Oppositional slides and mice born by them

By Meirzhan BULTAI (Prague)

“Her love imitation costs more than true love of many women”

Karol Izhikobsky

Kazakhstani political opposition has reminded of itself at the moment when society learned to live without it. Other side, in light of crisis there became much more dissatisfied with government quality of work. So, we have the reason to get a closer view at opposition; in zoological interest at least.

Kazakhstani opposition, as valuable structural phenomenon, appeared in the late 90-ties of the last century and it is reasonably connected with former prime-minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin person. Naturally, protest actions were before Kazhegeldin’s period but its motley mosaic didn’t shape a whole picture. Some people had nostalgia by USSR (by government social warranties to be more precise), others sounded off by governmental and social institutions weak effectiveness and other ones had been defeated in inter-clan conflicts.

Being in active phase of opposition to Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazhegeldin gave to all this issues the complete form. Also, being in a position of authority in the back of government rooms he answered at akim’s complaints about the plight of the people with such expressions like “if you want to stay at the post, I will no longer hear the word “people”. But how can you oppose acting president without appeal to the nation and democracy values?

Kazhegeldin, by entering into political struggle, attracted at his side the segment of Kazakhstani oppositional strata like opposition by the principles. It means, people who dissatisfy with any government and any kind of top authority just for the reason it exists in this world. They didn’t like Soviet Union for the lack of freedom and trade deficit, Kazakhstan for the unemployment, corruption and polarization between rich and poor. Opposition by the principles didn’t like government as the institution for the existence of police, taxes, official propaganda and freedom of speech regulation.

Akezhan Kazhegeldin brought not only structural system at the oppositional field but money also. One of the surprising features of money is that wealthy person won’t be lonely anytime. So, former premier has had plenty of sympathizers. The down side of money is bickering and strife brought by it. Even relatively small segment of opposition by the principles suffered significant losses from the effect of financial flow, what can we say about those who came into opposition for the money and their own realization of power and other ambitions.

Kazhegeldin in opposition epoch identified weak side of such kind of local feature as patron-client relations. Any top official has a network of dependent clients; between them are vertical connections on the principle of resources sharing. Herein, clients of one patron often don’t have horizontal connections among each others – only vertical ones with patron and their own clientele. When patron-client system of Akezhan Kazhegeldin has become a subject to repression of state apparatus, most of the clients betrayed him and went to the opposite side.

Also period of Kazhegeldin showed the importance of informational resource in hands of opposition. Until he went to the opposition side, Akezhan Kazhegeldin made great efforts by himself to control power under television. Ruling regime was supersensitive to criticism of this type of mass media. With Kazhegeldin in opposition there have been begun active persecutions of dissenting print media. The most massive weekly newspaper of the country Caravan was overbought by the authorities (it was “you can’t refuse” proposal). Kazakh language newspaper Dat, which was, due to well-organized distribution system, got Kazakh speaking periphery and made it flurry very much. This paper was suppressed by administrative measures also.

Akezhan Kazhegeldin very precisely and vividly (and self-critically in some ways) matched that big officials go to opposition from political Olympus by only one reason: they’ve been out from a feeding through. Naturally, quantity of pushed from through is more than those who came into oppositional side. You need to have definite level of ambitions and fightiness to go to opposition side.

Typical oppositional leader of middling sort relatively to official of the same weight category is clearly fighter. However it’s fighter, more precisely fighter from gun units. Such people aren’t able to create the system of communal services, public transport or dike dams construction. Though, they are ready to struggle for the redeployments until the last fighter. They are ready to bring to the altar of victory any of their supporters or associates.

In 2001 year, there was public opposition to uncomfortable conditions to trough by so-called mladotyurki. It was the wave of managers, called to state apparatus by president Nazarbayev in the middle of 90-ies. New economical and political conditions required young and well-educated people with western view on many things.

Bulat Abilov is the one of the oppositional stars ignited that time and not extinguished yet; he is co-chair of the National Social Democratic Party Azat; and Mukhtar Ablyazov, fugitive banker and also oppositional political activist. Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, former akim of Pavlodar region, overwhelmed his political shining and now he just time to time blinks on political landscape. Alikhan Baimenov former minister of labor and social protection, has gone to pro-power camp and playing contributed to it; however unambiguously. The opposition was more harmed than advantageous by him.

2001 opened quite lasting wave in terms of time, when quite rich and influential people were coming to the opposition, which, because of their losses in struggle around the big crib caught anger to hateful regime. They are appearing on the oppositional meetings with cared hands and watches worth around $10 thousand on their wrists, annoying gathered people with eau-de-cologne and other expensive perfume, which couldn’t be bought for official salary in state bodies.

Such people are not always taking roots on a new place, for the reason that one of the most frequent things of being fenced off from the big crib is because of disability to pass the test to be useful to established political system. The system is an objective reality, and if a functionary is not included in it, then it is regularly falling out of the perimeter. Many among such people then could not find their niche even in oppositional environment, which is, being different, is no less toxic and rivaling. Then they are trying to return into power, let it be on third row roles. A payment for this is shooting backs of their yesterday’s colleagues over oppositional camp. And they actually shooting, by the way discrediting the opposition on subject that what kind of persons are circling in its environment.

Daft experts, political analysts, ideologists, political consultants and publicists are simply finding their niche in the oppositional environment for some reason. Here the situation in some way is analogical to the authorities fenced off the crib. When such “experts” couldn’t propose something positive, constructive and consolidating the society in power structures – they finding themselves in the opposition. Because in the trend of splitting, subtraction and establishing a conflict, they, together with their phantasmagorias, is easier and gentlier to work.

The radicalization of everything and everyone – is a usual satellite of history in periods of deep crisis’s. Communism, fascism and Nazism as a powerful force has been established during the First World War and cataclysms burned or enforced by it. It is quite natural that in present era of global systematic crisis, different flows with “ultra” attachment are rising heads and finding new followers. And the less resources the power have (economical, ideological, intellectual, organizational, informational), the more happy will be the followers of destructive ideas.

The difference of Kazakhstani opposition from its analogues in other countries of post-soviet space – is the abundance of viewable and inviewable, but well feelable connection with the power. The opposition is frequently appearing in quality of continuation of power-financial groups. One wing is in the power, the other as the reserve is in the opposition. That is the reason of an extreme personification of oppositional criticism. One figures within the power are appearing in quality of responsible for all of its negative; but others are attributed everything positive (even a halo on their heads); else, they are not even reminded.

There are also a figures nest-dolls such as Zharmakhan Tuyakbay, co-chairman of OSDP Azat. There are very huge suspicions that this name is in opposition with residential approach. Too droopingly he fighting ruling regime, however, giving his support to different idiotic propositions from narrow-minded social activists. The presence of figures such as Tuyakbay is objectively narrowing the corridor to radicalization of conterstanding with the power to politicians such as Bulat Abilov. If there was no Zharmakhan Tuyakbay, Abilov could come much closer to Aynur Kurmanov and leaders like him, which are not scared to have direct and violent impacts with powers, are seeking to find a common language with crowd.

When the abroad wing of Kazakhstani opposition was supplemented by Rakhat Aliev, which was in all thing a kick below the belt for everyone who were associated with this camp. Infant Terrible of Kazakhstani counter-elite left so much bloody traces during his violent and diversified activities, that from the point of view of a black PR any emotional women can crab his press-conference in Europe by only shouting “Murderer, Murderer!”. But let us be objective: he has the money. And what could be done with it on the field of political struggle has been already demonstrated by his predecessors. At that Aliev is compensating his given lack if intellect with his unpredictability.

It appears that to lost political reputation the opposition has nothing to do. It is needed only to prevent detainment; and in sort terms any initiative, any idea of the opposition will fall apart itself. To say, again on constructive and radical, on real and surreal parts; in any case it appears that the coin has two sides. Both false.