Postcard from Bishkek

It was twenty-one score and eight years ago today that President Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous and one of the most quoted political speeches in American history, at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg.

The dedication was attended by a crowd of about 15000 people, including six state Governors, and Lincoln was to deliver the second speech of the afternoon.  The first was given by Edward Everett, a distinguished personage who had formerly been a member of the House of Representatives and US Senate, Secretary of State and Minister (Ambassador) to Britain, Governor of Massachusetts and President of Harvard, He was also a well known orator.

The sun broke through the clouds during the opening prayers following some music from the Marine Band, he began his speech describing the battle and relating it and the war to previous wars and events.  The dedication had originally been planned to take place four weeks earlier, on October 23rd, but he had asked for it to be held later as he needed time to prepare.  That is easy to understand when you remember that his speech lasted for two hours; it must have required a lot of research and preparation,

I’m sure that Lincoln’s speech required a lot of preparation as well.  However, his address lasted for just two minutes and is known for his polished and supremely crafted examination of the founding principles of the United States in the context of the Civil War, and an appeal to the listeners, (and the nation), to ensure the survival of America’s representative democracy; that the “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”, delivered in a slow and inspiring voice.

Despite the speech’s prominent place in history, we are sure of the exact wording of the speech as it was delivered on that day; there are five known manuscripts which differ from each other in a number of details and also from accounts printed in the newspapers of the time.  Here is one of them which is usually accepted as the “standard” version, perhaps because it is the only one that Lincoln signed:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

On Wednesday we had a similar Dedication Ceremony here in Bishkek.  A memorial was unveiled at the Ata Beyit memorial cemetery at Chon Tash where virtually the entire political elite of country were executed, (murdered), by the NKVD, (the forerunners of the KGB), during the Stalinist purges.  This new memorial was dedicated to “the heroes of 7 April 2010 events”.  The 8.5 meter high construction, is covered with red granite and white marble, took two months to erect and cost almost 21 million som.  There is also a wall, 19 meters long wall and 1.9 meters high, near the memorial which is engraved with the names of 95 people who died in the revolution.

It was a cold day, with snow lying on the ground and everyone in thick warm coats, and by all accounts a moving and inspiring occasion with speeches by both of Kyrgyzstan’s presidents; the present incumbent and the President elect.  I’m not sure if they emulated Everett or Lincoln, (I wasn’t there – I was in a conference about the development of tourism in the city center), but Atambaev apparently said that the events of the Revolution marked “the beginning of the end of all despotic regimes on the planet”, and Roza Otunbaeva, that “Kyrgyzstan has chosen a democratic path of development and won’t return to an authoritarian regime” in the future.

They’ll both get the chance to speak again at the inauguration of the new President on December 1st.  That will be something new, an outgoing President speaking at the inauguration of the incoming President.  Let’s hope that it inaugurates a new tradition.

There’s plenty of other controversy looming over the inauguration – such as whether the new president should swear “before god”; Kyrgyzstan being, officially, a secular state – not simply one where the affiliation of the state with an “organized religion” is forbidden.

We are also told that there are plenty of “spoilers” willing to disrupt the occasion, but the authorities assure us that they will have everything in hand and a special control centre has been set up to make sure that they do.  Some of the defeated candidates are not trying to challenge the results in the courts, but they are issuing statements saying that “History is repeating itself”, referring to what they call the “falsified elections”.

Once Atambaev becomes President then we need a new Prime Minister.  There seems to have been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the political leaders as discussions and gossip abound about the possible shape of a new coalition and a new government,  Atambaev’s advisors are stressing that “no promises were made” in the lead up to the elections.  Tashiev, one of the defeated candidates and leader of the largest party in the parliament and a coalition partner in the government, was reelected as Parliamentary leader of his party but, all the same, is facing criticism and possibly a challenge to his leadership, whilst other parties are stating their willingness to enter into a new coalition.

In the meantime, the election deposits, (100,000 som – about USD2200), have been returned to the three candidates who gained more than 5% of the votes in the election … and withheld from the others.  The authorities say that the money not returned will be used for the development of the electoral system in Kyrgyzstan.

At least it’s not being used to pay for a monument, or the inauguration.  This year’s event looks to be quite modest in some respect and will cost about 10 million som which is about half of what was spent on the last one, back in 2009,

It seems that we might need some of that cash to  shore up the value of the som against the dollar, which has been rising in value quite steeply in recent days – the National Bank apparently spent USD21 million in just one day to help shore up the national currency.  One of the bloggers I read, posted an entry about how he happened to be in one of the banks and saw an interbank transfer of one million dollars which, as Tommy Cooper might have put it, happened “just like that.”

 

There was a nasty shock at the beginning of the week with a terrorist incident which cost several lives in the Kazakh city of Taraz, which is just over the border from the Kyrgyz Talas oblast which has proved to be one of the areas where the local people have felt “empowered” by the revolution to take events into their own hands, attacking and burning down, for example, a gold mine – and not just once either.  There were suggestions that the grenade launcher that the militant used had been purchased in Kyrgyzstan and was that had gone missing during last year’s upheavals, but the authorities are now saying that it “wasn’t one of ours – which are still missing”,

Add that to the controversy over the possibility of the Mayor of Osh creating his own police force, independent of the Ministry of the Interior, which is still rumbling on with comments about it looking like a “private army”, and we have to face the fact that the there are still problems that need to be addressed, even if the official position is that the “rift” is not as serious as many foreign journalists are painting it to be.  If there is, indeed, no “rift”, I am tempted to ask, then why has Roza Otunbaeva called upon Kyrgyzstanis, (i.e. citizens of Kyrgyzstan rather than those of Kyrgyz nationality), to adopt the slogan “We are all different, but we are united”?

The event in Kazakhstan and the controversy over the Presidential oath has raised the topic of the influence of Islam in Kyrgyz society.  There was an interesting article, for example, about how Islam and Kyrgyz traditions The event in Kazakhstan and the controversy over the Presidential oath has raised the topic of the influence of Islam in Kyrgyz society.  There was an interesting article, for example, on one of the news agencies about how Islam and Kyrgyz traditions have intermingled over the years. There has also been some comment about anti-semitic articles appearing in some of the Kyrgyz language press – including an official diplomatic protest from the Israeli ambassador about one in particular, (the editors insisting that it wasn’t anti-semitic and has been misrepresented and misunderstood).

 

One story that attracted a certain amount of attention was a proposal by some of the deputies to prohibit marriages between foreigners and Kyrgyz women.  Many of these unions apparently end in divorce, or worse, … but then many marriages between locals also end in divorce.  It all seems to have begun with a proposal to ban “advertising” such marriages and tightening the regulations over marriage agencies, but it was picked up by at least one news service which ran a short analysis of the issue.

To be fair, there’s also seems to be some attention being given in official circles to the question of Ala Kachuu, “bride stealing”, which I suppose is a result of the coverage this topic has been getting in the foreign media as well as the campaign that has been simmering away, locally.

To every one’s surprise, the government seems to have made some concessions in terms of Lesbian, Gay and Transgender rights.  A draft regulation has been approved and is apparently awaiting signature to bring it into force.  There was some coverage of the issue in the international media and it has now hit the local media.  I can’t help feeling that someone “jumped the gun”, it’s still awaiting the final signature and the proposal could easily be derailed – as, apparently, has the proposal to relax the visa regime and introduce a visa free regime for over 40 countries.  My personal guess is that it won’t happen.

The decision over the visa regime seems to have hit a raw nerve with some activists, however, with comments like “idiots” and “there’s no reason for it” appearing in the social media along with a link to a Lonely Planet Thorn Tree post about how one tourist was asked for USD135 for a visa which should have cost just USD55 in a Kyrgyz embassy in Central Asia.

(Incidentally, one journalist has asked people like me not to refer to social media posts without quoting names … although I understand his point, I hope you’ll bear with me for not doing so.)

 

The mining industry continues to be in the news with claim and counter claim.  How much is the country’s gold really worth?; how much gold has actually been produced?; how much has Kyrgyzstan actually received from the industry?, how often are reports submitted?.  Oh, how I love the squabbles over Statistics and I thought that the row in the parliamentary hearings on the investment climate in the mining sector was only slightly behind the story about how Boris Johnson, (Mayor of London), got taken to task recently about his “creative” use of Statistics in a British Parliamentary hearing.

The privatization of the companies supposedly part of the empire run by Maxim Bakiev and which were nationalized in the wake of the revolution has run into trouble.  This is an important plank in the government’s plans to raise funds in order to cover the budget deficit.  One was “sold” at a price of over ten times the asking price after a “bidding war” between two rivals, only for both to refuse the purchase after the auction was completed.  There are suggestions that it was all a “put up job” and so the deposit for auctions has been raised.  In the mean time the price of another asset, (a bank), has been reduced because there were no bidders.  In some quarters it is believed that Maxim and his “cronies” are plotting to buy back the assets.

Meanwhile, a farmer in Southern Kyrgyzstan has produced a produced a bit of a shock by cultivating a new variety of lemon from saplings brought originally from Africa, which is being called the Kyrgyz Lemon.  Apparently they are redder and sweeter than other lemons and will soon be going on sale in Kyrgyz markets.  I wonder how people will take to a “red lemon”?, not just the communists?

 

I was intrigued by a couple of reports about schools – well, I am a former school teacher, so I suppose it is a case of professional interest. One was about how there is growing number of children who “drop out” of school.  Although Kyrgyzstan has over a million kids in school, (out of a population of just over five million), there are some 29,000 who have “dropped out”, and the number seems to be growing.

In one school in Osh, pupils have been from using certain sorts of cell phones – ones than can connect with the internet.  Apparently there is no problem with telephones that are just that: telephones – provided they are used to make calls only in “the most necessary cases”.  The idea of using smart phones to connect to the internet and sending mail is seen as being a “distraction” and children “lose the desire to learn”.

On the other hand, I have to admit that the fact that Andrei, (one of the Baseball Kids”, the family of 10 that we have unofficially adopted), has a phone was particularly useful this week.  It was probably one of those “most necessary cases”.  I was in a conference concentrating on promoting Kyrgyzstan as a tourist destination with my phone turned off to avoid having my concentration distracted.  When it came to the coffee break I saw that he had called me eight time, so I called back to find out what was going on … it seems he had been beaten up by a couple of youths, one of whom had just walked onto the premises, (one of those drop outs”?), and wouldn’t take “No” for an answer when he started asking him for money.  Fortunately, it happened on the school premises and there were plenty of witnesses, (if it had been just a hundred meters away, I don’t suppose there would have been any).  The teachers were brilliant in that they detained the two assailants and called the police.  Andrei’s mother was out and they couldn’t raise her, so he called me.  I rushed to the school and went with Andrei to the police station where his mother finally joined us and was able to take him off to the hospital for X-rays, etc., only to discover that his nose was broken in two places and some other problems.  Fortunately, the bruising wasn’t too bad and he didn’t need the miracle of Green Tea.

The conference was just one of many events which have kept me out of the office for most of the week, covering issues like: Development of Standards in Tourism; Certification of Tour Operators; Regional cooperation in Central Asia; and the investment climate in Kyrgyzstan.  Unfortunately I missed the concert of the Chui Chamber Orchestra.  I’m due to attend a number of others next week as well, about: The Customs Union (2 different meetings); the role of the government in adopting reforms; Marketing Kyrgyzstan’s tourism potential; and Working in Tourism. At the end of the week, I’m off to Naryn again … the new road is open at last.

Perhaps the most poignant stories of the week have been about the protests of the parents of children infected with HIV as a result of receiving blood transfusions a few years ago.  They are asking for compensation and financial support but their protest received little attention from the politicians at first.

As usual, this “postcard” is quite long.  I’m sorry if it seems more like Everett’s marathon speech at Gettysburg than Lincoln’s address, but my notes for the week ran to 88 pages (!) and I have missed out far more than I have included.

 

 

It is now possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek), and on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard)

This week we’ve also added some spherical panoramas too www.see.kg: two views of rooms in the Silk Road Lodge in Bishkek and an autumn scene on Erkindik Boulevard.

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 were posts about: Taking a weekend break; What a consul can, (and can’t), do; Chon Kemin; A timely concert by the Chui Chamber Orchestra; Robert Owen and other toasts; and Mohammed Kyrgyz – also known as Tagai Bai.

If you decide that you don’t want to receive these postcards in your email anymore, please drop me a line to  and I will take you off the distribution list.  Alternatively, if you know someone who might be interested in being added to the mailing list, then get them to drop me a line and I’ll be happy to do so.

 

Tags: Expat, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards