To symbolize the revitalization of this blog, I am going to be liveblogging an event I have stumbled into. As soon as I find out what that event is, I’ll be writing it down here. I start with a question:

Why are there hundreds of school children (EDIT: I am told that they are in fact college students) lined up in the old square in Astana? On second look, they appear to be herded into corrals marked off by pink ribbon.

And they have been given blue and yellow scarves, as well as yellow shirts which I can only assume say: Мы за Казахстан or Казахстан, толбко впереод or something similarly patriotic. (EDIT: They are carrying banners that say, “We are Kazakhstan, One land” and “Kazakhstan, our land. Astana, the head city” if my Kazakh is any good, which it isn’t.)

I don’t see any “cool” people for them to sing to, and they weren’t rehearsing a little dance yesterday. It’s not a holiday. I have no idea what is going.

Oh, there’s a stage out there as well. Starting and stopping music. The bass is shaking out mirror

I have just been informed that they are going to sing the National Anthem, Menin Kazakhstanym. No one seems to know what the occasion is.

And it’s 6:12pm and we have started. The yellow-shirted students are on the stage, with yellow and blue balloons. The rest of the students, with no discernible uniform, are standing around looking bored. The speakers are speaking Kazakh, but there’s a lot of repetition of the word “Kazakhstan”. There’s also a big banner behind the stage which reads, “Kazakhstani Student Union’.

Now that some other yellow-shirted students have marched around a bit and left, the rest of the students are moving forward with yet more patriotic banners. In general, the yellow-shirted students are cheering and the others are sort of looking on.

And after some more banter, at 6:30 the national anthem did start. Although it doesn’t look like too many sang. Or put their hand on their heart, as the law now requires.

Hey, fireworks sparkling at the front.

And now they appear to be assembling out to chants of Kazakhstan! and Astana! Or rather, milling about as if something cool might happen.

So whatever the name of this day may be, have a happy one!

Dear Kazakhstan

I understand. I really do. I don’t think he’s funny. I’m tired of defending my adopted country and that of my wife and friends against ignorant idiots who believe the crap this idiot spews out.

But really, this furor is making you look worse than anything Borat has ever done or said. It’s one thing for people to laugh about funny customs they think you have, but it’s another to come off as a humourless, repressive government, especially given your associations with the mother of all humourless, repressive dictatorships, the USSR.

Look, the people who read The New York Times and the Washington Post, where you place ads, already know about Kazakhstan. They get the joke of Borat and how it’s not about Kazakhstan for reals.

However one large, educated and influential sector of the population reads blogs and web pages. And on those blogs, on the eve of your President’s trip to the US, the first such trip in years, after a succession of high-level visits from the US to Kazakhstan including Condoleezza Rice, Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney, they are not talking about you recent success negotiating a nuclear weapon free zone. They are not talking about your attempts to advise Iran on nuclear weapons. Nor do they mention controversial, but serious, issues like recent media law reforms or the court case that concluded. No word about the World Conference on Religions, going on right now with the participation of Gorbachev and the former President of Iran not to mention representatives of every religious group ever. They are talking about Borat. From what angle? Not from yours.

Please stop. You aren’t winning. Please watch some American TV and movies. Note that the lone individual, thought to be a little wacky, but ultimately funny, always wins over the giant faceless bureaucracy, whether the genre be drama, romance, historical drama or comedy. In tragedy, the bureaucracy wins–but that IS the tragedy.

Borat is one guy who will someday die and the DVDs of his movies will fade in 15-20 years according to the experts. Your culture has survived for thousands of years. The nomadic lifestyle helped build two of the greatest and largest empires the world has ever seen. You win.

Love,

KZBlog