Viva la Revolución!

Not to toot my own horn (toot toot!), but thanks to me, most of you know more than the average person does about Kyrgyzstan (for starters, you know it IS a country, it's not Kurdistan, and you know more or less where it is). Now, thanks to the recent revolution and worldwide news coverage, you know even more than before and your ears probably perked up when you heard the reporter stumbling over all those consonants.

During my time in Kyrgyzstan, there was a lot of talk about a possible revolution. We waited and secretly hoped it would happen to throw some excitement into our lives, but nothing ever happened. The day it was supposed to happen was rainy and people just couldn't be arsed. I was quite surprised when I heard that on April 7th (probably a sunny day) the Kyrgyz men were up out of their Asian squats and ready for political change. Gas and electric prices had skyrocketed, corruption was getting out of control and people were sick of it. It started out as a mostly peaceful demonstration outside the White House. Things got out of hand as they often do when vodka and policemen in riot gear with automatic weapons are involved, and tragically 85 people were killed. It's been said that the president's brother gave the police the command to start shooting protestors. In the end, Bakiev was ousted, the interim government is being led by a woman (!) Roza Otunbaeva and millions of dollars were lost by businesses as a result of horrible looting. Roza must come a shock to many of my Kyrgyz students who said that a woman's only place is at home raising children.

I was worried about my friends there and sad to see what had happened to the already poor country, so I was disappointed to see reports like this:

Kyrgyzstan’s capital is under siege in a brutal riot that appears to have ousted Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the brutal leader who himself came to power in the Tulip Revolution.

Oh, and if your reaction is, “Who the hell cares about Kyrgyzstan?” recall that Manus Air Base is the key transit point for US and NATO resupply in Afghanistan.
(from here)

First of all, it's the Manas airbase. Secondly, why is something only newsworthy when the US is involved? The world does not revolve around the US, contrary to what some people seem to think. People losing their lives while standing up for something they believe in is something to care about, regardless of how small or 'insignificant' the country is.

On this site is a video of the state that Vefa Centre was in following the revolution and looting. Vefa Centre was the big Turkish shopping mall just down the road from where I lived and I visited it more than once a day for groceries, dinner, phone credit, or money changing. Sad.

And to me, this poignant picture sums up the entire revolution: Kyrgyz men, police, death and kalpaks.

( Vyacheslav Oseledko / AFP/Getty Images / April 7, 2010 )

Bakiev was put in power as the result of the peaceful Tulip Revolution of 2005 that ousted Askar Akaev, the leader since the fall of the Soviet Union. (Akaev is happily in exile working as a physics professor in Moscow. Bakiev dreams of opening a toy store in his post-presidential exile-life. He'll no doubt find a way to steal money from the store and the children who shop there.) Bakiev had promised to develop the country and avoid corruption but clearly forgot that even before the looted buildings had been cleaned up. I hope that Roza Otunbaeva and the interim government stay true to their promises and avoid the path of corruption. Long-suffering Kyrgyzstan finally needs to be given a break.