probably since 1966 – with temperatures dropping to -28 degrees.   Next month, daytime temperatures in Northern Kyrgyzstan are likely to range from -12 to +2, dropping at night to anywhere between -7 and -23 … but those are, more or less, in line with seasonal norms.  Down South and up at Issyk Kul, the temperatures are expected to climb, possibly, as high as 8 degrees.  We are all hoping that this will be another prediction that will be fulfilled.

There is still a shock waiting in store for us … as, although Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have agreed how much gas they are going to supply us this year, they still haven’t decided on the price they are going to charge us … talks are still in progress.  I’m not sure that I feel too confident about the outcome.

These have been just an indication of “shortcomings” and “inconveniences” people have experienced during the last year and the Prime Minister took the unusual step of “apologizing” to the country, “on behalf of the government”, for these in his New Year’s Message, saying that they had learned “a lesson from these mistakes” and promised that there would be changes which will yield “noticeable” results, the economy would be more “effective” and that things are “sure to change for the better”.  Somehow, I doubt if anything like that  humility and frankness would have happened in Alexander’s day.

New Year proved to be a exciting time … in more ways than one.  The Muftiyat, the supreme Islamic religious authority in the country had issued a fatwa calling on devout Muslims to ignore the celebrations as they had nothing to do with Islam.  I suppose that some of the faithful might have been swayed by such a call, but the majority of the population seem to have been well and truly involved … with firework displays that were bright, loud and spectacular as usual – although some people tell me that they thought they weren’t as long as usual.  I can’t comment on that, I don’t know because I wasn’t there … not because the holiday “has nothing to do with my religion” but simply because I had already gone to bed and managed to sleep through the festivities.

I am not sure how much was spent on the Salut, (firework display), but apparently the one in Osh cost 2,3 million som, (that’s  almost USD49,000, EUR39,000 or GBP33,000).  There area couple of clips of the display here and here … the first one is about twenty minutes long and starts and ends with speeches, (in Kyrgyz – so I only caught a few words and phrases – from the Mayor of Osh), and the second is about eight minutes … the music isn’t bad and the crowds seem to enjoy it – they signs of guilt at ignoring the Muftiyat’s fatwa.  Anyway,  you can have a look and judge for yourself if you think it was worth it.

Those fireworks caused a number of problems – not just disturbing some people’s sleep … but fortunately not mine – I was in a deep and sound slumber.  It seems that “careless handling” of fireworks was the cause of several fires – sixteen around the country … destroying a food warehouse and over thirty tons of hay.  Apparently thirty people were hurt in incidents with fireworks.  I wonder if the Muftiyat will resort to saying: “Told you so!”

As a result of the fires there has been a bit of a backlash with calls for those responsible for violations in the regulations to be identified and punished and for the authorities to crack down on implementing the existing regulations.  Mind you, I seem to remember similar outcries in the past – so I wonder if anything will really change.

The main Ala Too Square had to cleared of seventy cubic meters of waste after the celebrations.  Fortunately, the council had plenty of  staff and vehicles on call to deal with the situation.  There were 500 people involved in the clean up throughout the city – fifty of them in the square.

There were lots of police on the streets during the festivities as well; something like as thousand of them.  Even so, the authorities recorded 95 crimes during the night … but didn’t see any breakdown to indicate what they were … so, I suppose, some of them might well have been simply cases of “Drunk and Disorderly”.

The police are claiming some other successes over the new year, saying that they have detained members of a criminal gang which had, after studying the daily routines of family members, been blackmailing and threatening the owners of private businesses .

Apart from the New Year celebrations it has been quite a quiet week with most of the offices closed … virtually everywhere was closed on New Year’s Day but because Monday is also a holiday, (Orthodox Christmas – I presume the Muftiyat won’t want devout Muslims commemorating that either), the government decreed that whole week was a holiday with the working days being transferred to Saturdays over a four week period.

It’s caused us a bit of a problem because we have a burst water main in one of the outbuildings outside our office.  I discovered it on Thursday and we called the Water Board who refused to come out “… it’s in your building – it’s your problem!”, (that’s not their exact words, but that’s what they meant).  We kept calling them and they eventually agreed to come … and although I waited for them in the office, no-one turned up all over the weekend.  There’s probably no chance that anyone will come out now until Tuesday at the earliest.

News broke during the week that a Russian delegation visited Bishkek at the end of December in order to discuss the future of Manas airport … presumably once the Americans leave the airbase there in 2014, although the base wasn’t mentioned in the official reports.    The Russians haven’t been very happy that the base is here and it is generally accepted that the shenanigans of the previous regime, (promising to evict the base and then changing their mind and coming to an arrangement to allow it to remain), helped to lead up to the 2010 revolution.  President Atambaev’s opinions about the future of the airbase are well known:  he is prepared to honour the existing agreement but thinks that the base is “dangerous” because it could be a target in the event of a conflict between the States and another country, and so it should be transformed into a civilian transport hub once the current agreement expires.  Anyway, apparently, discussions were held with the Russians about the creation of a “joint logistical center”.

Kyrgyzstan and Russia have fairly close relationships based on historical as well as geographical ties.  One difference between the two countries came to light during the week.  According to a survey carried out by an Italian researcher,  Vincenzo Cosenza, based on data from the web analytical company Alexa, the internet users of the two countries tend to favour different social networks.  Whereas some countries like Iran, China … and Russia, resist the temptations of Facebook and have their own national social networks (Cloob, QZone and VKontakt respectively), and other countries like Uzbekistan is also trying to create their own alternative … Kyrgyzstan falls in line with 126 other countries, (out of the 137 countries considered in the analysis), in preferring Facebook.

Interestingly, as a sign of how things are constantly changing, one of the news websites published a draft bill on bookmaking and betting in the Kyrgyz Republic, which received its first reading in the parliament back in November!).  This would appear to allow casinos to operate in the country once more, although under fairly strict control.  I don’t think the Muftiyat will be impressed!

The results were released this week of the Quality of Life Index conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit.  It was billed as an attempt to answer the question: “But which country will be the best for a baby born in 2013?”

They surveyed 80 countries around the world, using some eleven different variables, (material wellbeing; life expect­ancy at birth; the quality of family life; the state of political freedoms; job security; climate; personal physical security; quality of community life; governance and gender equality – some more detail can be found here.), to produce a combined score in the range of 1 to 10.   Coming out on top of the list was Switzerland with a score of 8.22, followed by Australia (8.12), and Norway, (8.09).    The United States came in at 16th equal, (7.38), and Britain at 27th place, (7.01).   Russia was ranked 72, (5.31), just a little ahead of Kazakhstan, (5.2).  Nigeria was at the bottom of the table in 80th place with a score of 4.74  … but that’s where the table ended … where, I wondered, were the other 50 countries … Where was Kyrgyzstan?

That sounds all too familiar.  It’s a question that my family and frineds, colleagues and pupils asked me when I first came here almost eighteen years ago.  I can imagine the young Alexander asking the same question back in the 1920′s when his parents decided to up sticks and move here.

 

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Postcard from Bishkek: the weekly postcard that I send out as an email also gets posted on the website ianbek.kg each week – and there are other postcards which don’t get sent out.  This week, for example, there has been the following postcards:

• Silk Road Lodge panorama – Restaurant - continuing the series of spherical panoramas taken by Victor at the hotel, I share some thoughts about the importance of the Restaurant to our business – 30/12/12
• Muslim clerics ban “New Year” in Kyrgyzstan - on New Year’s Eve, I look at a recent call to Muslims in Kyrgyzstan from the Muftiat to ignore the festivities – 31/12/12
• • December Postcards -  piece of housekeeping, a list of postcards posted during the month – 31/12/12
  • Postcards – 2012 - another piece of housekeeping, a list of postcards published throughout last year – 31/12/12
• Some Inspiration for New Year’s Resolutions - it’s the time when we look back over the past year and make resolutions about what we might do differently in the one to come … so I look at some of the inspirational things that have come my way recently - 01/01/13
• Relics – Peter and Fevronia - After some delay, the relics of two more saints are delivered to Bishkek … but, just who were Peter and Fevronia – 02/01/13
• Kemin Earthquake – 1911 - On January 3rd, 1911 – Kemin experienced what was probably one of the strongest to ever strike at the center of a continent – 03/01/13
• Saying “Hello” - It’s not easy getting acquainted in Kyrgyzstan – 04/01/13

It is now possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg and Kyrgyz Diary), and on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

 

 

Tags: Expat, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards