Landscape

Karlygash Yezhenova

For today the topic of our talk was the proposed topic, touched upon in editor’s column of the previous issue of Exclusive. Each people project their ambitions on names of those, who glorified it. In best case, Kazakhstan today is referred to as a third world country. Please note that this category which we gladly almost accepted was bound by “civilized” Europeans. And it implies that they, the people of the first category are not liable for such world order which have divided the nations in accordance with the level of their adequacy. But this is not the main issue. The important question is why we agree with it?

Phlegmatic person:  In general you want to say that the Europeans are to blame for that the half of our nation lives in poverty?
Sanguine person:  I want to say that the Europeans little by little have robbed those to whom they are so arrogant nowadays: Iranians, Hindus, nations of South-Eastern Asia, Egyptians, and now Arabs and Africans. By the way the Indians were simply exterminated by their descendants. Now they all – are the third world…
Phlegmatic person:  It doesn’t matter; earlier your ancestors have also mauled them a little. Not in such scales, of course. And not in such inventive ways. But everything is good in its season. On the other hand, now, Asians make up at least 70% of population of Europe and North America. And white people couldn’t do anything with it. History knows what is does. The law of universal equilibrium works slowly, but surely. Our crux of the matter is that we all evaluate everything from our own perspective and couldn’t understand that we are merely one kind of animals in wide variety of fauna…
Sanguine person:  Do you know that the disappearance of single kind of an “animal” could trigger irreversible changes “in wide variety of fauna”?
Phlegmatic person: The nature itself regulates this issue: the animals eat each others, one nation enslave others. Directly or indirectly – the essence does not change.
Melancholic person:  Let me summarize your maxims. Probably the essence is in that to understand since we for all that are not “animals”, what allows one nation dominate over others. I mean go back to the declared topic.
Sanguine person: All right. Moreover I propose to narrow down the topic: do Kazakh people have a chance to self-actualize? I guess that there is always a chance. The only question is how? In the modern interpretation of Nazarbaev it looks as “an entrance of Kazakhstan into the list of 50 competitive countries of the world”. Apparently this is some kind of form of national idea. I just couldn’t understand one thing – there already was a strategy-2030. And it didn’t become a national idea, exactly because it didn’t include it. It didn’t have ideological foundation; it had no mentioning of history, culture, identity, and most importantly – the goal… And now again we have made a similar mistake – we didn’t come up with idea to support it with ideological base. And probably, we ourselves didn’t understand it…
Phlegmatic person:  I don’t even want to talk about it…
Sanguine person:  Why? Though it is also a point of view…
Phlegmatic person:  Sick. What kind of competitiveness you are talking about, when the China is nearby? It has conquered half of the world and we didn’t notice it. Whereas, in my opinion we are somewhere in its rectum.
Melancholic person: It may be true. But somewhere in the past China in order to survive has built the Chinese wall. Kazakhs – are nomads. And it has left some indelible trace on their notion, language, customs and behavior. An old aphorism says: “If you want to know who you are – ask opinion of your neighbors”. Today the time has come to the point when Kazakhs should listen to this advice.
Our neighbors for hundred years perceived Kazakhs and their ancestors as merciless nomads, who suddenly brought down to civil villagers and citizens on wild horses. By the way, the same was perceived by Chinese, fenced off by their Great Wall; and Russians for whom we were a “yoke”. Though nowadays some witty scientists from California call the conquest and the laying under tribute by nomads as “distance exploitation”.
Similar opinion on nomads has remained with Muslim neighbors of Khorezm, Persia, India and Arabian nations of Middle East. But the historical memory – is a very tenacious thing. It hardens and transforms memories into stereotypes. In general our neighbors still base their perception on stereotype of Kazakhs as warlike people and thus dangerous nomads. In accordance with psychology rules, everything that is hostile and alien, person endows with the most negative traits: wild, ignorant pagans, living in unsanitary conditions with smell of goat’s milk, etc.
As a result Uzbek people still tell stories about how Kazakh, who for the first time in his life in the big city heard call of muezzin for praying, was very scared. Whereas we tell tales about our neighbors who behave themselves as young kids in natural environment. I don’t even talk about our hobby to make fun of mercantile, petty character of our neighbors and their slavish psychology. But the main thing is that – the Kazakhs were able to keep in themselves regal aristocracy which was highly rated in the Orient.
Sanguine person:  - Yes. But where has it gone? Today we have a critical shortage of national heroes. We have a shortage of name. Shortage of symbols. Baiterek, snow leopards, other things… I know that nowadays this is justified with the fact that the Kazakh intelligentsia was extirpated almost hundred years ago. But, indeed, namys – national self-consciousness – is not inherited through genes. Rather vise versa – history is full of examples when exactly the aristocracy has “betrayed” a nation in order to keep its status and property … 
Melancholic person: - Oh-h, Kazakhs has always paid great attention to their status. Kazakhs without showing off is a bad Kazakh. It has started in the past, when in traditional hierarchy come up to the top was almost impossible: all the vacant places in prestige clans – tore and koja – were occupied with descendants of Chengiz khan and Prophet Muhammad. Thus ordinary Kazakhs created their own hierarchy and new aristocracy: biys, batyrs, bais. And made aristocracy, sultans and khans, take their opinion into consideration. And then after the coming of Russians, Kazakhs often willingly worked on them since it ensured cherished high social status. By the way this also had a positive effect: to the beginning of XX century it caused the formation of strong intellectual class of Kazakhs, educated based on European education. Yet as it has been formed by some Russians, later on it has been almost destroyed by other Russians and almost non-Russians…
Phlegmatic person:  - Hasn’t been fully destroyed. Something was created during the Soviet years. We have to understand that our neighbors, even though made fun of Kazakhs, who “laid” firstly under tsarist, and then Soviet Russia, in reality were modernizing. Today we have almost analogues situation. While our neighbors do not want to leave Islam and pseudo-attributes of pseudo-roots, we have outstripped them for tens of years. This gap became very evident. By now no one would think to look down upon the descendants of unbridled nomads. Vise versa, hundred-of-thousands descendants of proud bearers of “ancient Islamic civilization” have rushed to Kazakhstan in search for work, markets for marketing of their fruits and generally for better life. But we have to keep ourselves from falling into astral from our grandeur. We, indeed, have experience of doing it. Sometime in the future our neighbors would struggle out from economic pit. And then would everything be remembered…
In principle, Russia and the West are now talking to us differently. Whereas with China it is still incomprehensible. At the end we are an Orient nation. We would only have to remember it…
Sanguine person:  I couldn’t understand one thing – why is in the list of 50 competitive countries, and is not in the list of 70 countries? Or is not in the list of 700? The goal of the nation shall not be defined in numbers, moreover two-digit numbers. The one who agrees to be the second, for sure would not get into the list of 10. That is if all these Kazakh showing offs and love for statusness given to leadership ambitions… And it’s not within the scope of “neighbors”…. But maybe a continent…
Phlegmatic person: I guess you have been carried away. Why do we have to impose unreachable goals on people? You would hear such Homeric laughter…
Sanguine person: So what… neighbors have also laughed at us. And then – what is unreachable? As a matter of fact, respected are not those, who have reached everything by already possessing it, but those have acquired everything, because it was impossible. People, countries – Chengiz Khan – Singapore…The main problem is exactly the fact that the imagination is too narrow… But we are nomads! My ancestors didn’t see state borders on steppe sky. Rushed through steppes, like crazy but nowadays we are restricted to step on lawn…
Phlegmatic people:  Do not panic. The Soviet elite has remained in one or the other form. It has educated its children in prestigious schools. Intelligentsia is recovering. Now the question is to what extend it would control the resource. Because besides the so-called economic capital there is also a “cultural capital” or “symbolic” capital which includes possession of knowledge, specific skills, accumulation of prestige and respect.
Nevertheless we subconsciously mentally are migrating to the West. But at the same time we kept our flexibility as Asians. It’s very-very good synthesis. And, no matter how badly we criticize cursed Soviet past, I agree with those, who say that the foundation of modern Kazakh identity is Soviet heritage/legacy. I am confident that it will be revealed, but now in more effective form. And the fact that we are the citizens of this country – is very good.
And our kin-tribal notion would help us much. It has helped us to survive so far. And it’s not our curse, but an advantage. The thing is that we don’t understand it and use it like barbarians. I hope that we overcame this barbarian dependence on visible symbols of statusness: cars, yachts, etc. Now we dream of real filling, meaning such power and economical might, which is possessed by leader of globalized economy, administration of large corporations and banks.
Sanguine person: Much would depend on courage, will and ethnic composition of forming elite. Today, in general, it has been presented by Kazakhs, taking consolidating role in construction of a new nation. Not excluded that in the future Kazakhstan would accept the concept of multiculturalism, which is very much criticized in the West. And I still laugh when hear that the carrier of a person is still depends on belonging to a kin. It’s nonsense. Now people choose employees based on economic interests, will, talent and professionalism. Other point is that whenever upon the collapse Kazakhs would loss their ability to come back to their main previous hierarchy of values, based on kinship and marriage, brotherhood and friendship relations, they would end their existence. In general, exactly by joining of flexibility and national memory we could solve opposing goals, such as the one to lead and at the same time stay ourselves.