Opposition Goes Back to School

17-May-07

The Kyrgyz opposition movement has launched a campaign to raise public awareness about democracy issues. NBCentralAsia commentators see it as a sign the opposition itself is developing a stronger political culture.

A School of Democracy, affiliated with the United Front for a Worthy Future for Kyrgyzstan led by former prime minister Felix Kulov, opened in early May in Baytik, a suburb of the capital Bishkek, in the beginning of May.

In April, the United Front together with the Movement for Reforms organised a nine-day demonstration in the centre of Bishkek demanding early presidential elections and constitutional reform.

After the demonstration was broken up by riot police, the United Front announced it would start “peaceful acts of resistance”, considered by many to be a change in tactics.

Emil Aliev, a member of the United Front and co-head of Kulov’s Ar-Namys party, told NBCentralAsia that the School for Democracy is offering classes in human rights, the structure of the state, and legislation. The classes are being taught by researchers, human rights activists and politicians including Kulov himself. The other lecturers are not being named, out of concern for their security, organisers say.

Aliev said the school is intended to lay the “foundations of democracy” among ordinary citizens and influence public opinion.

“Today society is developing unevenly, and some people, especially in the regions, know nothing about democratic principles. Even when they get information about what’s happening in the republic, people have no way of orienting themselves amidst the flood of information; they can’t tell the difference between truth and lies,” he said.

The organisers say 41 people have already completed the course.

The director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, Tamerlan Ibraimov, supports the idea behind the school.

“Political culture in society needs to be raised to a higher level, and the same is true for the United Front itself,” he said.

According to Edil Baisalov, leader of the Coalition of NGOs for Democracy and Civil Society, the United Front is being more creative than ever, and is searching for new ways to interact with people while making an effort to change its own image.

“The opposition should not see the people who took part in its demonstrations as ‘extras’ who turn up whenever they’re called. It needs to work for the long term and develop and educate its supporters,” he said.

Tolekan Ismailova, director of the human rights group Citizens against Corruption, believes the United Front has adopted the right approach. Educational courses like this should have been available from the beginning and the opposition should teach its supporters about the nature of law.

“We’ll see what comes next. Most likely, the United Front is already preparing for elections. That’s their right – the new opposition is growing up,” said Ismailova.

(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)