By Dr. Michael Dillon is Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies in the Department of E (9/13/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Protests that have taken place around the world during the first anniversary of the arrest of the businesswoman and social activist Rebiya Kadeer, suggest that the Turkic Muslim Uyghurs of Xinjiang may at last have found a figure of sufficient stature to give their cause the international recognition it deserves. Rebiya Kadeer was arrested in August 1999 when she was travelling to meet visiting United States Congressional staff members in Urumchi, the regional capital of Xinjiang. At her trial on March 9, 2000 in Urumchi, she was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for passing on classified information to foreigners.
By Andrei Emelin, Information Specialist, Northern Kazakstan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (9/27/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Since it declared independence in 1991, Kazakhstans society and economy have faced tremendous problems. The agriculture industry has been particularly impacted. Venturing into the rural areas of Kazakhstan, one realizes that these areas were completely unprepared for the transformation process, and therefore the hardest hit.
By Jennifer Balfour, educator, Central Asia (9/27/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, a steady rise in nationalism has slowly relegated non-Uzbek speakers to the bottom of the educational pile. Every year passes with the threat of non-admission for those who refuse to learn Uzbek, the countrys main language. Despite repeated warnings that their educational future is at stake, Russian language speakers steadfastly spurn pleas to master a tongue they have always considered inferior to theirs and that is part of their feudal past.
By Marat Yermukanov, Correspondent, Tribuna, Petropavlosk Panorama, Almaty (9/27/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Some time ago Kazakh television showed a Caterpillar tractor rolling over a mountain of confiscated illegal compact discs. Law enforcement officials agree that occasional seizures of counterfeit products cannot stop the underground business of forged CDs, works of literature and art, and computer software. As estimated by experts, the average piracy rate in Kazakhstan has now reached 95%.
The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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