Postcard from Bishkek

Nowadays we are used to thinking of 9/11 as referring to the events in September 2001, when terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, The Pentagon in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania, (although they were intending to hit either the White House or The Capitol building in Washington).

For the record: 911, of course, is also the telephone number to ring to contact the emergency services in America.  Oddly enough it apparently also works here in Kyrgyzstan, although you don’t get an operator … just a recorded message in three languages telling you the emergency numbers of the Ambulance, Fire, Police and other emergency services here in Bishkek.

The reason for the association is the date, which using the American System of writing dates, (Month, Day, Year … or mm/dd/yy), which gives September 11th, 2001 as 09/11/01.  This is pretty arbitrary and many countries follow what I call the British system,  (Day, Month, Year – or dd/mm/yy), which seems to be a bit more logical, going from the shortest unit of time to the largest … but maybe I think that simply because I am a Brit.

For the record: As it happens the Japanese system, (Year, Month, Day – or yy/mm/dd), is the most logical system as it put the most significant – i.e. the largest – unit of time at the beginning and works downwards to the smallest … this means that it can easily be extended to Hours, Minutes and Seconds and dates represented in this way are easier for computers to handle, (e.g. to sort or to program the time difference between two points of time) … but maybe the reason I say that is because I taught Maths and Computing.

Using what I call the British system of recording dates, 9/11 represents the 9th of November.  At first glance 9th November doesn’t seem to be particularly significant but it so happens that this is one of those days in the year which seem to have attracted a number of significant historical events … especially for the Germans, who call it Schicksalstag, (or “Fateful day”) .

• It was, for example on 9/11/48 (9th November, 1848, that is), that the leader of the Vienna revolts, Robert Blum, was executed. In itself that doesn’t sound significant – but his execution is cited as the symbolic event which indicated the ultimate failure of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.
• It was on 9/11/18, (that is 9th November, 1918), that Kaiser Wilhelm II was dethroned following the Frist World War, and Scheidemann proclaimed the Weimar Republic from the windows of the Reichstag- bringing an end to a system of Monarchy in Germany.
• It was on 9/11/23, (or 9th November, 1923), that the Beer Hall Putsch, took place, marking the emergence of the Nazi Party as an important player on Germany’s political landscape.
• It was on 9/11/38, (9th November, 1938, that is), that synagogues and Jewish property in Germany are burned and destroyed on a large scale, and over 1,300 Jews were killed, and which was to go down in History as Kristallnacht.  For this reason it has been chosen as the day to commemorate the International Day Against Fascism, racism and anti-Semitism.
  

Incidentally,, I was intrigued to see this comment on a Russian website: “Today, the issues of anti-Semitism is on the backburner to the anti-migrant hysteria or the challenge Islamophobia. But the Holocaust is not just a problem of one nation, but an example of the consequences of the policy of “scapegoating” and the belief in the superiority of one nation over others. Therefore, when talking about the crimes of Nazism, we must remember what might be the future if we just do not say, “Never again!” in response to those who propose to limit the rights of one group of people just because, for some reason, they do not like them.“

• It was on 9/11/89, (that is, 9th November, 1989), that the saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, ending German separation and starting a series of events that ultimately lead to German reunification and the Fall of Communism.  This was later chosen as the date for World Freedom Day, declared as a “Federal Observance Day” by President George W. Bush in 2001.

That quote about “scapegoating” was interesting for a number of reasons … although it was from a Russian site and about the situation in that country, it could have been applied to almost any country … for the irony when remembering how important the “fight against fascism” is in all the republics of the former Soviet Union – and yet the same prejudices and behaviours are being repeated … for the groups that were missing as much as the groups that were included.

One of the groups was migrants … most of which come from Central Asia … including Kyrgyzstan.  There have been quite a lot of news reports recently about the fate of those migrants.  Early in the week there were a couple of small rallies held outside the Russian embassy calling for a ban on anti-migrant marches in Russia – both holding with about just 10  or 20 people.

“We are against any nationalist campaigns in the Russian Federation,” commented one of the organizers of one of the rallies where the protesters held banners declaring : “We are for Peace without Racism“.  ”Today, the lives of migrants from Kyrgyzstan is in danger, the various nationalist groups often attack people from Caucasus and Asia, beat them up, and often kill them but the police and the authorities do nothing. We want there was no ethnic and racial harassment in Russia”.

The parliament are also taking up the fate of those migrants … the deputies have apparently prepared an appeal to the Russian Duma about the situation. the measures being proposed or implemented against them.

Am I alone in thinking that, once again, there a hint of irony in  all of that.

 

There were some other protests during the week … one outside the White House, again attracting just ten or so people,  These were relatives of recruits who have died whilst completing their military service.  Apparently there are over 100 such cases each year … and many of them, according to the protesters, were suicides – which they blamed on  what is known in the West as “hazing”; bullying and extortion.

Recruits aren’t the only young people to commit suicide … by the end of the week the Prime Minister was publicly reprimanding the Ministries of Education and the Interior about the number of youths that had been driven to taking their own lives … once again, he said, driven by extortion and racketeering.  In the former times, (which basically is taken here to mean in the days of the Soviet Union), people would be punished for the loss of a lamb … “but these are children!” he is reported to have complained … demanding that they do something to stop the rising trend.

There was a third group in the news, which appears to have seen a rise in early deaths – but not suicides and these are not likely to be objects of sympathy – even if they too are, as they claim, subjects of bribery and extortion – Prisoners who fall terminally ill whilst in detention.  Apparently there has been an increase in the number of deaths among inmates leading to complaints about the red tape and bribery – in order to receive medication or even a diagnosis.

 

If all that sounds depressing, it is nice to have some more positive news to report … some of it a little surprising.

 

We were warned that on the 7th, (a public holiday here – the Anniversary of the October Revolution in 1917 … yes, I know it’s already November, but back in 1917 Russia was still operating on the  Julian Calendar), there would be some more explosions – but these wouldn’t be part of a Revolution … the Americans at the Transit Base were going to be disposing of some ordinance and wanted to reassure the local population in advance.  As it happens, here in Bishkek we didn’t hear a thing.

Apart from the military, there are a number of airlines that use Manas airport – 18 of them based in Kyrgyzstan, 6 offering passenger services (although the report concentrated on somestic operators and seems to have avoided foreign airlines that fly into and out of the airport).  As a result, it wasn’t clear if the other statistics quoted (207 flights a month on 38 routes to 25 different countries, and a 30% increase in passengers) referred just to flights operated by these operators, or if it was a grand total.

What seemed to be the most intriguing report was a suggestion that Kazakhstan has offered their Kyrgyz cousins a chance to enter the Space Race … that is, the chance to rent space on one of their satellites in order to work on telecommunications – remember, the mobile phone market is more than saturated … there are more cell phones in the country than people.

Another example of cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, this time the offer came from the Kyrgyz and was a bit more down to earth – to cooperate on developing fisheries.  As it happens, I wrote a postcard about fisheries recently.

 

The economic news this week has been a little mixed … one estimate put the unofficial shadow economy accounts for something like 50% of all the activity in the country.  I always get worried when I see these reports … because it’s not clear to me how they define the “shadow economy”.

For example, apparently, only about 60% of all registered taxpayers actually submit reports to the authorities  … but then the tax system includes a special category  for those who pay taxes by buying what’s called a patent – they pay a one-off sum, which is based on a presumption of the amount they are likely to earn, and (unless they make so much that they cross the VAT threshold), that clears them of their tax obligations, the need to keep accounts and to submit reports.

The more worrying aspect of this and other stories was that tax and social security payments are down, so much so that the Head of the tax administration has come in for some heavy criticism for meeting .

Oddly enough, in the World Bank survey, Doing Business, Kyrgyzstan improved its position by 41 places in the category “paying taxes” – coming in 127th place (out of 189).  Their analysis suggested that an average company makes some 41 tax payments a year … that seems a little low to me, although not by much.  The preparation of the reports, however, is a pretty mammoth task.

Anyway, the authorities have designed a new tax reporting form … Hmmmm … I wonder what that means we have in store.

Interestingly, when it comes to the debate on the Customs Union, one analysis reported that most of the country’s exports went to CIS countries whereas most of the imports came from WTO member countries.  Now, that’s an interesting imbalance.      

As an aside on the question of the Customs Union … if one week, one country says it doesn’t see the point in joining the organization, next week another expresses interest – in this case Turkey ….  Turkey?!

 

It seems that some of the on-going stories have also seen developments.  In the case of Kumtor, the Minister of the Economy tells us that if the mine had produced 18 tons of gold as per the original plan, that would amount to something like 10% of the economy.  Unfortunately, a few things happened that interfered with their production schedule … now a new team from Centerra has arrived for further discussions with the government … lets hope that we get some progress before the New Year … if the BBC are to be believed, then there is a risk of the mine being nationalized.

Another story, that of Maxim Bakiev, also catapulted back into the headlines with the news that lawyers have deposited papers in New York seeking his prosecution in an American court.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the week, however, came when it was revealed that the American Rap star, Nelly, had made an appearance in Bishkek.  

The fact that I am not exactly a fan of Rap Music would probably explain why I got caught out by the news … flashed to me from the States over Facebook … “shocking news” said my correspondent.  My first thought was that something terrible had happened – she did say, “Shocking news” … but a quick look at the news agency websites soon put me right – there was even a clip of him arriving at the venue under police guard and then appearing on stage at one of Bishkek’s nightclubs, where he gave a half hour performance including some of his best known songs … not that I was any the wiser when I saw the list.

As was so typical of life here in Bishkek – here I was getting news of what is supposed to have been one of the biggest musical events to happen in Bishkek … after the event.   I may not have been alone in that … there doesn’t seem to have been any advance advertising … one of the reports that I saw said that every one in the audience was surprised to see him … however,  a little bit of searching and I found a couple of sites offering tickets for sale at something like USD150 and USD200 each – something like 7000 to 9000 soms.  That’s a huge price for tickets here … several times higher than for other major stars – although the ones that usually come here are from Russia.

I am not sure how he was persuaded to come to Bishkek … apparently he had been booked to give a concert in Almaty, (a private function – invitation only – even the American establishment seemed to be surprised with the announcement on youtube), and the “organizers” arranged for him to call into Bishkek as well.

Actually Rap and Hip-hop are quite popular here, with a number of local, home grown performers.  I am told by people who know about this sort of thing, (I confess my ignorance and will have to take their word for it), that they are quite good.

The interesting thing is that most “foreign stars” like this are brought here as part of a cultural showcase organized by the respective embassy or agency … for British Week or French Week, or as part of the American Corners programme, or as guests of the Transit Base … but they don’t seem to have any more aware of the impending visit than I was.  It seems to have been a “privately arranged” affair.

 

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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:

Tags: Calendar, In_the_News, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards