Kazakhstan, for a country the size of
the whole of western Europe, is remarkably invisible. It is telling
of the level of invisibility that the only reference any Westerners
have for it is Borat, a movie so reliant on racist stereotypes that
if it had been made about virtually any other country or ethnic
minority it would have been completely reviled. We don't even know
enough about the Kazakhs to be offended on their behalf.
Our ignorance is, in part, because
Kazakhstan as a country simply hasn't existed for long. The Kazakhs
negotiated their independence from the USSR only in December of 1991,
making it one year older than I am. Since that time it has slowly,
and quietly, begun to shrug off a heavy burden of extractionary
economic policies and social terror and oppression leftover from
communist rule. Kazakhstan is a rich country full of poor people: the
ground swells with oil, minerals, and natural gas which the Russians
were quick to extract, but ensure that the finished products and the
wealth they generated remained in Russia. Meanwhile, they used
Kazakhstan as a dumping ground for human and chemical undesirables –
poisoning the environment ad thousands of people with nuclear
testing, and filled the country with scattered prisons for criminals
and political exiles. The indigenous nomadic culture was crushed
under soviet rule and impractical (and often impossible) agricultural
projects imposed instead.
One of few eagle hunters whose traditions survived the Soviet purge
So, like so many countries on reaching
Independence, Kazakhstan found itself penniless, with gutted
government institutions, a broken economy, and a defeated spirit. But
despite this, this may be one of the few blogs in this series which
ends optimistically. Since independence the country has been
dominated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whom the author of my
book seemed a bit star-struck by. He has allowed for little dissent
or political opposition, but he has maintained peace in a religiously
and ethnically diverse population, and rapid economic growth.
Privatization has slowly begun to leak natural resource wealth and a
functioning economy to the ordinary person, and the new found wealth
built a shining new capitol city, Astana, in just a matter of years.
Most impressively, the Kazakhs have embraced their vast array of
religious and ethnic diversity. The Kazakh population of 16 million
is divided among over 25 ethnic groups, and between two majors
religions of Islam and Christianity. But there has been little
tension. The new capitol city contains a huge glass pyramid designed
to host interfaith dialog and promote religious understanding and
equality.
The capitol city Astana, completely rebuilt since 1997
A Kazakh Mosque - the strangest of many beautiful Mosques in the country.
My past three blogs focused on majority
Muslim countries, and critiqued the hypocritical use of faith and
extremism by the elite to control and manipulate the masses.
Kazakhstan is 70% Muslim, but shows an alternative – an Islam which
accepts diversity and encourages peace. An economically successful,
peaceful and diverse majority Muslim country hardly fits into the
Western dominant narrative around Islam, and I have to wonder if this
is part of why Kazakhstan is so invisible to us. We cannot see what
we don't expect to find.
While snooping around the internet about Kazakhstan I was enchanted by the pictures I found of natural beauty and strange wildlife, and couldn't resist including a few.
Kazakhstan is famous for its tulips every spring
It also has the strange and wonderful Saiga antelope, in the running for my favorite animal. You can learn more about this creature, including why their noses look like that, here
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