Postcard from Bishkek

Every day is a special day for someone!

Well, today, my calendar has one of the strangest entries on it: International Panic Day – a day for everyone to be worried and concerned. .

I first came across it on a site which had materials for teaching English as a Foreign Language.  There was a brief paragraph followed by a number of exercises: comprehension questions, finding synonyms, fill in the gaps in sentences … and so on.  I would love to be able to tell you more about it, but after going through the first ten pages of a Google search I seemed to draw a blank.  There were a few references, but no details about the origin of the day or activities held to commemorate it.  It appears that it has been around since, at least, 2009 – at least, I did manage to find a crazy clip that was posted on You Tube in May of that year to publicize the event. Even Wikipedia, (the terrestrial encyclopedia which is akin to Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” – although it has a slightly longer entry for Earth than the Guide did – “Mostly harmless”), doesn’t have an entry for the day.

So, when thinking about this week’s postcard I was torn between a reference to Lance-corporal Jack Jones, the pensioner butcher who quotes stories about campaign in the Sudetenland whilst serving in the Home Guard in the BBC comedy series “Dad’s Army”, or revisiting the “Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy”, and even the song by Coldplay.

In the end, the choice was almost made for me over dinner with Denis, a client from France who had just returned to Bishkek from a two week trip through Kyrgyzstan and the Taklimakan Desert in the neighbouring Chinese province of Xinjiang.  As we sat and chatted about the tour that they had just completed, I heard about some of the fascinating experiences the group had encountered, including managing to snap photographs of a flood in the Taklimakan Desert!  As the conversation widened, I was amazed by Denis’ breadth of knowledge about English history and literature … and I found myself that I was wishing that I was as knowledgeable about French history and literature.  The crunch came as we started swapping quotes about our favourite lines from the works of Douglas Adams.  I don’t share his enthusiasm for Dirk Gently’s Investigative Agency and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, but prefer the six books of the Hitchhikers’ Guide trilogy, (yes, a six book trilogy … please don’t ask! – that’s part of the humour).

Anyway, the common theme behind these choices was the phrase “Don’t Panic!”

This is pretty sound advice at the best of times, but even more valuable when going through a crisis.  Once you panic there is a tendency to jump to conclusions, to do something rash that you might regret later.  How many times, as a schoolteacher, did I give some troubled teenager that sage advice to “take a deep breath and count to ten” before reacting to what someone had said or done.

Some people might say that we have had our fair share of panic decisions over the last year or so here in Kyrgyzstan.  The decision of the Jogorku Kenesh to declare Kimmo Kiljunen, (the chairman of the International Commission into the events in Osh last June), persona non grata might well be one of those.  It’s certainly come in for some criticism.  Even Roza Otunbaeva has gone on record as saying that he doesn’t deserve all the comments that have made against him in the parliament, but rather that the commission’s report was “important and necessary” and that, instead, the appropriate response was to indicate its “shortcomings”.

Another decision by our deputies has also raised a few eyebrows … to block certain websites, including the popular news service ferghana.ru, for its reporting of the troubles and, in particular, for reports that could help to inflame racial tensions.  To be fair, the Prosecutors’ Office has denied reports about the decision to block the site.

Other sites likely to affected by the new restrictions include the popular Diesel forum, a sort of social media where members of the public can post information.  Some of it is distinctly harmless, like a “classified ads” column in a local newspaper, but other sections can contain quite pertinent and volatile comments on a variety of topics.   I don’t often use Diesel, partly because it is all in Russian which involves me in more work in trying to make sense of what I am reading, but also because it requires a lot of navigation to find my way around to discover a particular topic of interest and it probably requires a fair amount of time on the site to become familiar with all that it has to offer.  Those who do use it regularly, however, “swear by it” and it did prove useful back in April, 2009, when people were posting up-to-the-minute information about events and even the authorities apparently monitored it to keep abreast of developments and informed about the whereabouts of gangs roaming the streets.

The decision of the Parliament was itself posted on the internet … and it made very interesting reading.  Like the commission report, it contained a lot of useful, good and thought provoking text, even if some people find some of the measures it introduced as controversial.

There are, it seems to me, serious grounds for concern which the deputies are trying to address.  There have been plenty of stories about how stories have appeared which seem designed to stir up racial and ethnic tensions and, for several months now we have been hearing about how dangerous rumours can be; about how, in the words of the World War II slogan, “careless talks costs lives”.  This week, Roza Otunbaeva once more added her voice to those expressing concern on this issue.

One of the perennial problems is: knowing what trust to put in any particular news report.  Over the year we have seen many reports where claims have been made, which have only turned out later to be just that, “claims”, not “facts”.  According to one report, for example, the Security Services one time claim that citizens of Kyrgyzstan have been to Afghanistan to undertake training in terrorism has now been recanted.  During the events last June we heard reports about “foreign snipers” travelling around in cars shooting indiscriminately, which now seem to be discounted as well.

This latest decision about blocking access to news has drawn fire from a wide variety of sources, both international and local.  Some commentators have reflected on the similarities with the situation prior to the April Revolution, when the Bakiev regime sought to close or block a number of sites.  Shortly after the revolution the Interim Government removed the blocks and information flowed smoothly, but with these new restrictions, parallels are being drawn with suggestions that control over media outlets is likely to be tightened in the lead up to the Presidential elections.

There seems to be particular concern over the news which is transmitted about events in Kyrgyzstan on foreign TV channels which are available in Kyrgyzstan … and, of course, on the internet … and their likely impact on the course of the election.

Those Presidential elections are going to be quite closely contested.  Preparations are under way to make sure that the arrangements are in order.  Some parliamentarians seem to have suggested holding a referendum on the same day in order to make some more amendments to the constitution, especially considering the division of powers between the various state structures, suggesting that we have some more power plays in store for us.  In a way this is quite worrying as, during the week, I saw an interesting article which put most of the blame for both the April Revolution and the events in Osh last June down to a power struggle between different factions of Kyrgyz society.   Having said that, the general feeling still seems to be one of, “Oh no, no more … enough is enough!”

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Another interesting potential controversy is the decision whether or not to enter the Customs Union.  Roza Otunbaeva has also entered into this particular minefield by suggesting that Kyrgyzstan is not yet ready to do so.    “There are many objective reasons of our dependence upon the Customs Union participating countries. This market is well functioning. This is not only the market of goods, but also the market of workforce, capital. It is beneficial for us, of course,” she says, but continues to say that she has “not seen any serious research or report on this topic, which would show advantages and disadvantages of this accession,” and that we need to wait for an in-depth analysis and to see how the possible accession of Russia to the World Trade Organization might change the situation.

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There has been some interesting developments this week in the search for the Bakiev’s and their entourage.  We may know where the ex-president, Kurmanbeck, is as he has been given a job managing a factory in Belarus manufacturing items for their defence industry.  Maxim is apparently in Britain seeking political asylum, and has even found time to give a newspaper an interview, sying how sad he finds it that all those with the knowledge, skills and experience, not to mention the drive, to develop the country’s economy, have been forced out into exile.  On the other hand, one person who is supposed to have been part of his inner circle, (although he denies this), has been picked up in Moscow, making something like eight people currently being held in Russia.

The police here in Kyrgyzstan have also had a couple of impressive performances during the week.  In one case they discovered four members of a gang trying to sell one and a half thousand sapphires, but according to the news reports I have seen, no-one knows to whom they belonged.  As they are apparently worth almost seven hundred thousand dollars, you would assume that someone must be pretty upset about their loss.

In the other case, a car was stopped by police in Bishkek and one of the youths inside was found to have three bundles of forged 500 som banknotes – worth over three thousand dollars had they been genuine.  This must be quite worrying because the National Bank has adopted a wide variety of security measures to include in the notes in order to prevent forgeries.  There is no news as to how good the forgeries were but one of the giveaways was, apparently, that they all had the same serial numbers.

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On, perhaps, more mundane level we have had news of a couple of other crisis situations involving shortages – one, over fuel supplies in the country, averted by deliveries received whilst another, over sugar, looming for later in the year.

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On a more personal level, I have faced a number of crisis situations, myself, this week.

It began on Saturday when I was feeling a little under the weather, enough to cancel a lunch appointment.  I felt that a day in bed would be welcome.  It wasn’t to be, however.  Just before six o’clock there was a knock at the door and Maxim stood there complaining that he thought he had broken his toe.  He had been riding his beloved BMX and had, (so he said), swerved to avoid some woman who had walked into his path, coming off the bike and falling awkwardly.  So that resulted in two hours at the hospital as he got his foot x-rayed and then placed in plaster –  it wasn’t broken, just a fracture.

Then, during the week, we discovered that one of my neighbour’s sons had developed Chicken Pox.  To be honest, I don’t know if I have ever had it, but as I still symptom free, I presume I must have.  Andrei and Sveta haven’t however, so they are keeping their distance for the time being … just in case.

Finally, a couple of days ago, Maxim started complaining about a sore throat.  Mum was convinced that it was due to drinking cold drinks straight out of the fridge on a hot day but, even though he didn’t have all the symptoms, I suspected Tonsillitis.  Maxim got quite worried, however, and asked if he could see a doctor, so Mum agreed.  One look was enough for the doctor.  Tonsillitis!  If I was feeling particularly pleased with the diagnosis, that quickly disappeared as she then told me that I also had it … so I am now on a course of antibiotics and no Gin and Tonic for the next week.  That will make for a difficult week, as my friend John is arriving from Tashkent and is sure to want to visit his familiar “watering holes”.

I have also been told that I probably need to curtail my intake of coffee.  It seems the BBC have reported that according to studies “conducted about the human body revealed it will usually absorb up to about 300 milligrams of caffeine at a given time; about four cups. Additional amounts are just cast off, providing no further stimulation. Also, the human body dissipates 20% of the caffeine in the system each hour.“  That will please Tatiana who is always trying to get me to drink tea rather than coffee, but frankly, most of the time, I prefer coffee.

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Finally, it seems that Facebook now has a game that lets you try your hand at running a hotel.  Marriott Hotels have created a Facebook app that simulates what it’s like to work in the kitchen at one of its properties. Apparently it’s a recruitment tool, designed to encourage youngsters to apply for one of the thousands of vacancies they have each year.  Players have to make the most of a limited budget and staff to earn points. I’ve yet to try it, (running a couple of real hotels seems to challenging enough), but I told that the game can be intense, (as a reporter for the Washington Post discovered).  Knowing how kids like games I hope it’s successful, but I suspect that the lack of “action” – “ZAP, BAM, BOOM!!!” – may prove to be a handicap.  I am not sure, either, how effective a tool it might be in selecting potential candidates to fill a poisition.  However, if the simulation helps to show that it’s not a simple business running a kitchen; not at all like running a kitchen at home, even when you have a big dinner party, and the importance of being able to react quickly, sensibly and appropriately to changing situations … (i.e. “Don’t Panic!) … then, perhaps, it’s a good idea.

Tags: Expat, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards