Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. · Aug. 6, 2004

VOTE IF YOU DARE -- We're between political conventions in the United States and the campaigns are in heating up in advance of the Nov. 2 elections. It's very different in Kazakhstan, where the dictator who has blocked potential rivals from running against him, has ordered parliamentary elections to be held September 19. Access to the ballot is limited to candidates from government-approved parties. Democratic reforms "have been limited" under the Nazarbayev regime, but with the opposition is growing Nazarbayev says he will toughen libel laws to prevent "abuses of the freedom of speech." Translation: don't say anything he might consider "destructive" or that might "undermine the constitutional order." He already has jailed people for insulting him and his relatives. In any event, the elections don't mean much since only about one third of the lower house's 77 seats are allocated the political parties, and the rest are held by the president's loyalists. http://www.ap.org

ALI G POKES DICTATOR'S THIN SKIN -- David Letterman, Jay Leno and John Stewart make a pretty good living poking fun at political figures, especially presidents, vice presidents and people who want their jobs. American politicians have to put up with it -- they have no choice. But the biting humor of comedian Ali G could land him in a Kazakh jail if the target of his barbs could get hold of him. British political satirist Sacha Baron Cohen, whose "Da Ali G Show" is on HBO, portrays several characters, including "Borat," a reporter from Kazakhstan, who has "deeply offended" Roman Vassinleko, the press attache at the Kazakhstan embassy in Washington. He finds Ali G "disgusting" and he is "deeply offended." That's not idle chat because in his country many people have landed in prison, where it's a crime to offend the president and his pals, and that's even worse than having the Nixon administration audit your taxes. For the record, Kazakhstan under the notoriously thin-skinned Nursultan Nazarbayev is an increasingly autocratic dictatorship that has repeatedly condemned by international organizations and western democracies for its human rights abuses, press repression and corruption. But to Vassinleko, the dictator's Soviet-trained hapless local spinmeister, it is a land of equal rights, religious tolerance, freedom and a country where "the ideas of satire and freedom of speech are fine, and we will always defend them vigorously." Then comes the "however." "In these times of great peril and tension," he writes to the editor of The Hill, a newspaper for the denizens of Capitol Hill, comedians "should really know where to draw the line" because humor like Cohen's "is vicious and comes perilously close to 'fighting words.'" Looks like Ali G won't be making a concert tour of Kazakhstan anytime soon. www.thehill.com

DYNASTY DAYS AHEAD? -- Daddies love to spoil their daughters, as your editors can testify from first hand experience, so we all have to admire Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is carrying the tradition to a new level. The Central Asian dictator is grooming his favorite daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, to succeed him as president of Kazakhstan. She has "led a charmed life," reports Toronto's Globe & Mail. She's got a Ph.D in political science, is an opera singer, head of the largest media holding company in her country and has started her own political party, Asar, with daddy's backing. This is one mezzo soprano who doesn't have to worry about the reviews because she is not only the country's most powerful media mogul, but her daddy got a law passed by his puppet parliament forbidding public criticism of the president and his family. That's a far cry from the days when Harry Truman threatened to punch out a music critic who panned his daughter's singing. Her Asar party, started with daddy's backing, has become one of the country's two largest political parties in only eight months, right up there with daddy's Otan. That's "unsurprising given her influence on the media, which have been fawning in their coverage," observes the Globe and Mail. Asar is expected to do quite well in this fall's parliamentary elections, and Dariga could well emerge as speaker of parliament, a job putting her next in line constitutionally to succeed daddy. Asked about her ambitions to be president, she said, "I can't say never. I can't swear it will never happen," but coyly added, "I can't give my opponents such a cause for celebration. Let them wonder. I like it." But it's more than a father's love that motivates Papa Nazarbayev. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNe...4/TPInternational/TopStories

For the full stories, see the web citations above or contact us at News@Kazakhstan21.org or see VOD Archives. The Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation promotes democracy and human rights in Kazakhstan through public affairs and educational programs in the United States and Europe. This material is distributed by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation.