1984

June 8th, 2013 Sections: Life In Kyrgyzstan, News, Weekly_Postcards

An iconic image of 1984

Some time ago I saw a list of 100 novels that everyone should read … I wasn’t sure how to feel when I realized that I had only read 31 of them.  It didn’t worry me too much because this sort of list is always very personal, subjective, and riddled with value judgments.

One of those that I had actually read was Number 21 on the list: 1984 by George Orwell – “In which Big Brother is even more sinister than the TV series it inspired.”

It’s a dystopian novel – describing a society that is far from ideal – that is, far from being Utopian – and frightening, even.  Describing a totalitarian invasive society which is recognizably arising of postwar Britain, (whilst, at the same time, providing a swiping blow at authoritarian regimes such as Nazi Germany and The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin), it has become synonymous with totalitarian political societies, secret surveillance, official deception and the manipulation of history.

Orwell originally set his story in 1980, well and truly in the future, but not so far as to be remote.  There is a theory that when he finished the book and sent manuscript off to the publisher  in December 1948, he simply reversed the last two digits of the year.  (It finally hit the bookshops on 8th June, 1949.)

I suppose an enterprising Kyrgyz author might try the same with 2013 … producing a novel of what life in Bishkek in 2031 might be like … now that might be an interesting read – but I doubt if many people would really like to stick their necks out and make too predictions … either because they might prove to be so unrealistic or because they might come to have more than a grain of truth in them, (like Orwell’s?).

After all, as I have mentioned before, the former British Prime Minister is supposed to have noted that even “a week is a long time in politics” … who would have thought, just a week ago, that the protests in Issyk Kul and Djalal Abad would have been resolved (well … not exactly resolved – that has a sense of finality – but, at least, that tempers would have died down sufficiently for some sort of uneasy peace would have broken out) …  or that Parliament would have agreed to grant an extension to the government to negotiate with the Centerra company … or that the the Centrerra Company would be proposing a restructuring including the creation of a new Joint Venture …

It wasn’t all “plain sailing”, however, with the protesters in Djalal Abad switching between complaining about the Kumtor mine, the continuing detention of certain politicians, especially compared to the treatment accorded to “King Pins” of organized crime – one of whom is recorded apparently living the Life of Riley – albeit within the confines of a penal colony, and another released in short order and flown out of the country.  (That last case has been the subject of much debate – and has cost at one official his job – but that may not be sufficient to satisfy the protesters).

They’ve been busy blocking the main Bishkek-Osh highway, (basically, the ONLY North-South highway in the country) … then removing the blockade only to reimpose it later, maybe somewhere else.  There was a scandal because they wouldn’t let through a cargo of “humanitarian aid” for children, and another because farmers were losing business because they couldn’t get their produce to distant markets.  To make matters worse there were stories of them threatening to burn down the oblast administration building … with a picture of rows of Molotov Cocktails sitting on a windowsill – “just in case”.  Fortunately, the case didn’t arise.

The Prime Minister took a trip down to Djalal Abad where he met with protesters, and by all accounts it was a fiery meeting.  The residents had appointed a local businessman as a “people’s” governor, but he was arrested and brought to Bishkek – later released and then arrested again.

Having said that, the situation had calmed down sufficiently for the State of Emergency to be lifted … for the parliament to cancel their planned Emergency debate on the recent events leading up to it … and for Kumtor to announce that they were able to resume work.

Although an uneasy peace may have descended, that’s not necessarily the end of the story, by any means.  As one person commented to me, “The Commission reported and found all sorts of infringements; environmental, corruption … but nothing’s happened.”   I also heard a radio discussion where one speaker was complaining and asking “Why does the government work so slowly?”  When someone put the same question to me and I replied that nothing is simple, that the government actually face a very difficult situation and the wheels of government work slowly all over the world … they weren’t impressed.  There is still an underlying sense of impatience in the air.

However, all is quiet, although there’s talk of more deadlines, so I suppose it’s another case of “let’s wait and see.”

 

Meanwhile there is continuing speculation about the possible role being played by the Bakiev’s … prompted in part by an interview the former President gave, (his first for two years since his ouster),  in which he criticized those who replaced him … leading an official spokesman to declare that the Bakiev’s were “hoping for a change of power in Kyrgyzstan.”

Oddly enough, there have been counter claims that the government have engineered the whole situation in order to force through things that they couldn’t do otherwise … particularly postponing a decision on what to do about Kumtor – which, incidentally, has been one of the outcomes.

 

One of the concerns being expressed last week was the likely effect of all of this on the coming tourist season.  We had be hoping for an impressive growth of about 30% this year on last.  However, last week there was talk about a cancellation rate from Russia and Kazakhstan for bookings at the resorts on Lake Issyk Kul of something like 70% … although that seems to be have been overstating the case.  As I understand it there have been some cancellations, but requests are still coming in and the Economy Minister may yet be proved right when he said that it’s too early to tell.

He accepts the the rallies, protests and road blocks and so will have had some effect, and made an appeal for people to “learn the lesson”.  Some of the highest people in the land, (that is the President and the Prime Minister, no less), have said that the protesters should be be may to pay compensation for the economic disruption they have caused … but I suspect it will be difficult to quantify and doesn’t fit in with the law banning such actions that was passed last year.

In fact, there seems to be another factor which may have a surprisingly serious impact on the season … most of Kyrgyzstan’s tourists come from Kazakhstan heading for the “sun, sand and sea” – well lake, (that is, up to Issyk Kul).  Now there are visa requirements – and people have been able to cross the border on basic identity documents (known as National Passports) and haven’t needed a full passport.  For Children, until the age of 16 when they can be issued with a passport, the basic identity document was a birth certificate.  Earlier this year, however, Russia and Kazakhstan adopted a law saying that children would only be allowed to cross the border on the basis of a full passport – for example, being included on their parent’s passport.  No-one really paid much attention the law came into force, on June 1st.  It all came to light when families turned up at border looking forward to their holidays and were surprised when they were not allowed to proceed any further … because the only identity document they had for their children was a birth certificate.

 

In the past, price rises have often provided a stimulus for further protests … indeed hikes in electricity tarifs was cited as one of the catlysts, (“the straw that broke the camel’s back”), that led to the 2010 revolution.  This week, we were told this week of another measure that may prove just as unpopular – as parliament set about considering proposals to raise excise taxes on tobacco as from next year, (an increase of 2 som on a pack of cigarettes … just over 5 cents, or about 3 pence).  Smoking is very common here and one MP even claimed that the measure would raise something like 1.9 billion som for the government’s coffers – rising to 3 billion by 2016 … which, he says, is more than the Manas Transit base brings in!

 

Kyrgyz aviation has also been in the news … Lithuania having rescinded rights of a Kyrgyz airline to use Kaliningrad airport causing flights to be suspended.  The authorities say it’s a temporary measure for technical reasons and the situation will be regularized shortly so that flights can resume.

More serious was the news that the US Treasury have identified a Kyrgyz based airline as one of those helping Iran “move suspected illicit cargo” to support President Assad in his civil war in Syria – leasing and selling aircraft to Tehran’s Mahan Air which has been blacklisted since October 2011.  They’s imposed sanctions preventing US citizens and residents from dealing with either the company concerned or its Kyrgyz director.

 

There was an interesting piece on the internet about such issues as the treatment of criminals … those of the Tony Soprano, Godfather,  ilk rather then the likes of Norman Stanley Fletcher, of Porridge fame; on the inequities between rich and poor revealed in Bishkek’s construction boom; on the clan politics of the Kyrgyz elite; and the problems that are still simmering away on the Kyrgyz Tajik border and in the nine enclaves that can be found in the Ferghana valley … but, perhaps, more about those particular stories another time.

 

Regular readers of my postcards will know about my penchant for statistics … well, here’s one that caught my eye this week.  In Bishkek at the moment there are something like 300,000 vehicles that pass through the city every day, (in fact, according to official statistics there are 890532 vehicles registered in the city), but the roads were originally designed to cater for just 40,000.

Sometimes it certainly feels as if there are too many vehicles in the city center … I am reminded of another statistic that, at the start of the twentieth century the average speed of transport in London, (most of it horse drawn of course), was just 11 miles an hour, (or just under 18 kilometers an hour).  At the end of the century the average speed of vehicles, (also measured in horsepower – but driven by petrol or diesel  engines), was … you guessed it … just 11 miles an hour.  Even if we had progressed a long way in a hundred years in one sense, in another we had just been struggling to stand still.  As the Kyrgyz author Chinghiz Aitmatov noted in the title of one his most famous books – “The day lasts longer than a hundred years“.

As it happens, sometimes it feels as if it would be nice to actually reach 11 miles an hour … the traffic can be so snarled up with constant stops at traffic lights, or brought to a standstill as a motorcade carrying some VIP passes.  It can be difficult to find somewhere to park.  The shopping Center over the road has a crew of black coated security men, armed with batons and whistles, whose job seems to be simply to blow the whistles and wave the traffic on instead of stopping just outside the Mall.  Quite often we have a problem trying to get in or out of our yard because someone has parked across the gate and gone off shopping … the driver of the vehicle trying to enter or exit through the gateway can no nothing but sit in his vehicle with his hand on the horn, (competing with the shrill whistles of the “security” guards opposite), and wait until the errant driver deigns to reappear and move off.

 

Another interesting statistic was the internet penetration has now passed the half way point – well, just, at 51%.  Most of the coverage (70%) is currently located in the larger cities, but according to some research, a lot of people access the internet through their mobile phones – and Kyrgyzstan has more registered mobile phones than people.    The Deputy Prime Minister noted that “there are no censorship or other limitations in the country’s Internet network … and we should provide quality Internet accession for every citizen of the country.”

 

Perhaps the oddest statistic was that most of the foreign direct investment into the country in the first quarter of the year came from … believe it or not, Canada … followed by the combined CIS countries, (particularly Azerbaijan – that was a bit of a surprise – Kazakhstan and Russia), Cyprus (another surprise, especially given the problems they are having), the UK and the States … which only just outstripped the level of  investments made in the US from Kyrgyzstan!, (but there were no details in the report about what those were).   Most of that investment seems to directed to the capital, Bishkek, (no surprise there), followed by Issyk Kul, (which is presumably to do with developments of tourist resorts) and Djalal Abad …

I am not sure if the level of British interest and investment in the country is a reflection of the new embassy,  that had its official opening this week, which is being marked by a week of special events including a film

 

Finally, for those who follow these things … I have a new kitten in my life.  That makes six, now.  One cat wanders off and disappears, not to be seen again, whilst another wanders off for days at a time and then seeing one of us in the street turns and follows them back home to be fed, and to sleep.  The other day I happened to be in the yard talking to a friend when we saw a kitten jumping in and out of the irrigation channel which runs along the side of the street.  It can’t have been more than a month old – a tabby with terribly appealing eyes and a voracious appetite.  We have tried to find a home for her but, because everyone wants a Tom cat and not a Jenny, nobody seems want to her.  Most of the other cats tolerate her as just another stray who seems to have wandered in although one of the younger ones was a little aggressive towards her to begin with, (which I put down to jealousy), but after the odd fracas seems to have accepted her.

She spends a lot of her time sitting on my lap and preventing me from typing.  At least she has stopped climbing on my shoulders and chewing by ears, but she still tries to climb up my trouser legs to get onto my lap.

I’m still looking for a home for her, before she settles in and becomes another one of the family … so if anyone here in Bishkek wants a sweet lovable and affectionate kitten – you know where to apply.

 

_______________________________________

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:

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

Tags: , , ,
Write comment
Comment closed.