![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
In Kazakhstan today, overt dissent is not typically tolerated. However, recent large-scale citizen protests over land use and the environment have resulted in significant concessions by the government. This paper examines the discourses and slogans of protests spaces, which invoke the (inter)national legal frameworks of the United Nations, the legacy of land and bio-species conservation in the former Soviet Union, and a nationalized moral paradigm of respect for ancestral lands, cultural heritage, and sovereignty. Protesters not only call upon government leaders to respect these existing structures of authority, but also position themselves pragmatically as agents of social and political change.
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to all of those participants who contributed to the interviews and to the collection and analysis of the materials presented here, as well as to the many scientists, project managers, teachers, and activists who continue to contribute to Kazakhstan’s environmental protection. Special recognition goes to “The Ecology Dream Team” together with Indira Tukusheva, Aiganym Nurtazina, and Asel Zhanbulatova. Thanks also to my discourse analysis team, Indira Makhazhan and Tamarakhonum Davlatova!
Disclosure Statement
I do not have any personal or institutional conflicts of interest regarding the material presented in this paper.
Notes
1. One notable case of Kazakhstan’s crackdown on dissent occurred in the western oil town of Zhanaozen in 2011, where striking oil workers were met with state police violence and sixteen lost their lives as a result. The case continues to resonate with rights workers to this day and seems to be evidence of “cracks in the system” (Maltseva Citation2017, 185), a turning point whereby the lack of principles such as “social justice and political responsibility” or transparency on the part of government will necessarily result in popular dissent (Maltseva Citation2017, 198; cf Lewis Citation2016).
2. Kazakhstan’s official language policy is bilingualism, Russian–Kazakh. This policy was created to reflect the reality of widespread use of Russian as a lingua franca resulting from the Soviet experience, as well as the linguistic identity of the (rapidly growing) ethnic majority. Russian and Kazakh language political stances also broadly index different sets of politics—one more international, the other more national. In practice, the implementation of the policy has been uneven: Kazakh-language resources are lagging, while Russian is often seen to offer more practical mobility. A heavy focus on bilingualism belies the concurrent reality that most successful educational models are strongly multilingual, including Turkish and English, which offer different forms of a more global opportunity (Fierman Citation2009; Smagulova Citation2008; Sydyzbekova Citation2016). On multilingualism in the former Soviet Union, see Pavlenko Citation2013.
3. On the beginning of the movement and Suleimenov’s participation, see https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/kazakhs-stop-nuclear-testing-nevada-semipalatinsk-antinuclear-campaign-1989-1991 Accessed June 17, 2019. A useful comparison between the broader ecological activism of writer Suleimenov in Kazakhstan would be with writer Pirmat Shermukhamedov writing against desication of Aral Sea in Uzbekistan (Weinthal and Watters Citation2011, 97).
4. For a list of zones considered dangerous and the reasons why, see https://bioslogos.ru/63-zony-ekologicheskih-bedstviy-v-kazahstane.html. Accessed June 17, 2019.
5. The Karaganda mine was first privatized to Arcelor Mittal in 1996. Anthropologist Eeva Keskula has described how a sharp increase in mine-related accidents and deaths was a direct result of under-regulation of both equipment and safety conditions there (Keskula Citation2018).
6. This history is outlined in UNECE’s Environmental Performance Reviews of Kazakhstan in Citation2008 and Citation2019, which may be accessed online here: http://www.unece.org/environmental-policy/environmental-performance-reviews/enveprpublications/environmental-performance-reviews/2008/2nd-environmental-performance-review-of-kazakhstan.html.
7. In June 2019 Kazakhstan’s new president implemented a third version—the Ministry of Ecology, Geology, and Natural Resources—which will govern environmental protection, waste, water, and geology apart from the Ministries of Energy and Agriculture. See https://astanatimes.com/2019/06/kazakh-president-creates-new-trade-and-ecology-ministries-appoints-new-ministers/. Accessed July 31, 2019.
8. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/aarhus/. Accessed September 18, 2017.
9. Personal interview with Aarhus Astana office director July 2015. That office is responsible for compiling the country’s implementation reports to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Like other Aarhus member nations, Kazakhstan has submitted reports every third year beginning in 2005, which may all be accessed online: https://www.unece.org/env/pp/reports.html.
10. The research presented here is part of a broader project on the role of oral traditions and sacred landscape in the establishment of ancestral authority in Kazakhstan (2012–2016), supported by a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (CIG PCIG11-GA-2012-321921). In the summers of 2015 and 2016 I went to Nazarbayev University to work with a student research team specifically on the topic of cultural and environmental protection. We conducted the fieldwork, interviews, and materials collection described here. That research was supplemented by a period of discourse analysis, also at Nazarbayev University, for the collected materials, supported by a Short Term Research Grant in 2018 from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. Research and writing in 2016–2017 was also supported by a fellowship from the Young Scientists Award Programme (BAGEP) of the Science Academy, Turkey.
11. Some observations and quotes from research interviews are referenced here in order to provide participants’ perspectives. However, because these issues and activism are contentious in Kazakhstan, many of our participants are directly at risk of being either followed by security services, or arrested. Therefore, I have made the choice to provide extremely minimal information in order that no one can be identified, with only two exceptions: Mels Eleuisov is a public figure who regularly speaks on these topics, so he is mentioned by name. The office of the the Aarhus director is mentioned for Astana and Atyrau, with permission.
12. http://fhc.kz/forest/26/4833/and http://old.unesco.kz/heritagenet/kz/participant/zapovednik/ile_alatau/ile-alatau.htm. Both accessed May 28, 2018.
13. A list of national parks and their designated purpose may be found here: http://naturkaz.info/?nacionalmznye_parki. Accessed July 27, 2019.
14. https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1681/. Accessed May 28, 2018
15. http://www.ecosign.com/project/almaty-region. The Kazakhstan government contracted Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners Ltd (out of Whistler, CO, USA) to plan the project; the master plan was submitted and approved in 2012.
17. https://ejatlas.org/conflict/protect-kok-zhailau-ile-alatau-state-national-nature-park-kazakhstan. Accessed May 28, 2018.
19. http://www.greensalvation.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=328&cntnt01detailtemplate=news02detail.tpl&cntnt01returnid=51. Accessed March 21, 2019.
20. http://esgrs.org/?page_id = 7239. Accessed March 21, 2019.
21. https://adamdar.ca/en/category/adamdar-news/kok-zhailau-defenders-to-hold-a-press-conference. Accessed March 21, 2019.
22. http://www.ile-alatau.kz/accessed March 23, 2019.
23. Reporting on these issues reached the global media; see for example https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/18821/kazakhstan-s-unprecedented-land-protests-only-the-first-wave-of-discontent and https://thediplomat.com/2016/06/kazakhstants-land-reforms as well as https://www.refworld.org/docid/573ec6ff4.html. All accessed July 13, 2016.
24. Journalist Aigerim Toleukhan was one of those to first explain the perception of “Chinese” investors and its meaning for Kazakhstan https://www.rferl.org/a/qishloq-ovoi-kazakhstan-protests-one-year/284603322. Accessed June 24, 2019. For an overview of the recent Chinese economic expansion in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, see http://voicesoncentralasia.org/dragons-tender-hug-prosperity-discourse-and-chinas-soft-power-in-kazakhstan/by Daniyar Kosnazarov. Accessed January 16, 2019.
25. https://www.refworld.org/docid/576b9ea44.html. Accessed March 20, 2019.
26. Personal interview July 2016. Names are withheld here because these individuals are in direct and ongoing danger of arrest and harassment.
27. One major attempt to disseminate such information is here: http://kerek-info.kz/kerek-akparat/2084-samat-srsenov-sheteldkterge-zher-satylmaydy.html. Last accessed July 27, 2019.
28. One article by Shahanov, “Giving Away Land to Foreigners Has to Be Stopped,” was published at qamshy.kz as well as https://qazaquni.kz/2016/05/14/51674.html. Accessed July 27, 2019.
29. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-president-land/in-rare-climbdown-kazakh-leader-delays-land-reforms-for-five-years-idUSKCN10T1UY. Accessed September 18, 2017.
30. http://www.government.kz/en/novosti/1002780-land-reform-commission-holds-meeting-in-atyrau.html. Accessed March 21, 2019.
31. http://www.government.kz/en/novosti/1001203-members-of-land-reform-commission-under-government-of-kazakhstan-go-to-regions.html. Accessed March 21, 2019.
32. https://astanatimes.com/2016/08/kazakhstan-extends-by-five-years-moratorium-on-controversial-land-code-amendments/. Accessed September 18, 2017. See also an overview of the timeline of events here http://ult.kz/post/zher-satu-paydasy-ziyany-tarikhy. Accessed July 27, 2019.
33. Mukhtar Taizhan’s speech about the protection of Saghaishykh was reported at https://www.zakon.kz/4807444-mukhtar-tajjzhan-v-atyrau-nam.html and at https://kaz.tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/muhtar-tayjan-atyiraudagyi-sarayshyik-kalasyin-saktap-271390/. Both accessed August 30, 2016.
34. “Saghaishykh” pamphlet authored by the Department of Culture of the Atyrau Region (undated).
35. The idea of “sacred sites” in Kazakhstan and throughout Central Asia includes a variety of sites—natural landmarks, sites of geographic significance, as well as mausoleums, museums, and shrines—that are visited regularly by a series of tourists and pilgrims who wish to partake of the good energy, read prayers, and perhaps receive the blessing of a site caretaker at these places (Aitpaeva Citation2015; Feaux de la Croix Citation2016; Dubuisson Citation2017). Sacred sites in Central Asia blend and fuse a wide variety of historical traditions; stories and prayers at these sites would fuse local languages (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Uighur) with Arabic and readings from the Koran (cf Rasanayagam Citation2014; Louw Citation2007).
36. Personal interview July 2016.
37. Dubuisson fieldnotes July 2016.
38. https://strategy2050.kz/news/5146/. Accessed July 29, 2019. The Mangilik El Program is also described in articles on the government’s online history site https://e-history.kz/kz.
39. Another current and ongoing program of state cultural ideology is Rukhani Zhangyru (Spiritual Awakening). https://strategy2050.kz/ru/news/category/181/. Accessed July 29, 2019.
40. According to UNECE environmental protection reports in 2008, there has been flooding at the north end of the sea, land degradation due to (toxic) waste dumping, and very nearly all of the air pollution in the region is attributed to the oil and gas industry. The 2019 assessment provides an expenditure report (pp. 71–89).
41. The “zones” in Kazakhstan’s national scale protection projects are defined ecologically (forest, steppe, desert, mountain, lake), as well as by their botanical and zoological biodiversity.
42. https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/kz. The Altyn Emel and Ile Aletau national parks each have their own websites and facebook groups for the dissemination of information on their territory and biodiversity.