Personality cults
In 2007, the Guardian newspaper ran a series ran a series of articles under the heading “Great Speeches of the Twentieth Century”. Topping the list was Winston Churchill’s wartime classic, “We shall fight on the Beaches …”, closely followed by John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you …”. As always when faced with such a list, it contained a few surprises; both for some of those selected for inclusion and those that had “not made the cut”.
I am quite sure that several of Churchill’s wartime speeches would have been contenders and were, probably, omitted only because he couldn’t be allowed to dominate the list. That’s probably the reason Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” and “We choose to go to the Moon” were excluded as well. Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” made it into the list, as did Mandela’s “An Ideal I am Prepared to Die For”, but where was Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall”?, or … well the comments on the series suggested many other contenders; by Nehru, Gandhi, Neil Kinnock, and even, (strangely for a liberal paper like the Guardian), Adolf Hitler. But, even more strange were suggestions like Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. I thought that Guardian readers were supposed to be “educated” and really should have been aware that it was delivered in 1863 – well outside the Twentieth Century.
I wonder how many people would have included number six on the list in their own personal selection of Great Speeches of the Twentieth Century: Khrushchev’s speech on “The cult of the individual”, delivered to the 20th congress of the Communist party of the USSR in Moscow on 25th February, 1956. It is sometimes called the “secret speech” because it was delivered to a closed session of the congress, but in many ways that is a misnomer; if it was meant to be a secret then it was one of the worst kept secrets in history because, although the full definitive text wasn’t officially released until 1989, people soon knew all about it. Copies were printed and distributed, to be read out at party meetings throughout the country, (where non-members of the party were, apparently, invited to come along to hear it!); there is even speculation that Khrushchev, himself, arranged for it to be leaked to a Western journalist so that within a matter of weeks people in the West knew all about it, if not all the gory details.
It certainly deserves to rank as important speech. Khrushchev started speaking at about midnight and it took him four hours to deliver. Castro, Chavez, Gaddafi and other demagogues may well have gone on for hours at a time, but it’s hard to imagine their speeches having the same sort effects. According to some reports, the speech caused such shock to those in the audience that some of them suffered heart attacks … and others later committed suicide. It led to protests and riots in Stalin’s homeland, Georgia; it has been credited with causing the Sino-Soviet split with China and Albania condemning Khrushchev as a revisionist and the Soviet Union as “state capitalists” and “social imperialists and paving the Hungarian uprising later in the year … to be followed ten years later by the Prague Spring, finally reaching a dénouement with glasnost under Mikhail Gorbachev … and we all know where that eventually led.
Personality cults, of one form or another, still seem to abound in the former Soviet Union. Although both Akaev and Bakiev tried to cash in on them, they didn’t play a role for Roza Otunbaeva. I am not sure that the supporters of Atambaev will be able to muster the support to create one around him. Maybe the personality cult isn’t going to work in the modern world following two revolutions and the Arab Spring. There is already talk of a “war” between President, Government and Parliament. That may being too far, but it does signify some of the tensions that exist. It is interesting to note that Babanov made comments being reported in the Press about the need to remove the immunity currently granted to Deputies, Ministers and even the President (!)
Nowadays, here in Kyrgyzstan, if there is a personality cult it applies to the legendary hero Manas who is seen as the embodiment of all that goes to make up the Kyrgyz, their hopes and aspirations.
I see that Russia have also decided to get in on the act and they used the opportunity of a visit by Atambaev to Moscow to unveil a monument to the legendary leader of the Kyrgyz. There’s even talk of another one being unveiled in the Altai, where the Kyrgyz originally hailed from, (although some people claim it was some of the forty tribes – the rest being the peoples of Central Asia such as the Saks – Scythians – and Usuns).
Roza Otunbaeva is, however, being given the credit for Kyrgyzstan’s marked improvement in the latest Press Freedom Index, (Kyrgyzstan climbed 50 places up the league table, which was released this week. Despite this impressive improvement, the situation is not all rosy, (pun intended), and the reports says that the situation “continues to be very fragile”. I was quite surprised that wore wasn’t made of this impressive performance in the local media. A similar result in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” survey a few years ago was lauded in the press and shouted from the rooftops. As it happens, I have seen more written about it in the international media than the local press. I suppose that could be something to do with the fact that the report did have some critical moments. It points out that this improvement is as much to do with the situation becoming worse elsewhere as it is in improvements here in Kyrgyzstan, highlighting attacks on and threats made against journalists together with changes in the regulatory system, but, it missed the big story of the week on the topic, (but that’s not surprising; after all it was written some time ago). Ironically the authorities chose this week to implement an eight month old resolution of the Parliament to block a Russian based news website, (www.Ferghana.ru), for perceived bias in its reporting of the events down South last June. Why it took them eight months is anybody’s guess. The wheels of government obviously work slowly. Actually, I suppose that if they had been any quicker off the mark it might have affected Kyrgyzstan’s position in the league table.
If the current President, Almazbek Atambaev, is the subject of a personality cult, then it took a bit of a hit this week when the chairman of the Customs Service dropped a minor bombshell by stating in a press conference that, “most likely”, Kyrgyzstan won’t join Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus in the Customs Union, (a major plank in Atambaev’s strategy), but instead will join the Common Economic Space” with the wider group of EurAsEC countries. In the meantime, the Prime Minister is asking Kazakhstan for support in obtaining preferences on certain issues if Kyrgyzstan does decide to join.
This minor setback, however, hasn’t stopped him from pursuing another of those major planks in his policy: the removal of the American military at the Manas Transit Center. He took the opportunity ofg a meeting with a US delegation led by one of the Deputy Secretaries of State to reiterate that following 2014 there should be no foreign military personnel at the airport.
Incidentally, the Russian’s seem to have picked up on the thought that the Americans might use the base in a potential conflict with Iran, “although this will require changes, or rather, the breach of the US-Kyrgyz agreement on the status of the Center” according to press reports quoting a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman. The US ambassador in Moscow has replied by saying that it won’t happen, that the base “will only be used for its specified purpose of assisting the war in Afghanistan”.
Another embarrassing faux pas this week came when the government’s official website missed off the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. I wonder if this is a sign of anything in particular in terms of policy. I hope not.
Talking of Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Security Services have been busy explaining why they think Kyrgyzstan shouldn’t introduce a new visa-free regime for 41 “developed” countries, (defined as those countries where there is a GDP of over USD7000). I am not sure that I follow their arguments even though I have heard them several times including at a “Round Table” run by KATO, (The Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators), last week … but then, I would say that, wouldn’t I? After all, I run a tour company.
Talking of foreign affairs, I had to smile when I saw that one of the deputies questioned why Kyrgyzstan has an embassy in London. Apparently, he said that it costs the government something like two million dollars a year to maintain. OK, that seems a lot and maybe he wants the government to economize; after all they are introducing all sorts of other economy measures including cutting staffing levels iun many departments. Maybe, I thought, he is offended by the fact that Maxim Bakiev has found a safe haven in the UK having flown there from Europe last year and applied for Political Asylum. However, according to the report I read, his reason was much simpler/ There’s been an embassy in the UK for almost twenty years but there’s never been an official visit by wither a President or Prime Minister to the UK – “so, why do we need this embassy?” he asked. Hmmmm, I understand that one of the functions that befalls a diplomatic mission abroad might well be to arrange official visits of Heads of State or Heads of Government, but I hadn’t realized that this was the main reason for having an embassy abroad.
The other big story of the week has been “the fight against corruption”. If America and the “free world” can declare a war on terrorism, then it seems that Kyrgyz government have declared a “War on Corruption”, well if you can believe the public statements of officials. To be fair, there does seem to be some movement on this front with far more cases, for example, being reported in the press … which is apparently only “partly free”. The cynicism that you may have detected in the previous sentence was directed by the word “declared”. If it is just a declaration and isn’t followed up by concrete measure then it won’t make much difference, and one analyst has already said that the present government doesn’t have the qualifications to call itself an “anti-corruption” government. It may help that the Donor community looks as if it is getting tough … a delegation from the European Union seem to have sent a signal that their EUR30 million budget support package can’t be taken for granted and there may be conditions attached to it. One of the MEP’s in the delegation apparently sent a powerful signal, going as far as to say that it wouldn’t be easy to persuade Europe to grant the aid package as “some European governments are opposed to it”.
As one of the ex-pats said in a meeting with them, (no, it wasn’t me … but I do agree with him), there are signs that the people are simply not prepared to put up with it any more. They want things to change. The question is: how to achieve this? Another ex-pat and another analyst, sagely pointed out that it’s not possible to eliminate corruption – I see that even the EU is having a battle in this front – but you can implement measures to limit, manage and control it.
In fact, this week has been quite busy with a number of meetings which have kept me out of the office, (one being with that delegation of MEP’s). Thursday, on the other hand, was quite quiet … well, it was a Holiday: The Day of the Defenders of the Homeland, sometimes referred to as Army Day, (or more simply Men’s Day, as it acts as a counterbalance to March 8th, which is International Women’s Day). It seemed to be a much bigger event this year than usual, but I was grateful because it meant that could sit in my office and get on with some paperwork with only a few interruptions.
Friday made up for that, however, with a long stream of visitors – including a visit from the dreaded tax inspection. They can appear quite formidable and unnerving as they are in uniform. (Yes, tax inspectors here have their own uniform!) Two of them walked in, announced themselves, (although they didn’t need to as they were in uniform), and handed over their predpisaniye, the instruction authorizing an inspection. When I was told that they were here and wanted to see me I was bit surprised because we have only recently had our regular inspection. A quick look at the instruction, however, told me that it was just a routine targeted inspection checking the cash registers in the hotel. Fortunately, all was well and without about an hour they were on their way.
Talking of Tax, the tax inspection have issued a named and shamed a list of 164 companies that had tax debts on the 1st of February. Some of the firms were quite surprising, but even more surprising were the amounts involved: it adds up to almost 741 million som – that’s over sixteen million dollars. Apart from the fact that I find it hard to understand how firms are allowed to get away with this … I can imagine the response from the authorities if we were late with a payment.
I am not the only one who has been out of the office this week. All the main characters have been out and about this week. Roza Otunbaev is in India, President Atambaev flew to Moscow, (where he attended the unveiling of the monument of Manas), and Prime Minister Bobanov has paid a “working visit” to Osh.
The subject of a personality cult, whether it is someone like Stalin or … well, I won’t risk it by naming anyone in particular … is afforded great reverence. If the Kyrgyz show similar reverence to Manas, then the Russian Orthodox Community also show great reverence to their saints and their icons, (which seem to be given the status of saints). On Wednesday a copy of the Pochaev Icon, (a Madonna and Child), arrived in Bishkek, )a gift from the faithful in the Ukraine which is home to the original. It flew in at six o’clock in the morning and after a quick service at the airport there was a procession the thirty or something kilometers to the Cathedral here in Bishkek. Tatiana, my accountant, is a devout believer and she resolved to go. She invited me along but I, politely, declined the invitation. I am glad I did. It bitterly cold and even Tatiana was in a state afterwards. The first ten kilometers, she said, were fine … but the rest … how she longed for it to be over. Mind you, when I asked if she would do it again if another icon was to come to Bishkek, she said without any hesitation, “Yes”.
Well, I must sign off. I am off, up to Naryn, today. I am not sure if I am looking forward to it. It’s pretty cold here in Bishkek and Naryn is renowned for being the coldest town in Kyrgyzstan as well as the longest town in the former Soviet Union.
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 postcards about:
- Sven Hedin – Swedish Explorer – to commemorate his birthday last Sunday … an interesting character remembered mainly for his discoveries in the Taklamakan Desert, but he visited Kyrgyzstan on his early trip
- Horses In Kyrgyz Nomadic Culture – Horses are an integral part of the culture of the Nomadic Kyrgyz
- Pancake Day – Blinis – to mark Shrove Tuesday … although the Orthdox equivalent, Maslenitsa, hasn’t yet started
- The Pochaev Icon Comes To Bishkek – to mark the arrival to the Icon to Bishkek on Wednesday
- Operation Lentil – Although February 23rd is designated a holiday, the Day of the Defenders of the Homeland, it also marks a rather poignant anniversary – the mass deportation of the Chechens and Ingush populations from the Caucasus to Central Asia, (including Kyrgyzstan), back in 1944
- Visa Logic? – about the arguments I have heard for not granting 41 developed countries a “visa free” regime, and why I think they are fallacious.
It is now possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg and Kyrgyz Diary), and on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).
If you decide that you don’t want to receive these weekly 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.
Bishkek