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Eradicate the West's Ignorance of Kazakhs' Suffering

kazaknomad — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:24:33 +0000

Here’s a “questionable topic” for those “elite intellectuals” educated from western universities who have no idea what the Kazakh people suffered in the early 1930s when the communists forced the nomadic people into collectivization. Starvation resulted, killing off at least one million people in a two-three year period. This tragedy happened to Mukhamet Shayakhmetov’s family and many other Kazakhs like him.

I had planned to write a blog entry today about our dear Kazakh students not knowing how to cite sources properly using in-text citations according to APA style. Seems so trivial after reading The Silent Steppe: The Story of a Kazakh Nomad under Stalin, I thought better of it. Insidious elements continue to lurk about wanting to keep these truths covered up about Kazakhstan’s past.

This should not mean revenge to all people from the West about their “ignorance” which reigns supreme about what socialism and communism did to destroy millions of lives throughout the former Soviet Union. While we, as westerners, don’t read about the Soviet atrocities instigated by Lenin and Stalin’s dogma written in our history textbooks about Kazakhstan’s suffering, students at our university do not understand why it is important to give credit to an author and what he wrote.

I give HUGE credit to Shayakhmetov for bravely writing these words about his past and having it translated into English. Shayakhmetov valued education and I think he would want all young Kazakh students to learn as much as possible [in English] and not waste their educational opportunities to help the rest of the world know what REALLY happened on this great land.

p. 26 “These were people who sincerely believed all the slogans about the Soviet authorities ‘empowering the poor, freeing them all from bondage’ and ‘granting them the same rights and privileges as everyone else.’ Most of the activists were illiterate. If a very small percentage of them could read and write, it was because some time in the past they had been taught by the poorly educated aul mullah. Some of these young men had learnt to recognize the letters of the alphabet and read words by the syllable at the short-lived schools which were set up to eradicate illiteracy.

p. 45 Father’s anxiety to get me used to work on the soil did not mean that he was unconcerned about my schooling. He deeply regretted being illiterate himself, and wanted me to go on studying until I was properly educated; he used to say, “If I have it my way, you’ll be an old man by the time you’ve finished.” Being educated, as far as he was concerned, meant learning to read and write letters, composing petitions and requests to official bodies and dealing with other business matters.”

p. 48 “in late 1930, and early 1931, the campaign to eradicate individual farms and collectivise agriculture becme more vicious. Lenin (who died in 1924) had said that ‘Every minute of every hour, millions of individual peasant farms are engendering exploiter elements and must be destroyed.” And the Government was taking him at his word.

p. 49 Those [Russian] officials put in charge of running the country [Kazakhstan], were mainly strangers to it and neither knew nor particularly wanted to find out about the customs and mind-set of the nomadic population. Some of them who originated from Russia, had no understanding of the differences between stock-breeding in nomadic Kazakhstan and the agricultural districts of their own homeland.

p. 72 The founder of our clan, Nauei, the progenitor of 25 male descendants in the course of one century (1820-1920). If each of them had emulated him, one would have expected the total increase in the number of males over the next 100 years to be 625. Instead, by 1990, it was seven. Such was the tragic fate of our entire nation in the twentieth century.

p. 103 “People’s perception of living standards varies strangely, depending on their own circumstances at the time. Only a year ago, Uncle Zhantursyn had been looked upon as an impoverished peasant with only one horse to his name; now his neighbors, who were all collective farmers, reckoned he was ‘wealthy.’ What it was really about, however, was the extreme poverty of the collective farmers.

p. 119 “It seems to me that, compared to later on, the farmers in those early years of collectivization had a more responsible approach to their work; they still had the natural instincts of honest workers and landowners, and had not yet learnt ways of shirking their duties.

p. 132 “The Kazakh deportees also used to get together in the evenings after work, but they did not play music. They spent most of the time talking to each other, retelling epic tales and legends about warriors and good and evil rulers, and lyrical epic poems about people in love. The men used to recite them from memory. Whenever the conversation turned to everyday topics, the women would improvise songs and sing sorrowfully about the deportees’ misfortunes, nostalgically recalling their idyllic past life. Touching upon the reasons that brought them to Ridder, they would mostly blame the aul activists who were responsible for carrying out Soviet policies.

What I still remember of these evenings when Kazakhs got together are the various fairy-tales and epic poems that were recited, not people singing at the top of their voices, laughing raucously or dancing wildly like the Russians. In those days Kazakh people did not feel like having fun: life under Socialism was just too grim.

p. 140 “ On 1 September [1932], the children of Pozdnopalovka (near Ridder) and the children of the Russian special migrants started school. Teaching was, of course, conducted in Russian. None of the Kazakh children went to school; just as before, it was something I could only dream about. Anyway, I had no time to attend lessons, as every day – from morning until nightfall – Mother and I were out looking for food. I used to watch other children of my age enviously as they made their way to school, and sometimes when I spotted them playing noisily during break, I could not stop tears welling into my eyes. I longed to study with them – but it was not to be.

China on rise in Central Asian 'Great Game'

johnibii — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 01:47:32 +0000

By Douglas Birch and Mansur Mirovalev, Associated Press

KHORGOS, Kazakhstan — The driver of the 18-wheel tractor-trailer from China idling at the Kazakhstan-China border said apples were the cargo he brought to Almaty, Kazakhstan's booming commercial center.

For Kazakhs, there's a tart irony in the shipment.

Almaty's region is where the first apple trees were found and the first apple orchards planted. The city was a center of the Soviet Union's s fruit industry. Its very name means "Father of Apples."

In the past few years, Chinese fruit, vegetables, TV sets, T-shirts and tires have flooded markets along the old Silk Road in former Soviet Central Asia. Each day, all along the Chinese border, hundreds of tractor-trailers rattle west.

These goods are the most visible sign of Beijing's growing power ....

Read the rest:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-15-centralasia_N.htm?csp=34

FACTS ABOUT ULGII

janarbek — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:08:47 +0000

Called "the Roof of the World", Bayan-Ulgii is a far-off land of high mountains (the Mongol Altai - Tavan Bogd mountains with 4,373 m peak) torrents and glaciers, inhabited by Kazakh, a minority who has a different culture from the Mongols, herding yaks and goats and hunting with trained eagles.
Bayan-Ulgii aimag is situated in the extreme West of Mongolia, on the West and North it borders with the Russian Federation and on the South-West with the People's Republic of China. The Nairamdal peak 14,350 feet (4374 m) of the Altai Tavan Bogd mountain is the highest point, Khovd, the biggest river (321 miles /516 km in length) in the country flows through the territory of the aimag. There are many fresh water lakes in Bayan-Ulgii. Tolbo and Dayan lakes are the largest. This aimag is well-known for Ak-su, Chigertei and other springs. Every part of Bayan-Ulgii aimag is suitable for pasture. Rich flora of Bayan-Ulgii includes kobresia, sedge in the mountain plateau, gooseberry and ribes altissimum, also wild cherry, and sea bucks can be found along the banks of streams and rivers. 10 percent of the area is forest, consisting mainly of larches. Geological surveys have proved that this territory contains fossils, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, oil and building material resources. There are wild sheep, ibex, and snow leopards in the Altai high mountain range and marmots, foxes inhabit the lower slopes of mountains. There are bears, lynxes, and squirrels in the forests. 80 percent of the population is Kazakh and 17 percent is Uriankhai. In 1998, Bayan-Ulgii aimag harvested over 3.000 tons of grain, 600 tons of forage, and 21.452 tons of potatoes and vegetables. The coal mine of Bayan-Ulgii aimag produces 404.000 tons of coal and it's trade turnover is over 166.7 million tugriks.

The Mongol Altai Nuruu is the backbone of Bayan-Olgii. The highest peaks, many over 4000m, are permanently covered with glaciers and snow, while the valleys have a few green pastures, which support about two million livestock, as well as bears, foxes and lynxes. These valleys are dotted with small communities of nomadic families enjoying the short summer from mid-June to late August, as well as some beautiful alpine lakes.

The ethnic groups who call Bayan-Olgii home are comprised of the Kazakh, Khalkh. Dorvod, Uriankhai, Tuva, and Khoshuud. Unlike the rest of Mongolia, which is dominated by the Khalkh Mongols. About 90% of Bayan-Olgii's population are Kazakh, almost all of them Muslim. The remaining 10% are mostly obscure minority groups.

Many people in the aimag speak Kazakh, so if you have spent time perfecting some conversational Mongolian, you may be devastated because many Kazakhs won't be able to understand you. There is bound to be someone nearby, however, who speaks Mongolian and, possibly Russian, but certainly nothing else.

The aimag has a rich collection of archaeological sites, with many balbal (Turkic stone figures believed to be grave makers), deer stones, kiirgans (burial mounds) and a remarkable collection of 10,000 petroglyphs near the Russian border at Tsagaan Sala (also known as Baga Oigor). If you are particularly interested in these remote and obscure sites contact the Mongol Altai Nuruu Special Protected Area office in Olgii.

PLACES TO VISITED IN ULGII

janarbek — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:07:31 +0000

Ulgii (Olgii). Elevation 1710m. Olgii, the capital of the aimag, is an ethnically Kazakh city that happens to be in Mongolia. You can certainly feel that you are in a Muslim-influenced Central Asian region, rather than in Mongolia: many places have squat toilets; in the city, there are signs in Arabic and Kazakh Cyrillic; the market, which is called a bazar rather than the Mongolian zakh, sells the odd kebab (shashlyk) and is stocked with goods from Kazakhstan. Olgii is 1645km from Ulaanbaator but only 225km from Russia.
Olgii is suffering from the outflow of Kazakhs to Kazakhstan following the break up of the Soviet Union. Olgii is the only aimag capital to have a serious decline in population: about 9000 Kazakhs left the city in 1992 and 1993. Many have since returned, disillusioned with life in the exSoviet republic and the population is rising once again.
The aimag museum gives an excellent of overview of Kazakh culture and of the geography of Bayan-Olgii. The 2nd floor is devoted to history, and the 3rd floor has some interesting displays; entry costs T 1000.
Olgii's mosque and madrasah (Islamic place of learning) is worth a quick look, especially on Friday at lunch time when weekly prayers are held, though you may not be allowed inside. The mosque holds the offices of the Islamic Centre of Mongolia. Its unusual angle is due to its orientation to Mecca.

Tsagaannuur. Yet another place called Tsagaanuur (White Lake); the town is less famous for its lake (there are several bigger and nicer ones nearby) than as the starting point for travel by road into Russia.

Tsast Uul. The two sums (districts) of Altantsogts and Bayannuur are about 50km south-east of Olgii, on the border with Khovd aimag. They are full of lush valleys with friendly Kazakh and Mongol nomads in summer, dozens of tiny unmapped lakes and soaring, permanently snowcapped peaks, such as Tsast Uul (4193m).

Altay Tavanbogd Natural Park. This stunningly beautiful park stretches south from Tavanbogd Uul and includes the three stunning lakes of Khoton Nuur, Khurgan Nuur and Dayan Nuur. It's a remote area, divided from China by the high wall of snowcapped peaks, and known to local Kazakhs as the Syrgali region.
All three lakes are the source of the Khovd Gol, which eventually flows into Khar Us Nuur in Khovd aimag. It's possible to make rafting trips down river from Dayan Nuur, though no agencies offer this at present.
There are many archeological sites in the region. As the main road through the region swings towards the southern shore of Khurgan Nuur you can see a stupa-like construction and several burial sites. Nearby is a balbal (Turkic stone statue) and the remains of a processional pathway. Further along the road is a wooden Kazakh mosque, with a ger-shaped roof.
Further north-west, along the south-western shore of Khoton Nuur, the road deteriorates and there are several rivers to cross as they flow into the lake. North-west of Khoton Nuur the mountains close in and there's some fine trekking possibilities.

Tavanbogd (Five Saints) mountain rises 4374m above the borders of three nations, and for this reason it is also known as Nairamdal (Friendship) Peak. If you sit on the summit, you can simultaneously be in Mongolia, China and Russia (though you won't need a visa for all three).
Tavanbogd is one of Mongolia's most spectacular peaks, of interest to professional climbers, and the only one in Bavan-Olgii to be permanently covered with large glaciers (including the 19km long Potanii Glacier, the longest in Mongolia). It's fairly dangerous, and to climb it you need to be with an experienced group properly equipped with ice axes, crampons and ropes. Don't even consider attempting it solo. The best time to climb is August and September, after the worst of the summer rains.The massif is made up of five peaks (the five saints) - Khuiten, Naran, Olgii, Buraed and Nairamdal - the highest of which is Khuiten (meaning 'cold') at 4374m.

Tolbo Nuur. Tolbo Nuur (Frog Lake) is about 50km south of Olgii, on the main road between Olgii and Khovd city, so it's an easy day trip or stopover. The saltwater lake is high (2080m), expansive and eerie, but a bit disappointing because the shoreline is treeless. There are a few gers around the lake, and the water is clean enough for swimming if you don't mind icy temperatures. If you want to see, and camp at, some better lakes, keep travelling on to Uvs aimag.

PROTECTED AREAS IN BAYAN - ULGII AIMAG

janarbek — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:06:55 +0000

Most of the parks come under the jurisdiction of the Mongol Altai Nuruu Special Protected Area. Environmentalists hope that further sections of Bayan-Olgii will become national parks to preserve the argali sheep, ibex and snow leopard, as well as the important sources of lakes and rivers in the Great Lakes depression in the Uvs and Khovd aimags.

Altai Tavanbogd National Park (636,161 hectares). Takes in Tavanbogd Uul, Mongolia's highest mountain, and the stunning lakes of Khoton, Khurgan and Dayan. Fauna includes argali sheep, ibex, maral (Asiatic red deer), stone marten, deer, elk, Altai snowcock and eagles.
Khokh Serkh Strictly Pro tected Area (65,920 hectare). A mountainous area on the border with Khovd, which protects argali sheep and ibex.
Siylkhem Nuruu National Park (14,080 hectares). This new park, created in 2000, has two sections, one around Ikh Turgen Uul, the other further east.
Develiin Aral Natural Reserve (10,300 hectares). A remarkable habitat around Develiin Island in the L'san Khooloi and Khovd rivers. Established in 2000, it is home to pheasants, boars and beavers.
Tsambagarav L'ul National Park (110,960 hectares). Established in 2000 to protect glaciers and the snow leopard habitat borders on Khovd.

goal 2!

soupysays — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 08:31:36 +0000

Hovd Soum, the Kazakh soum in Khovd Aimag, plays baseball.

Baseball is not a sport that is played in Mongolia. Volleyball, basketball and soccer are very common. All games can be played with A Ball* and equipment that, once installed, lasts** Thus, they are pretty cheap and accessible games to play. Baseball, the other hand, needs more equipment. Like the other sports, only one ball is needed for a group. However, every fielder needs a mitt, and there needs to be a least one bat involved; you also have to play baseball outside. And well, it's cold in Mongolia for 8 months of the year. Plus, I'm sure Russians introduced those games to Mongolians, and I don't think baseball is very popular there.

However, Jordon, the M14 volunteer that lived in Hovd Soum, liked to play baseball. I discovered this a few months ago from a Hovd Soum resident and secondary school student, Eljis. I sat next to him during an English Sports Idiom presentation at the library. A picture of an American baseball stadium appeared on the screen; Eljis gasped and whispered to me, "We play baseball in my soum. Jordon taught us, but we use rocks for bases." He laughed. Not only did Jordon teach them how to play baseball, but Jordon's dad sent the soum softballs, gloves and bats.

Recently, Andy and Eljis chatted about all the PCVs in Hovd Aimag going to Hovd Soum to play baseball with the local kids. Eljis decided that this needed to happen and called us and told us to come on Saturday. Six PCVs piled into a hired jeep and drove to the soum to meet with Eljis and Hovd Soum's new PCV, Amber. When we pulled up to the wrestling field (our baseball field), we were greeted with a huge group of eager kids.

We let the kids throw around the ball for a bit, and Brody led a batting practice. Then we kicked the little kids off the field; Eljis found suitable bases by the creek, and we played a bigger kid softball game. We divided the Americans evenly across the teams. However, this was really unneeded because several kids put us to shame playing "America's game." We probably played 6 or so innings. We played until one team got to 10. I fell right into my standby role of "annoying fan," and I definitely entertained kids by cheering my face off.

I don't really like baseball all that much. I don't follow the MLB, and I stopped playing softball during middle school. However, I do have fond memories of going to friends' softball adult league games in Parker and being one of two fans in the stands. There is something about baseball/softball that triggers a cheesy, small-town feel-good emotion. (See the movie: The Sandlot).

I felt a little bit of that on Saturday standing on the wrestling field in the shadow of the Altai mountains listening to children laughing with each other in Kazakh and listening to the clang of a softball on a aluminum bat.

*A Ball is many times used for all three sports.

**Outdoors sports equipment sticks around unless it is stolen for scrap metal. Basketball hoops often fall prey to this fate.

More Lawsuits for Borat

C.A.R.D — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:53:50 +0000

(New York) - People in a remote Romanian village are suing over the Borat movie. Gypsies in the village of Glod were used as stand-ins for Kazakhs in the film. The $30 million lawsuit says the film's makers exploited them, telling them the
footage was for a documentary about extreme poverty in Romania that would fairly depict their lives, living conditions, occupations, community, heritage and beliefs.

The suit says "nothing could have been further from the truth" and says villagers were shown "as rapists, abortionists, prostitutes, thieves, racists, bigots, simpletons and/or boors."

But, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox says "the movie was never presented to anyone in Romania as a documentary." He says the people in Glod were paid above the usual rate and mixed with professional actors and others to portray a fictional village. He says Borat is "a film that uses satire to expose racism and bigotry."

[Click more for source information]

C.a.r.d {Citizens Against Racism and Discrimination} Source: WLTX.com

TIAN SHAN: "Delicious and strange"

are you gonna eat that? — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 02:47:00 +0000

From Beijing, we flew four hours to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. The city would wait. The Heavenly Mountains were calling.

Known in Chinese as "Tian Shan," the mountain range stretches 1,500 km across central Asia. From Urumqi, it took an hour by bus to reach the mountains - or at least the admission office.

Then we had to line up to take a gondola to where you could actually see something.

I usually don't have a problem with heights, especially if it's a short ride up. A few minutes in a foreign metal bucket hanging on a wire with an unknown mechanical record is not a problem. Yup, no worries. Dum dee dum dee dum...

Twenty minutes later, the only things that kept me sane during the ascent were:

the advertisement in our gondola car for some kind of seasoning. "Delicious and Strange" it promised in English.
classical music piped from speakers attached to each support pole as we passed. Somehow it was very calming. Delicious and strange indeed.

The temporary acrophobia was worth it. The gorgeous Tian Shan stood before us, snow caps glinting in the sun, and Heavenly Lake (Tian Chi) ahead.

Tian Shan is the setting for many Chinese legends, the home of gods and goddesses and dragons. The dried plants on the right were in a fruit seller's basket. They're supposed to be snow lotus, said to be found only in the Heavenly Mountains.

When an emperor was poisoned or a warrior stabbed, snow lotus was the inevitable cure. Some poor sap would give a toss of his ponytail, grab his sword and saddle up in search of the antidote. Cue valiant trek through snowy mountains and maybe a sword fight or two. Top it off with Zhang Ziyi bathing in some moonlit pool and you've got a hit. But I digress.

All along the walkways, vendors tried to catch our attention. Lots of skewer sellers. With raw slabs of mutton hanging at their stands.

The Uyghur people who make up almost half of Xinjiang's population are Muslim. The Kazakhs are another Turkic group with a nomadic history who have also settled here. Their Islamic beliefs mean pork is extremely rare in Xinjiang. We would soon get used to mutton at every meal.

Nomads also had a hand in making nang bread a staple in Xinjiang. It's just like Indian naan bread but tougher and chewier.

The big round hunk of nang was perfect nomad food because it contains little water and can keep for up to a month for all those long dusty journeys. I wouldn't know. I ate mine in about 40 minutes then got on a golf cart for the trip down the mountain.