I sent this letter this morning.

Dear Sir,

It is with great concern that I read recent reports of events transpiring in your good country in the province of Almaty.

My first contact with Kazakhstan, as with many of us in the West, was through the personality of Borat, the alter ego of British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.

Your government spent a lot of time, money, and effort to counteract the perception that he created that Kazakhstan is a backward nation filled with bigoted, primitive people and with a repressive ruling regime. I, and many others like me in Australia and around the world, took note of your government’s communication and its intention. The 4 page ad campaign that you ran in the New York Times last year went some way towards correcting the perceptions created by Mr Baron Cohen’s show, but the recent events in Almaty threaten to undo all this public relations work.

Forum 18 (www.forum18.org) and ISKCON News.net (www.iskconnews.net) are both filled at the moment with news of the treatment of the Hare Krishna devotees in Almaty. If this continues it threatens to ignite a grassroots movement of international awareness and support for them. The international Hare Krishna community mounted an effective campaign of public awareness during the Soviet regime of Mikhail Gorbachev that was very damaging to the public perception of his government’s stance on human rights.

I implore you to communicate to your government that this action by local authorities threatens the recent good work that you have done in promoting your country internationally as a modern nation with a commitment to the modern ideals of democracy, tolerance, and freedom.

Over and above the publicity implications, I think this must be due to some mistake or oversight, as it is not at all consonant with the presentation that we have received on Kazakhstan’s values and commitment to the values of the international community.

with warm regards,
a well-wisher of Kazakhstan,
Joshua J Wulf
Engineer
Brisbane, Australia