Provocateur
Zhanaozen has become an important part of the collective memory of the working people of Kazakhstan. On the day of the killing, local residents risked being arrested, and worse still, smuggled from blocked city video clips that showed how the demonstrators were executed in cold blood.
Today, some of the fears have subsided, and activists say: the whole movie-like this, Produced in 2013, with comments in Russian – share on social media.
The human rights activist pursuing the truth about Zaozeng said in an interview Human and Nature that oneAn international investigation is needed, because even now, the Kazakh authorities are trying their best to conceal the truth.
Evgeny Zhovtis, Director of Kazakhstan’s International Bureau of Human Rights and Rule of Law, stated that with regard to the Allen Square incident where the shooting occurred, “three questions have never been answered”:
Who is the provocateur who is making trouble in the square?
Who is it Order Dispatch armed internal affairs troops to deal with the unarmed masses?
Who fired?
justice
The authorities admitted that 15 people were killed in the square. In each case, according to Kazakh law, the investigation should show that the responsible person opened fire illegally, or that he opened fire because his life was threatened.
Zhovtis said: “The UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Niva Pillay, visited Kazakhstan in 2012. Call An independent international committee was established to investigate these incidents.
“Maina Kiai, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association Call For such commissions. This has not happened yet. “
Zhovtis stated that Kazakhstan’s human rights defenders rejected the Ministry of Justice’s statement that an adequate investigation had been conducted.
“The major Western governments are basically indifferent to what happened in Central Asia. Look at their reactions to the Zhanaozen tragedy and the Andijan massacre. [of hundreds of protesters in Uzbekistan in May 2005]. Nevertheless, we only need to continue to demand justice. ”
Revolver
Galym Ageleuov of the human rights organization Liberty has regularly traveled to Zhanaozen to collect evidence since the massacre. He said that with the exception of the incident on Allen Square, any investigation should cover a series of key issues.
This included the use of torture against oil workers and their supporters who were detained during the three-day crackdown. Detailed evidence This has been made public, especially in the 2012 trial of 37 Dha Nao Zen residents.
It should also investigate rape and sexual violence against female detainees, including Rosa Tuletayeva, Organizer of the Oil Workers’ Union; Gensole Karabalaeva, The daughter of a union activist; Asem Kenzhebaeva, the daughter of another activist.
“There is evidence that female and male prisoners are being held naked [in winter], Were beaten and poured ice water on them,” Aglieov said.
The investigation should also determine the total number of people killed in Zhanaozen and nearby villages on December 16, 17 and 18, 2011. Of the 16 people admitted by officials, 15 were killed by revolvers in Allen Square, with bullets usually left in their bodies.
Excavate
The authorities denied responsibility for those killed by automatic shooting and long-range sniper shooting, including bystanders.
Ageleuov said: “In many cases, the dead body will only be released to them if their family members have accepted a death certificate that registered the cause of death as a heart attack.”
Torebek Tolegenov (Torebek Tolegenov) in Xie Pei, And the injuries suffered by the young people who blocked the railways to protest the Zaozen massacre need to be investigated.
Multiple reports of dead bodies being loaded into unmarked graves-including Yelena Kostyuchenko of New newspaperRussia’s main opposition newspaper, one of the first reporters to enter Zhanaozen after the Holocaust-never followed up.
“Any international committee should insist on exhuming these corpses,” Agreov said.
dispute
Further investigation is needed on the fire that occurred inexplicably in the Ozenmunaigaz office on the day of the massacre.
The Kazakh Workers Movement will commemorate the Zhanaozen tragedy this week-the right to form an independent trade union at this time was a key principle of the oil workers’ strike in 2011, which has once again become a problem in many workplace struggles.
In June, the national oil company Kazmunaigaz Trying to scrap Reached an agreement with the workers’ union of the independent oil construction company on wages and conditions, but sought to reach a sweetheart agreement with the “union” it created.
following One try The authorities canceled the registration of the independent fuel and energy workers’ unions and effectively surpassed the law. This is a national umbrella, and the oil construction company workers’ unions are part of it.
Markhaba Khalmurzaeva, Coordinator Central Asian Labor Rights Supervision Group, Said: “There have been several strikes. Workers have demanded the right to organize independently. In some cases, once wage disputes have been resolved, employers have even helped to register for trade unions.”
nursing home
But there are also ongoing repression campaigns. “Usually the strike union is resolved and some requirements are met, but the activists involved in organizing the strike are fired and blacklisted.”
These struggles for independent organization rights broke out earlier this year Strike wave Exceed wages and conditions. There will be more strikes in the first half of 2021 than in the three-year period 2018-2020 combined.
This summer, waves hit oil fields in western Kazakhstan, including Zanauchen, where there are 11 companies Simultaneous strike In July.
In September, the Central Asian Labor Rights Inspectorate Report: “Most of the strikes took place in the Manggstaofu area in western Kazakhstan, although it was not just oil workers who went out.
“The most common request is a salary increase. Some groups of workers require the 13th wage [i.e. to be paid an extra month’s money each year]; Provide part or all of the medical expenses for people working with toxic chemicals; compensation for Covid-19 testing; and… [a supply of] milk [at work].”
unemployment
In Zanautzen, in the years following the massacre, the Ozenmunaigaz Petroleum Company was reorganized into 14 separate divisions. Many strikers are employed by the drilling services sector, where wages have increased substantially and are now more than double what they were ten years ago.
In order to quell the social dissatisfaction that broke out in 2011, the government has invested in the town’s infrastructure, including the provision of round-the-clock water supply, which used to be supplied to people’s homes twice a day for short periods of time.
The population of Zhanaozen has also increased…but not everyone benefits. The unemployment rate is increasing rapidly. In 2019, young people began to demonstrate in the offices of local authorities, demanding work in Ozenmunaigaz.
struggle
Erzhan ElshibayevThose who helped organize these peaceful gatherings were arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
Galym Ageleuov said: “Elshibayev was a victim of political repression. In 2019, he was accused of participating in a fight when he was assaulted by four men on his way to work in 2017-this incident did not raise any charges at the time .
“Elshibayev has been detained for two years. For the past three months, he has been in solitary confinement and no one has heard from him.” Union members gathered at a meeting in Bishkek last week Call The Kazakh authorities immediately released him.
Ten years after the massacre, the struggle between labor and capital continued in the oilfields-for better salaries and living conditions, for the right to organize independently at work, and for a decent life.
Exposing the truth about the state’s crackdown in 2011, about the chain of command, about the brutal use of murder and torture in the service of capital, is part of this broader struggle.
This author
This author
Dr. Simon Pirani is an energy researcher and historian.His most recent book is Burned up: Global history of fossil fuel consumption (Pluto 2018).He is on the blog Human and Nature —— Where This article first appeared -And tweeted as @SimonPirani1.
