The voice of the working people of Kazakhstan must be heard in spite of provocateurs! (CPRF)
The voice of the working people of Kazakhstan must be heard in spite of provocateurs! | |
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| Author | CPRF |
| First published | 8 January, 2022 |
| Type | Online statement |
| Source | https://kprf.ru/party-live/cknews/207796.html |
Statement of the presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Every broad movement contains different components. The events in Kazakhstan have absorbed social discontent, the activities of the "fifth column", and the actions of terrorist groups. At the same time, the "fifth column" also includes extremists committed to radical Islamism. And numerous NGOs nurtured by the West. And individual security forces who were looking for benefits in the murky waters of instability. And oligarchic clans, ready to use mass protests in the struggle for the redistribution of power.
The fraternal peoples of Russia and Kazakhstan are closely connected by centuries of shared history. Together we created the Soviet Union, built and won, and were proud of our outstanding economic and social achievements. We revived integration processes together, creating the EurAsEC, the SCO and the CSTO.
Today, our comrades and friends are going through a period of difficult trials. Mass protests swept across Kazakhstan. In the southern capital, Alma–Ata, there were bloody riots with a large number of victims and destruction.
An accurate and comprehensive analysis of events should take into account a lot. It is absolutely clear that the situation in Kazakhstan has become a direct consequence of the tragedy that happened to all of us thirty years ago. The destruction of the USSR, the rejection of the socialist system and the Soviet government laid numerous mines under the new "independent and democratic" states. The primitive capitalism into which the post-Soviet republics were plunged inevitably doomed the workers to impoverishment and disenfranchisement, gave rise to blatant inequality. At the same time, our peoples have proved to be extremely vulnerable in the face of external threats.
Contrary to the promises of liberal ideas, the new states did not become full members of the "civilized world". Global capital has prepared for them the role of raw materials appendages and sales markets, sources of cheap labor and pawns in the geopolitical adventures of imperialist powers.
Kazakhstan has also followed a shaky path. Advanced industries have disappeared in the pool of privatization. The raw materials sector was given over to foreign capital. Chevron and Exxon Mobil corporations (USA), Total (France), Royal Dutch Shell (Great Britain and the Netherlands) have gained a foothold in the oil and gas sector. The multinational corporation "Arcelor Mittal" became the new owner of the steel industry.
In close connection with foreign capital, the young bourgeoisie of Kazakhstan also profited from the exploitation of labor and raw materials of the republic. Just like in Russia or Ukraine, she did not disdain anything in the process of "initial capital accumulation". Many of the richest people, in fact, merged with the government. Like almost everywhere in the post-Soviet space, Kazakhstan has created an oligarchic-comprador system typical of wild capitalism.
Inequality was steadily growing in the republic. People received only crumbs from the national income. Property divisions and social tensions were growing. In 2011, a months-long strike by oil workers in Zhanaozen ended in clashes and the death of 16 people. The authorities clearly demonstrated their attitude to the people by raising the retirement age to 63 years for men and women.
The coronavirus pandemic has finally shattered the myth of "social peace" in Kazakhstan. Even the official poverty rate has risen. If we consider the global standard of minimum needs of $5.5 per day, every seventh inhabitant here is poor.
According to surveys, the percentage of those who don't even have enough to eat has risen from 3 to 13 percent. Another 44 percent admit that they only have enough money for food. Meanwhile, the number of dollar billionaires rose from four to seven in the first year of the pandemic, and their combined wealth has nearly doubled.
Over the past two years, strikes at enterprises in Kazakhstan have not ceased. The most massive demonstrations took place in the western regions. As the main source of the main export commodities - oil and gas - they also lead in the level of inequality in the country. Thousands of people protested against wage delays and layoffs, demanding a pay raise as prices rose relentlessly. Even according to official figures, food inflation in the country was 20 percent in two years.
The authorities ignored the just demands of discontented citizens. Social assistance during the pandemic was clearly insufficient. Harsh quarantine measures also caused discontent among the population. Like Russia, Kazakhstan has experienced a devastating "optimization" of health care, which directly affected the preparedness for the epidemic.
Some of the steps taken by the authorities were perceived by people as mockery. For example, in the fall the president promised citizens that they would be able to use part of their pension savings. A few days before the new year, however, the "sufficiency threshold" - the minimum accumulated amount above which it is allowed to withdraw funds - was sharply increased. For the residents aged 59-62 years it will be more than 9 million tenge, or 1.5 million rubles. But the number of owners of such "rich reserves" in Kazakhstan is minuscule.
Instead of solving social problems, the ruling class preferred to split the society by provoking the Russophobia and ethnic hatred. From school textbooks young Kazakhstanis learn about "Russian colonialism" and "bloody Soviet totalitarianism". A campaign to fully rehabilitate all "victims of repressions", including those who defected to Hitler's side, has been officially launched. Monuments were erected to such figures as Mustafa Shokai, who collaborated with the Nazis. Streets and schools were named after them. The authorities increasingly actively speculated on the subject of the "Kazakh Holodomor," grossly distorting the historical facts. Nationalist forces close to the government directly demanded that the famine be recognized as "genocide" and that "final decommunization" be carried out.
Under the destructive hysteria in the country, the last monuments to Lenin are torn down, streets, districts, villages, and entire cities are renamed. A new wave of this political nastiness swept through the republic at the end of last year. Dozens of streets were renamed in Uralsk, Semey (former Semipalatinsk) and other cities. In Karaganda the October district was named after Alikhan Bukeykhanov, the leader of the bourgeois Alash party, who had fought against the Soviet regime in alliance with Kolchak and Ataman Dutov.
Despite the officially proclaimed friendship of peoples, Kazakhstan's leadership has consistently narrowed the scope of the Russian language and discriminated against Russian-speaking citizens. At the end of last year, the parliament approved a bill permitting the posting of visual information exclusively in the Kazakh language. A complete conversion of the Kazakh alphabet from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet is planned by 2025.
This kind of policy led to a mass exodus of the population. The share of Russians in the republic dropped from 38 percent to 18 percent in the post-Soviet period. Thus, 45,000 people left the country in 2019, 85 percent of whom were Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans. Kazakhstan has a state program to relocate citizens of the titular nationality to northern, predominantly Russian-speaking regions.
The "language patrols" have become a disgusting phenomenon. Humiliating the inhabitants of the "non-titular" nation, their participants demanded "on camera" to apologize for not knowing the Kazakh language. The authorities turned a blind eye to this for a long time. Sluggish condemnation of such actions followed only after a wide resonance in the Russian media.
Such a policy was welcomed by numerous pro-Western NGOs entrenched in the republic. The authorities themselves, while supporting Eurasian integration, were simultaneously flirting with Western capitals. Relations with the United States reached the level of "expanded strategic partnership". Every year the Steppe Eagle joint military exercise with NATO was conducted in the republic. Several bio-laboratories have been built with the participation of the Americans, whose research raises many questions from local and foreign experts.
In fact, pandering to nationalists, the government of Kazakhstan methodically destroys the leftist opposition. Both communists and independent trade unions became the object of harsh pressure.
Against this background there was a social explosion in the country. The direct cause was a sharp - at once twice! - The direct cause was the sharp doubling of the price of liquefied gas. Before that, the authorities had announced a transition to "market pricing" and a complete rejection of subsidies. Western Kazakhstan became a hotbed of discontent. First of all, liquefied gas is particularly widely used here, serving to heat homes and fill up cars. Second, the fuel is produced in this region, the efforts of many of its residents, but people were asked to forget about it, "submitting to the free market. And third, the previous waves of the crisis hit western Kazakhstan hardest, turning it into a center of protest activity.
Within days, the outrage spread to other regions of the republic. Initially, the protests were peaceful in nature. The protesters demanded lower prices, higher wages and benefits, and insisted on the return of the previous retirement age. Workers at several oil fields went on strike in solidarity with the protesters.
However, the situation quickly changed and got out of control. The first acts of terror and vandalism were committed in the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau of Mangistau region in south-western Kazakhstan. Then the unrest escalated into violent clashes in Alma-Ata and other cities. In particular, Aktobe, Aktau and Almaty airports were paralyzed. The security of the Baikonur Cosmodrome was threatened. Groups of armed youths attacked security forces, captured and smashed up buildings, attacked doctors, firemen and civilians. A wave of looting swept through the cities.
It is clear that the destructive actions were committed by those who are not related to the main mass of the protesters. Criminal groups use the popular protests in Kazakhstan to achieve their own goals. First of all, these are radical Islamist cells. Their activity is indicated by demonstrative cruelty against law enforcement officers. It came to cutting off the heads of people in uniform. Agents of external forces also became active. First of all, in Almaty, which is traditionally considered to be a bastion of liberal influence. A significant number of pro-Western NGOs have their offices here. Criminal groups affiliated with nationalist groups have finally become violent. This is confirmed by targeted attacks on the buildings of the prosecutor's offices and the special services, by arson, by seizing weapons, and by pogroms in stores and other public places.
It cannot be ruled out that the actions of all these forces were coordinated from one center that wanted to destabilize Kazakhstan. But the republic's leadership cannot be absolved of responsibility for the fact that officials pandered to the activities of pro-Western forces and took a conciliatory stance towards the Islamists. The National Security Committee of the country has rejected numerous requests to ban Salafism (Wahhabism). Preachers trained in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries operated in Kazakhstan.
Our country is obliged to consider the whole course of events in a broad international context. Over the past months, the military-political situation at the western borders of Russia has clearly deteriorated. Economic, informational, diplomatic and military pressure on our Country only intensified. Western media, diplomats, politicians, and NATO representatives have repeatedly loudly expressed ostentatious "concern" about plans for an "attack on Ukraine" and threatened Moscow with "comprehensive preventive measures."
Against the background of the aggravation of the situation around our country, we received a blow on the southern borders. With the advent of the new year, Russia's opponents on the world stage dramatically increased the stakes in the game on the "big chessboard". On January 2, the population of Kazakhstan was shocked by the "New Year's gift" of the authorities - a jump in gas prices. The outbreak of indignation was immediately exploited by the terrorist underground, whose leadership relies on the combat experience of jihadists in Syria and Iraq. Large-scale actions were organized to destabilize the situation. Representatives of the underground managed, on the one hand, to merge with the masses of protesters, on the other – to rely on declassified and criminal elements.
So far, thousands of people have been affected by criminal actions. Hundreds of people have been hospitalized, dozens are in intensive care, and some have been killed. The rioters are obstructing the work of ambulances and medical facilities, using firearms, intimidating the population, looting stores and looting. The nature of their actions is evidence of planned steps, coordinated and financed from abroad.
The President of Kazakhstan has declared a state of emergency in the country and dismissed the government. Given the scale of the events and the interference of external forces, the authorities of the republic asked for help from partners. The CSTO Collective Security Council decided to provide such assistance to stabilize the situation in Kazakhstan.
According to the CPRF's assessment, the deployment of CSTO peacekeepers is a forced, but adequate and timely measure designed to extinguish the flames of yet another "color revolution. The Communist Party of Russia resolutely condemns the actions of international reaction and criminal elements. We consider completely unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Kazakhstan and attempts to destabilize Central Asia, which pose a direct threat to our country.
So far, thousands of people have been affected by criminal actions. Hundreds of people have been hospitalized, dozens are in intensive care, and some have been killed. The rioters are obstructing the work of ambulances and medical facilities, using firearms, intimidating the population, looting stores and looting. The nature of their actions testifies to the planned steps, coordinated by the Russian Federation for the return of Kazakhstan to a peaceful direction. We consider the main task of the peacekeeping contingent to be the protection of strategic facilities designed to ensure normal life of the citizens. The population of the republic should be protected from terrorist attacks of jihadists who have resorted to "scare tactics.
We are confident that the CSTO peace mission will contribute to stabilizing the situation in the Central Asian region. At the same time, we believe that the peacekeeping contingent should be used only for its declared purposes. It is inadmissible to involve peacekeepers in internal squabbles of power clans and groups.
It would be a mistake for the leadership of Kazakhstan to follow the path of persecuting peaceful protesters, classifying everyone as "terrorists" and "militants. We believe that the government should immediately enter into a dialogue with the workers and authoritative politicians. It should immediately meet their just demands for an improvement in the socio-economic situation.
The CPRF notes that the time has come to suppress the manifestations of Russophobe and anti-Soviet policies in the republic at their root. A thorough analysis of the activities of pro-Western organizations and media is urgently needed. For years this has turned Kazakhstan into an arena of activity for anti-Russian forces, setting the population against friendship with our country.
The President of Kazakhstan has declared a state of emergency in the country and dismissed the government. Given the scale of the events and the interference of external forces, the authorities of the republic asked for help from partners. The CSTO Collective Security Council decided to provide such assistance to stabilize the situation in Kazakhstan.
According to the CPRF's assessment, the deployment of CSTO peacekeepers is a forced, but adequate and timely measure designed to extinguish the flames of yet another "color revolution. The Communist Party of Russia resolutely condemns the actions of international reaction and criminal elements. We consider completely unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Kazakhstan and attempts to destabilize Central Asia, which pose a direct threat to our country.
The time has come for an honest discussion and the eradication of the fundamental causes of the pernicious social divide not only in Kazakhstan, but also in Russia. For our country has sounded another formidable signal that the policy that breeds division, inequality and poverty inevitably overflows the cup of people's patience. Working in the interests of the oligarchs, throwing to the workers "crumbs from the table," any government will inevitably face the demand to answer for its actions. Then neither hard repressions, nor evil of nationalism, nor lie of anti-Sovietism and Russophobia followers will help any more.
The most important conclusion from the Kazakhstan events is that the attempts of national bourgeoisie to integrate their peoples into the world of global capitalism make them puppets of the world oligarchy. The root interests of the peoples of Russia, Kazakhstan and all other states are to abandon this destructive policy. Today as never before our program "Ten Steps to a Decent Life" and the unique experience of popular enterprises are in demand. Not foreign or "homegrown" capital, but the working masses must become the masters of their own countries!