Monday, November 24, 2008

Absenteeism

Things are well on the whole in Kyrgyzstan. I've been a truant writer because I have been running around trying to get a visa together, as well as attempting to put a promotional movie together for the Alpine Fund. In addition, I have been getting a couple of English classes going. So the last three weeks have been all about getting the kinks out of stuff. In a lot of ways this made life a bit tedious and frustrating. 

Getting a visa is all about getting enough stamps and letters and submitting the right bit of paper to the right person in exchange for the addition to another piece of paper. The offices are in different parts of town and whenever you don't fall very clearly into a bureaucratic slot, no one really knows what the answer is... my 'language tutored independent social research' definitely does not fit well with the program of needing to have all sorts of papers and such from a university to get a student visa... but a tourist visa and a business visa don't fit either. I finally cleared a major hurdle on Thursday when a seemingly random official in a seemingly random office looked at my papers, made me fetch another letter from someone, looked at my letters again and then signed one of the papers. Then I gave my papers to a functionary and was informed that a decision as to my status would be rendered by committee in two weeks. The  ability of a signature to cut through all the red tape definitely leads to corruption. 

I learned a lot about corruption at the universities and among officials here in the last couple weeks (honestly, through conversation, not personal experience). Its a fascinating dance and its really screwed up. I hope to collect the tidbits into a coherent mass soon.

In other news some of my friends at the bazaar are in danger of having their houses bulldozed. Some of the local women leaders are pressing for a solution with a judge. They seem to be under pressure from powerful figures who have arranged to have their power shut off for as many as five days at a time. 

So I am eager to start learning more about that situation tomorrow.

With random computer troubles, visa limbo and uncertain english class attendance behind me, at least for now, its nice to be back to doing work that feels like it adds up to something.

Sorry for not writing much, I plan to have more to write about, and not just gripe about, soon.


Friday, November 07, 2008

Ditka's Power Has Dwindled

Obama's election was the first time I felt really happy, deeply soulfully happy, about a political contest. No doubt the burden of reality will push elation aside quickly. But a great moment is a great moment and I've been happily savoring this one. 

The view of the election from Kyrgyzstan is interesting. Most people don't know very much about Obama's biography but are happy that he one. He noted for being black... unfortunately in Russian the term "Niggr'" still gets tossed around casually, though of course the cultural context is totally removed from the history of repression, hate and abuse in the US. The translation carries only moderate derision.

So most people are in favor of the new president. This opinion is basically based on a naive belief that a new president can "stop" the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These opinions uninformed by the fact that Obama campaigned on a promise to escalate military involvement in Afghanistan. But I have little doubt that if they were as informed as most Americans that they would come to the same conclusion. Much of the reaction is fairly typical Russian-esque ambivalence.

Coverage of the election results on the news cycles out of Moscow was given little more time than the average news story and as stuck in between a nasty car accident in Moscow and a folk dance.

Unfortunately the poor coverage of a historic and triumphant moment in American history (irrespective of political orientation) was matched by very poor US coverage of the Russian response. As you probably heard, the Russians announced they would move missiles up to the Polish border in response to the US missile shield. What was not mentioned is that Medvedev offered a refreshingly sober assessment of the state of Russian democracy/governance. 

"In our days, at the new level of development, Russian society confirms its adherence to the democratic values of the constitution. On the whole, it has embraced democratic habits, practices and procedures. Unlike in the recent past, our citizens no longer associate the democratic structure with chaos, powerlessness or degradation. New Russia has proved its ability to fulfil social obligations and ensure economic growth, guarantee citizens' rights and demand law abidance, and successfully fight terrorism and external aggression.

Now it is not a question of whether democracy can exist in Russia, as it used to be not so long ago, only 15 years ago. It is clear that democracy can exist in Russia. This is obvious and nobody is arguing with this. The question now is about the way Russian democracy should develop in future. I believe that Russian citizens are much more ready for free enterprise, professional as well as social and political, than at the beginning of the reforms, enterprise without state guardianship. More and more people are relying on themselves, first and foremost. They believe that their personal success and consequently the success of the whole country, depends on them. This is why it is not only possible but necessary to increase the level of trust in society. (Applause)

Meanwhile, state bureaucracy is still - as well as 20 years ago - going by the same mistrust of free people and free enterprise. This logic prompts it (bureaucracy) to make dangerous conclusions and take dangerous steps. Now and then bureaucracy makes life a nightmare for business - what if they do something wrong; it takes the media under its control for them not to say something wrong; it meddles in the election process - for people not to elect somebody wrong; it pressurizes courts for them not to bring in wrong verdicts, and so on. (Applause) As a result, the state machine is a major employer, the most active publisher, the best producer, as well as its own court, party and its own nation, in the long run. A system like this is not al all effective and creates one thing only - corruption. (Applause) It gives birth to mass legal nihilism. It contradicts the constitution, puts brakes on the development of innovative economy and democratic institutions. A strong state and omnipotent bureaucracy are not the same thing. A civil society needs the former as a tool to develop and support order, to protect and strengthen political institutions, while the latter is mortally dangerous for it. This is why our society should develop democratic institutions in a calm, persevering way and not putting it off.

Democratic institutions, which have been created in the past few years, and, let's be honest, on an instruction from the top, must take root in all social layers. To do this, we need constantly prove the viability of democratic order, and second, entrust more and more social and political functions directly to citizens, their organizations and self-governing bodies.

No, the state must not renounce responsibility for its sphere of authority and we must act pragmatically, soberly assessing risks, but action is really needed."

So, there is more hope for Russian domestic politics than is typically reported in the US. Also, the Russian perspective on US policy is biased but not fundamentally rooted in any enormous lie. Its fun to have an adversary and always politically and market-wise (news coverage) expedient to paint an antogist as fundamentally irrational and baseless. It is also not constructive over the long term.

Saturday, November 01, 2008