Red and Black
A few years ago. when I was living in London, a friend of mine had his mother visiting from New Zealand and he wanted to take to see a West End show. He selected a few and I asked if I would like to join them to go and and see one of them and I happily agreed.
He actually bought tickets for two, Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat and Les Miserables. Although I was happy to go and see Joseph, as I thought it would be cheerful and upbeat, I was a bit more apprehensive about his second choice. I didn’t know much about the show, but had read the book, (or at least an abbreviated version of it), several years before and found it pretty hard going.
Some of my colleagues, however, had already seen it and assured me that I would enjoy it, so I felt a little easier despite my doubts.
For those who haven’t seen either the film or the stage version – it is pretty well done. I have to admit that I was entranced as the scenes transformed from one to the other. The music was all new to me but there were many memorable good tunes and lots of stirring moments. One of them takes place in the ABC café, (in the novel, which was, of course, in French, the name of the group is a pun on “Les Amis de l’abaissé“, the friends of the “debased”, or “lower class” … that is, “the people”). A group of revolutionary students gather and Enjolras, their leader, urges on them on and turning to the hero, Marius, berates him for his apparent indecision:
It is time for us all
To decide who we are
Do we fight for the right
To a night at the opera now?
Have you asked of yourselves
What’s the price you might pay?
Is it simply a game
For rich young boys to play?
The color of the world
Is changing day by day…
The song has the striking refrain:
Red – the blood of angry men!
Black – the dark of ages past!
Red – a world about to dawn!
Black – the night that ends at last!
Here is a clip of that chorus from youtube:
The colours Red and Black have a long association with revolutionary politics … such as the Black flag of the Anarchists and the Red banner of the Communists.
Here, the colours Red and Black have other connotations – especially in the world especially in the murky underworld.
Shortly after we had opened the Silk Road Lodge, I was asked by someone at a function who our krisha was – Red or Back? It struck me as an odd question but. as it happens, the hotel has a red roof, and I was about to answer “red” when I realized that, in Russian, the word krisha doesn’t just mean roof … it has a second meaning.
It is also used to refer to a “protector” – someone in authority who knows people and can pull stings on your behalf. They clear away obstacles and made a “clear road” – Ak Jol, a white way – if problems arise with the tax inspection or some other body then a quick phone call will bring a car load of people ready to deal with any situation … well, almost any.
“Could he be referring to this sort of krisha?”, I asked myself … but if he was, then the rest of the question was lost on me … so, I played innocent and asked if he had seen the hotel – surely he had noticed what colour the roof was. He took my play of innocence as a joke – as he did my protestations that we did not have one – that we did not pay for “protection ” … I had to explain that it was not “good business” and that we preferred to try and abide by all the rules and regulations – which, to be honest isn’t always easy as they seem to fraught with “potholes” to trip up the unwary – and that we try to avoid “problems”by “working by the book”.
I still had to ask him to explain the difference between Red and Black, and this is more or less how he put it: if your “companion” or “protector” is someone who works in the police, law enforcement or other official agency, then they are a Red krisha … but if it is just rebyata – “guys”, fit athletic looking ”sportsmen“, “gang members” … members of am OPG, (an abbreviation for Organised Criminal Gang), then that’s an example of a Black krisha.
I was reminded of this conversation the other day when I was looking through a copy of the local newspaper, Vecherniye Bishkek - Evening Bishkek, and saw an article with the headline Red and Black.
It seems that the police chief in Osh has forbidden his men to “sit with criminals, not only at the same table, but in the same café”. He called on all law enforcement operatives to “break off all relations with the “black“”.
He suggested that it was not always possible to tell the police from others in the criminal world – with their “cool shaved necks” and keys to the BMW, (but that wasn’t a slur on the German car manufacturers – just a reference to the preference for expensive and “showy” cars).
As a result, he said, people weren’t sure which they feared the most – the Red or the Black.
Perhaps the police chief had in mind the saying that, “you know a man by the company he keeps”. It certainly seems to be an issue on people’s minds recently …
It’s not just a question for police officers … Last year an politician was accused of impropriety, or worse, because he happened to be stay at the same resort in Issyk Kul as a prominent and well known member of an OPG. Although they saw each other, he said, there was no other communication between them.
Also, not long ago the Prime Minister also spoke about law enforcement officials who own cafés and associate with prostitutes, saying that he considered it was inappropriate.
As it happens, the question of police and other officials associating with criminals is not unique to Kyrgyzstan … there have been stories in the press in recent years with police and officials who have been charged with “conduct unbecoming” … or worse, and it’s a common theme in books and films.
The journalist who write the wrote the article seemed to me to be a little cynical about the likelihood of success of the Police Chief’s warning to his officers. He suggests that there have been counter cases brought by dismissed or disciplined offers to challenge their punishments, winning their case and being reinstated … just as in the US, for example, police officers charged with such “unbecoming conduct” and associating with known criminals have sometimes been able to use such defenses as the right of “free association” granted by the First Amendment to the Constitution; that the connections involved “family associations”; that they were on a “”self assigned” undercover operation” or that they were “developing informants”.
Bishkek