Postcard from Bishkek

One of the iconic films of the twenty century was released in 1942, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergamn (In the original postcard I said Lauren Bacall – well, as I have said before … we all make mistakes!) – Casablanca.   At the time, nobody really expected the film to amount to much – it was a good script with a star-studded cast, but was just one of dozens of films being turned out of Hollywood each year.  Based on an unstaged play, with numerous changes and adaptations being made even as filming was underway which created difficulties in keeping to the filming schedule.  Humphrey Bogart was playing his first “romantic lead” role, and nobody really knew what audience reaction to expect.  Originally planned for 1943, the film’s release was brought forward in order to cash in on the recent Allied invasion of North Africa but it probably didn’t any help to ensure success.  It accumulated three Oscars but that was only the beginning of the accolades.  As time went by, it won a following that spanned the generations and is frequently included, (near the top of the list), of list of the greatest films ever made.

The line most people associate with the film is Bogart telling Sam, the pianist, “Play it again, Sam” – but he never actually said it.  What he said was “You played it for her, now play it for me.  Play it.”  The song that he wants Sam to Play, and  which is always identified with the film, is “As time goes by”, written by Herman Hupfield in 1931.  Bogart and Bergman’s characters had a romantic encounter in German occupied Paris and it was “their song”, but Bergman abandoned Bogart at the railway station as they planned to run away together.  Bogart forbids Sam to ever play it again, until, that is, “of all the Gin joints in all the world,” Bergman walks into “Rick’s”, his bar in Casablanca.

…. …. ….

You must remember this A kiss is still a kiss A sigh is still (just) a sigh The fundamental things apply As time goes by And when two lovers woo They still say: “i love you” On that you can rely No matter what the future brings As time goes by Moonlight and love songs – never out of date Hearts full of passion – jealousy and hate Woman needs man – and man must have his mate That no one can deny It’s still the same old story A fight for love and glory A case of do or die The world will always welcome lovers As time goes by

Well, as the song puts it: Time goes by.

The weather has taken a turn for the better.  After last week’s cold spell it has got warmer, but not by much.  The temperatures still hover around zero (Celsius), but that’s a lot better than last weekend and the forecast for next week looks reasonably promising – about 7 degrees each day.  There is still some snow in the ground and in places it has compacted into ice and is treacherously slippery.  You have to be careful walking, or driving – we heard yesterday that one of our staff in Naryn lost her son in car accident as it skidded on the ice and turned over.  So, I need my black tie once more and the unfortunately ends as it began.

One of the side effects of the bad weather is that electricity consumption has shot up – it’s considerably higher than it was this time last year – and added to the amount that we are exporting, there is a certain amount of concern as the authorities note that water levels in the main Toktogul Reservoir is falling.

Still, Time goes by.

Another week has passed, and we still don’t have a government.  Given the debacle when the last coalition couldn’t even muster enough support to win the first vote in the parliament, the mandate to try and form a new one was passed to the Respublica party, (Ata Meken having declined to do so).  Consultations and negotiations are taking place and everyone waits to see what will come of them.  The leader of Respublica is trying to garner support from all five parties, and all have said that they are willing to talk … let’s hope that they can do more and actually reach an agreement that sticks.

No-one is sure what will happen if they don’t … some commentators have suggested that the vacuum will be filled by “militant Islam”.  Although Kyrgyzstan is, according to the constitution, a secular democracy and religious parties are forbidden, there was a lot of discussion before the referendum in June about whether the new constitution should retain this provision.  There are politicians who support and proffer a greater role for Islam.  The events in Afghanistan and neighbouring Tajikistan suggest that Islamic groups are poised ready to take advantage of the opportunities that the current uncertainty in Kyrgyzstan offers.  Everyone seems to agree, however, that there is still time as not much is likely to happen over the winter.

Apparently, Respublica wants to unite all five parties in the Parliament in the same way that the National Government united all sides under Winston Churchill in Britain during the Second World War.  Although Kyrgyzstan might well face a similar national emergency as Britain did at the time, the threat then was known, external and easily identifiable and that the population was more or less united behind Churchill as he pursued the war … which is not exactly the situation that we find ourselves in today.  Also, it has been pointed out that this would also mean there would be no Parliamentary “opposition” which would mean that the only way open to any opposition would be to take to the streets – and that could be extremely dangerous.

Time goes by and there haven’t been any embarrassing revelations from Wikileaks this week – or have there?  Whilst the attention of the world’s media has moved away from the leaks themselves to allegations of sexual misconduct, (I still can’t work out exactly what he is accused of – but, as I understand it, he hasn’t really been told either), the website was closed down and then reopened as it moved from host to host and controversy raged over the handling of financial transactions from people making a donation in order to keep the site open, and a small trickle of documents were released.  The most interesting release, (at least as far as Kyrgyzstan is concerned), came not from Wikileaks but via a Russian news site which published what purported to be cables written by an American diplomat outlining discussions with a certain Maxim Bakiev.  As well as [publishing the “translations” of the documents, the publishers promised “more details” with more startling “revelations” to follow.

Incidentally, I see that another British Royal is making an official visit to Uzbekistan.  I hope and trust that he avoids the same exposure that Prince Andrew suffered.

Time goes by, and the year has almost come to a close and people are looking forward to New Year.  Elsewhere in the West, of course, it’s Christmas everyone is preparing for.  Shopping for presents and cards, food and decorations.  There are school concerts, Nativity Plays and Office Parties to attend.  Trees are put up and homes and offices are decorated with streamers, cards and decorated Christmas trees.  Here of course, December 25th is just another working day – although this year it falls on a Saturday, so the banks and most offices will be closed for the day.  Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7th and the big holiday is New Year, and many of the New Year traditions here are similar to the Christmas ones back home.  Preparations are underway.  Normally, by now the shops would be busy with special goods on offer, Hotels, Cafes and Retsuarants would be circulating their “special” New Year offers, decorations would be going up and plans for parties and other festivities would be underway.  This year, however, it is a bit more subdued than usual, which is probably understandable given the year’s momentous events, but some things are happening.  For example, the large “Christmas” Tree has been erected in the main Ala Too Square.

As time goes by we mark more “special days”.  Yesterday, for example, was the Human Rights Day, commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10th December, 1948.  At the time, Eleanor Roosevelt expressed the hope that that the Declaration would become “the Magna Carta for all men, everywhere”.

I am not sure that she had read Magna Carta, which is quite an interesting document but defined the rights of barons rather than those of the common man.  In fact there it was renounced by King John almost as soon as the Baron’s had left, annulled by the pope, (who was hardly John’s friend and ally), rejected by many of the Barons and was in force for only a short time – maybe for as little as three months in 1215.  What’s more, there were several versions over the years with slightly different provisions, many of, (or even most of), which were repealed or amended in later legislation.  All this doesn’t detract from its historical status, however as “the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot.”

As usual, there were a number of events in Kyrgyzstan to commemorate the day including conferences, seminars and round tables – apparently including video conferencing.  One of these involved workers from various Human Rights Groups in the Historical Museum in the main Ala Too Square.

Time goes by and during the week education seems to have been a major theme.  Back in the UK students are protesting the government’s plans concerning fees and even Prince Charles and Camilla seem to have been caught up in the furore.  There has been quite a bit made of that ion the news here and several people have tackled me about it.

Here, there has been considerable comment over the fact that Kyrgyz school students have apparently performed badly in the Program for International Student Assessment, (PISA) – a worldwide evaluation of scholastic performance organized by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD).   The scheme assesses pupils in a variety of fields including Matrhematices, Reading, Comprehension and Science.  Kyrgyzstan managed to come in last place – well, I suppose somebody has to.  The assessment is carried out once every three years and the last time the ratings were published, in 2006, Kyrgyzstan also came bottom of the table – in 57th place.  This year, however, there were 65 countries in the survey and so I suppose the results seem worse.  The Ministry of Education, however, are putting a brave face on the publication of the results saying that even though Kyrgyzstan Students are holding up the rest of the table, there are signs of improvement in some areas and there are an awful lot of countries that did not take part in the Assessment.

All the same, the result has led to questions about why this has happened?  I haven’t seen any analysis but, as I said, someone has to come bottom.  In my experience, the education system is not all that bad.  Of course, it all depends on individual schools, teachers and pupils, but in general I am often quite impressed with the all round general knowledge and some of the topics that the kids learn.  One reason might well be the demoralized teaching force.  There is a huge shortage of teachers and many of those who are in the classroom are approaching, if not past, the normal retirement age.  Down South, some have on strike demanding more pay.  I have mentioned before the low level of teachers’ salaries, and the tendency towards corruption that this sometimes leads to.

Another might well be to do with the fact that a lot of children’s schooling has suffered considerable disruption in the recent past.  It’s not just the events in the South which have interrupted schooling and traumatized children.  The kids, for example, have not really returned to school since the half-term break, some four weeks ago.  The extended holiday is apparently the result of a fuel shortage and on the days when they have gone in for classes, they have been sent home again because of the cold conditions.  At first, they were delighted with the extra time off, but as time has gone by the realization that something is amiss is being to strike home.  Andrei for one is concerned about how they will fare in the end of term exams – just a couple of weeks away.

Well, Time goes by and it’s time for me to draw this week’s postcard to a close.  A little shorter than usual, but (just) within the word limit that I plan for.

Let me close by saying thank you to those who wrote in with answers to last week’s closing conundrum … between us we managed to come up with seven answers, which, for the record were: 1. Central African Republic, 2. Czech Republic, 3. Republic of Ecuador, 4. Seychelles, 5. Solomon Islands, 6. St. Vincent and Grenadines, 7. St. Kitts and Nevis.  We thought we had an eighth: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands – but that’s a colony, (a British Overseas Territory), and not a country – so we don’t think it counts.

Tags: Expat, Interesting_Times, Kyrgyzstan, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards