Takhir Mukhamedzyanov, miners’ union
leader and member of Socialist Movement Kazakhstan, was found dead in
his house on 5 June. The cause of death is unknown, but it follows on
from anonymous threats that he would be ‘got rid of’. In 2010, Takhir’s
garage and car were blown up, after being searched and documents taken.
A fortnight after that, the police and others took Takhir and attempted
to inject him with an unknown substance. Takhir worked with members of
the CWI. He was also involved in the Zhanartu union, and in building
links between the miners and others in struggle, including oil workers.
Vadim Kuramshin, human rights
activist and lawyer, is currently on trial for bribery despite clear
evidence to the contrary. Vadim has provided witnesses who have made
clear that he was protesting against bribery rather than accepting it.
Police witnesses seemed to develop sudden, severe memory loss. Video
‘evidence’ was so clearly tampered with that the judge immediately
postponed the hearings to give the state time to come up with a better
story!
Bolat Atabayev, famous Kazakh
theatre director who has supported workers’ struggles, was arrested for
‘inciting social discord’. He was taken on a 3,000km journey to be
tried. Bolat is diabetic, and his family were denied the chance to give
him the insulin supplies he would need to make this journey.
These actions against prominent
figures are replicated with vicious attacks on union leaders and
community activists locally, with waves of arrests. Roza Tuletaeva, a
leading figure in last year’s oil strikes, was sentenced to seven years,
and reported in court the beatings and near-suffocation that she
suffered during interrogation. One 51-year-old activist committed
suicide after questioning.
This is the regime’s vicious revenge
following the heroic Zhanaozen oil workers’ strike in 2011. For seven
months thousands of workers took strike action, demanding increased pay,
despite huge state repression. The struggle became a fight for the basic
right to organise in a union, against corruption, and for the
nationalisation of the massive oil reserves in western Kazakhstan.
Eventually, the regime seized on a peaceful protest rally organised by
the workers to launch an attack, firing live rounds into the crowd and
killing over 70.
The government’s official inquiry
confirmed the massive corruption, with former mayors and state-owned
KazMunaiGaz officials sentenced for stealing millions of pounds. An
international outcry forced the government to sentence some of the local
police, but the orders to shoot came directly from the Ministry of the
Interior.
These token official moves have not
solved the systemic corruption or police brutality. International
couriers, DHL, working in tandem with big oil, are currently conducting
an internal review into bribes to Kazakh customs officials. It is
estimated that the Kazakh customs authority took $150 million in bribes
in 2007 alone.
Opposition parties such as Alga are
also facing harassment. Alga is the latest political representation of
the oligarchs who split from Nazarbayev in 2001. While socialists
support their democratic right to organise, it is clear that a
Kazakhstan run by Alga would be little different. Leading member,
Mukhtar Ablyazov, is currently in hiding in Britain, avoiding charges of
embezzling $5 billion from Kazakh BTA bank. While the lengths to which
the regime is pursuing the case are clearly politically motivated, the
charges are serious.
But events in Zhanaozen have not
quashed workers’ struggle. Several ‘days of discontent’ have been
organised this year, and workers’ leaders say that the intimidation of
activists is to try and prevent the next social explosion. But workers
in particular are determined to continue the fight. The Telegraph
reports that, in the wake of the Zhanaozen massacre, "a series of wage
disputes have since been resolved quickly with little or no media
attention". This includes the dispute at the Kazakhmys-owned Annensky
mine, which was victorious after other miners took solidarity action.
Kazakhstan is completely dominated
by the clique around Nazarbayev. Forbes earlier this year published its
first Kazakstan rich-list. Top of the list is Kazakhmys owner, Vladimir
Kim, with a fortune of £2.2 billion. He is a close confidant of
Nazarbayev. The president’s grandson, daughter Dinara Kulibayeva, and
her husband Timur Kulibayev, all feature. The Kulibayev’s have wealth
estimated at £810 million each. Timur Kulibayev is the head of
Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, which ultimately employed those
striking in Zhanaozen.
Nazarbayev was re-elected in 2011,
with a reported 95% of the vote. This vote, and those which gave
overwhelming backing to parliamentary parties linked to him, were widely
fraudulent. In reality, parliament, the police and the courts are used
as tools to extend the power of the Nazarbayev clique. A recent law was
passed giving the state’s sovereign wealth fund 51% ownership of all new
oil pipelines, worth billions of pounds.
This has been helped by Tony Blair
and some of his former Downing Street associates. Nick Cohen wrote in
The Observer (27 May) that Blair has been paid $13 million for advising
the regime. He is not alone, however. Ex-BAE Systems head, Sir Richard
Evans, now works alongside Timur Kulibayev at the Kazakh sovereign
wealth fund, employing none other than Blair’s former spin doctor,
Alistair Campbell, to write his speeches.
On 27 May, Blair’s office responded
to Cohen’s article. It did not deny payment from the Kazakh regime. In
fact, it did not mention it at all! Instead, it justified the links
between Blair and Nazarbayev: "Despite being sandwiched between the
giants of Russia and China", the statement reads, "he [Narzarbayev] has
remained a good ally of the west, vital to the effort in Afghanistan.
Therefore, the work we are doing is precisely to boost the reform
programme which is already underway and is consistent with the demands
made of president Nazarbayev by the international community".
Alongside repression of workers and
activists, the regime is attempting to divert struggles by stirring up
ethnic and religious tensions. Ethnic Kazakhs make up 63% of the
population, alongside various minorities, including Russian, Uzbek and
Ukrainian. The majority of the population are Sunni Muslim, with 26%
Christian. In October 2011, the regime passed a law which restricted
religious freedom.
Hazing, severe bullying in the army
on religious or ethnic grounds, reportedly led to one Kazakh border
guard killing 14 other guards and burning down the post on the
Kazakh-Chinese border in June this year. Shortly after, another set of
guards stationed on the Kazakh-Chinese border deserted their post. Local
press has reported stories of badly bruised and broken bodies sent home,
with ‘heart failure’ cited as the cause of death.
This is a corrupt, vicious regime
which forces its population to live in poverty while a tiny wealthy
elite pocket the profits. But there is a powerful movement developing,
and it is clear that the stage is set for mass explosions.
