London Calling and Breakfast with Chris and Sara

Tomorrow I will be flying to London for the cotton conference at SOAS. I will be gone a week. I probably will not be posting anything during that time. When I get back I will have more on cotton in Central Asia and other stuff of interest.

In more local news I had breakfast with Chris and Sara this morning at the community center. They are Arivaca's newest residents. They also read this blog which makes them part of an international elite of a dozen highly intelligent and wonderful people. The community center served mesquite pancakes with prickly pear syrup. They tasted quite good.

More on Cotton in Central Asia

One thing that is apparent is that cotton production in Central Asia reached its peak in the 1980s. Total production in Central Asia and Azerbaijan has gone from over 3.2 million metric tons in 1980 to a little more than 1.7 million in 2004. Twenty five years ago this region accounted for almost a quarter of all the world's cotton. Today it only produces 7%. For Uzbekistan and Tajikistan there has not been much to replace it as a source of revenue. Uzbekistan now exports some wheat and Tajikistan has aluminium and hydro power. But, increasingly these two countries along with Kyrgyzstan have been exporting labor to Russia and Kazakhstan. There are now an estimated one million Tajik citizens currently working in Russia out of a total population of less than six and a half million people. The economies of Kazakhstan and Russia are currently doing very well in comparison to their southern neighbors as a result of the export of oil. It looks like migrant workers will replace cotton as Central Asia's most important export. This will not be the first time in history that such a shift has taken place.

Reading up on cotton in Central Asia

The first batch of papers and presentations for the cotton conference arrived today. It will take me a while to read through them. In fact I will probably spend most of today learning about the cultivation and marketing of cotton from Central Asia. I will report more when I have a better grasp of the issues involved.

It was a beautiful day again today

Sometimes a song harmonizes with its surroundings. Today on the radio I heard U2's "It's a Beautiful Day" and it expressed the mood perfectly. In the paradise of Arivaca everyday is warm and sunny even in late October.

I ran out of Italian dressing today. But, Arivaca Man is clever. I marinated the wings in a mixture of prickly pear glaze and hot sauce. It was most excellent. There are no meals that are not excellent in Arivaca.

Soon the Shack will be ready to entertain guests. My parents are coming to visit after I get back from London and Chris and Sarah should be here by then. The First Annual Grand Shack Feast will be an event to remember.

Cotton Conference Update

I finally got a conference program and list of participants and guests. The organizer has promised the papers and presentations by the end of the week. Which is good since I have to fly out to London on Monday. It looks like I have 19 papers to read and critique this weekend. Unlike tenured professors who whinge about grading I am not getting paid over a $100,000 a year to do this. They are giving me room and board for a couple of days.

The conference is not in Brunei as I stated earlier. It is in room 116 on the 1st floor of the main building in Russell Square. I will be giving my paper on the second day of the conference, 4 November 2005 as part of a two person panel from 11:00 to 12:10. It is the panel just before lunch.

I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that out of 20 participants and 12 official guests that only three have positions at universities and this includes the two organizers. Most of the participants are connected with various NGOs. The presenters are evenly split between Central Asians and people from Europe and the US. Except for Turkmenistan there is at least one paper by a presenter from each of the Central Asian states. Among the other countries represented are the Netherlands, France and Italy.

Overall it looks like it will be a very interesting conference. I am the only historian presenting at the conference. The main thrust of the other papers is on the cotton economy in Central Asia today. There are papers on the marketing of cotton, labor rights, water management, privatization and soil erosion. I am interested in seeing what comes up regarding the connection between labor rights and fair trade. If there can be fair trade coffee then certainly there can be fair trade cotton. The conditions for cultivating cotton in Central Asia are as every bit as bad as what used to exist on coffee plantations.

Chicken Shack to add Hookah Lounge

Actually, the gazeebo already serves as a hookah lounge on account of having ventilation (no walls) and anti-fire devices such as a cement floor, a fire extinguisher and big buckets of water. But, now it is going to get an official sign. It will also I hope get a divan (ie beat up old couch) sometime soon. Today the UPS man delivered six boxes of tobacco for the lounge. We have apple, rose, mint, vanilla and banana now down at Otto's. The Shack has got that South West/Middle East fusion thing almost perfected.

Diasporas

I was going to attempt another mini-carnival of Diasporas today. However, tracking down appropriate posts and then getting them to link is really beyond my technical abilities. The last carnival only had four links and as of now I have found even fewer pieces to post for a second carnival. I will continue to write on various diasporas that interest me such as the various deported peoples of the USSR, but my limited internet skills make hosting future carnivals too difficult. If anybody else wishes to host the Carnival of Diasporas they are welcome to take the franchise. They can also link to any of my posts.

This Week

This week I need to get everything taken care of for my London trip. I have pretty much everything ready to go. I just need to make sure I get all the job applications with impending deadlines out before I leave. Then I need to pack and get to the airport. It will be great to see old friends in London again. If anybody reading this will be in London on the 3-4 of November, I will be giving a paper at SOAS on deported peoples and cotton in Central Asia in the 1940s. The conference is in Brunei Gallery across from the main campus at Russell Square.

I have never had this much money ever

My blog is worth $13,548.96.
How much is your blog worth?

Happiness is not there it is here

It seems odd that I am so happy living in my current situation while people much more fortunate than me are miserable. Logically it makes no sense. Certainly people with much more than me should be that much more satisfied with their lives, right? Tomorrow morning I will go meditate on this question with a cup of coffee on the cement block out west by the abandoned horse corrals.

More Thoughts on Meskhetian Turks

I have been attempting to follow the resettlement of Meskhetian Turks from Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia to the US for the last couple of weeks. I have written more extensively on the plight of the Meskhetian Turks elsewhere on this blog. But, prehaps a brief summary is in order here. The Meskhetian Turks are the native population of Meskheti-Javakheti in Georgia, a territory acquired by the Russian Empire from the Ottoman Empire in 1828-1829. On 15-28 November 1944, the Stalin regime forcibly dispersed the entire population of more than 90,000 people across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Here the Soviet government placed them under special settlement restrictions. They could not leave their assigned settlements without special NKVD permits, they carried special ID cards marking them as legally inferior citizens, they had no choice in their work assignments, they had to regularly register with NKVD commandants and a set of separate and unequal laws administered by the NKVD ruled their lives. The Meskhetian Turk special settlers suffered extreme material privation during the first years of exile. Lack of sufficient food, proper shelter, clothing, shoes and medical care took a heavy toll of lives. Malnutrition, typhus and other poverty related ailments killed over a fifth of the population in less than five years. The Soviet government released them from the special settlement restrictions on 28th April 1956. Neither the Soviet or subsequent Georgian government ever allowed the Meskhetian Turks to return their homeland in significant numbers.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Meskhetian Turks had a fairly well organized national mass movement that engaged in a peaceful campaign for repatriation to Georgia. It conducted a lobbying effort using letters, petitions, meetings, peaceful demonstrations and moral appeals in an attempt to convince the Soviet government to allow them to return home. In the early 1970s, the failure of the repatriation movement led to demands to be allowed to emigrate from the USSR and settle in the Turkish Republic. This movement also failed to achieve any concrete results.

In 1989, a pogrom in the Ferghana valley resulted in a second relocation for many Meskhetian Turks. Nearly 90,000 Meskhetian Turks left Uzbekistan soon after this event. About 15,000 ended up in Krasnodar Krai, a territory with a little over five million people, mostly Russians. The local government here refused to grant permanent residency to a majority of the Meskhetian Turks and the rights to hold most jobs, attend higher education and own property that goes with such legal documentation. Their lack of legal protection exposed them to Cossack intimidation and police harassment. Officially stateless the displaced Meskhetian Turks did not qualify for refugee status according to the United Nations because they never crossed an international border. They remained in a legal limbo unable to return to Georgia, immigrate to Turkey or even go back to Uzbekistan.

At the behest of some creative people, most notably Mark Hetfield, the State Department came up with a plan to resettle Meskhetian Turks from Krasnodar Krai in the US. This solution aimed to end the ongoing persecution of the Meskhetian Turks in the region. It of course does nothing to address the larger long term problem of the hundreds of thousands of Meskhetian Turks living in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and other areas outside their historic homeland. But, it did show a way out of the box created by the arbitrary definitions of citizenship, nationality and refugee status created by the ex-Soviet states, the UN and Meskhetian Turk activists themselves. None of these actors had ever considered the option of settlement outside of the former Soviet states or Turkish Republic. I will have more to write on the issues of citizenship, nationality and refugees and the example of the Meskhetian Turks in later posts.

Today in Arivaca: Breakfast and Power Point

Today my uncle and I had breakfast at the cafe. It was quite good. For $4.99 each we got four pieces of French toast, two sausages, two pieces of bacon and two eggs. They also came with the orange slices and grapes that seem to accompany all Arizona breakfasts. Then we went to the post office, dump and farmers market. We got some more prickly pear glaze and prickly pear and apple jelly at the market. They were cleaning the cemetary up across from the market so there were alot of people out and about.

I also figured out how to write power point presentations. I made one out for my paper on special settler labor and cotton cultivation in Central Asia in about a half an hour and e-mailed it to London. It was nine pages of bullet points, nothing fancy. They are now going to translate it into Russian so my talk will be accompanied by power point slides both in English and Russian. I also now know why some people like power point presentations. They are very easy and fast to write up.

Cotton conference

The cotton conference is now exactly nine days away. I still don't have the other papers, but I got an e-mail from the organizer today. He wants me to put my paper into a power point presentation. I have never used power point. I do not know how to use it. I am going to have to call my father for technical advice. Before I gave my presentation on Meskhetian Turks at SOAS I asked my supervisor if I should have any visual aids. He said to use photocopied handouts. Evidently, the Near and Middle East Section of the History Department at SOAS trys to avoid any technology that did not exist in Europe during the life of the Prophet Mohammed. At least that way when it comes to presentations there is far less chance for it to screw up. In Tartu there were several significant technical problems regarding power point at the conference on border changes. If it happens in Estonia, the most wired country in the world, then I think it is really asking for trouble to try it in London. Although I will note that one of my friends in the South Asian Section of the History Department did an excellent slide presentation. Their level of technical expertise is so far above the Near and Middle East Section that I expected them to add laser lights, smoke bombs and fireworks.

Deported Peoples of the USSR

I was surprised by the interest in this subject shown by my recent poll of my dozen readers. At anyrate while I have posted alot on various deported nationalities here. I still have not covered them all. I have written on the Russian-Germans, Russian-Koreans, Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Balkars, Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks. I have still not written anything on the Soviet Kurds, Russian-Greeks or Russian-Finns. Nor have I written much on deportations from the Baltic States, Ukraine, Poland and Moldova. I probably will not post another big post like the one below on the Balkars until after I get back from London. But, I am thinking the next one will probably be on the Kurds or Greeks. People can vote below in the comments if they want. Otherwise it will be which ever group I feel most like writing about at the time.

Some Toads didn't get the message

There are evidently still some toads hanging around. I saw the first straggler the other night over by the grill. He was a medium sized guy and attempted to hid from me in the light by remaining perfectly still. Tonight I saw one big toad and several small toads crawling in the grass behind the gazeebo. The big guy evidently came out of the drainage pipe. I guess some of the toads have yet to go into hibernation.

Phone Call

I almost did not answer the phone this morning. I figured it was a sales person. But, the phone kept ringing so I decided to answer it in case it was for my uncle. I was very surprised when the man on the other end asked for Dr. Pohl. I almost never get phone calls. In fact most of the more than two years I lived in London I had no phone. At anyrate the caller was from the search committee of one of the jobs I applied for recently. He just wanted to make sure I got my recommendation letters and transcripts sent to them. He also asked me some basic questions. I take this as a very good omen. No search committee has ever called me before. Out of almost a hundred applications this was the first person to take the time to phone me. Even if I don't get an interview I know at least this particular search committee actually read my application with some interest. I suspect the vast majority have not. By calling me, the search committee made me feel at least like I was a human being rather than a number to be dismissed in favor of the person chosen for the job before it was advertised. I wish more search committees had such good manners.

Otto's Chicken Shack

My uncle got my chicken shack sign made and put up. Now on the post above the grill are two slabs of wood that read, "Otto's Chicken Shack." We took some pictures. I hope I can get at least one posted here. He also managed to increase the pressure on the propane grill so our flames are more than one milimeter high. The improved propane flow has led to higher flames and faster cooking. It has not changed the great taste of Arivaca Man's spicy chicken wings.

New Person on Blogroll

I am adding a new person to my blog roll. She is a Ph.D. student somewhere out on the East Coast. At anyrate I came across her blog today and read it with great interest. Given that much of US academia seems ideologically frozen in 1948, cheering on the great socialist triumphs of the USSR and Israel against reactionary Muslims, I found her posts on Palestine very refreshing. Someday I will write a post on why Palestine is a conservative cause. But, right now you can go to Red Academics to see the emergence of some critical thinking on the issue in the US academy. When I was an undergraduate in the US it was impossible to criticize Israel. The same leftists who condemned South Africa, Chile and the Contras also militantly defended all of Israel's actions, no matter how reprehensible. These people were really nasty and it was far easier to just ignore the unjust plight of the Palestinian people than tangle with them.

Flying the Stars and Bars in AZ

My uncle is decorating the place with some new flags. There is a big flag pole in front of the house flying the US flag. In the living room is the 48 star version of the US flag on account of Arizona being the 48th state admitted to the Union. Today via UPS he got the Stars and Bars. During the Civil War, Arizona was a Confederate territory and the Anglo population was heavily Southern in its political sympathies. On 23 March 1861, a meeting in Tucson by prominent citizens followed the example of Mesilla and declared their support of the Confederacy. On 1 August 1861, Lt. Col. John Baylor from Texas took Mesilla and set about to make Arizona a Confederate territory. Confederate President Jefferson Davis declared Arizona a territory on 14 February 1862. Baylor became the Confederate governor of the the "Territory of Arizona." Davis removed Baylor from office later that year for his mistreatment of the Native peoples of the territory. On 28 February 1862, Captain Sherod Hunter raised the Confederate flag over Tucson. On 24 May 1862, General Carleton captured Tucson for the Union and placed Arizona under martial law. The new government promptly embarked on a war of extermination against the Apache and Navajo peoples. Lincoln finally got around to recognizing Arizona as a separate territory from New Mexico on 24 February 1863. So if anybody wants to know why people in Arizona would fly the Stars and Bars, they should know that we were in fact a Confederate Territory before we were a Union Territory. I know that the politically correct intellectual elite of this country demands denunciation of all things Confederate. But, I would just like to note that it was the Union not the Confederacy that ethnically cleansed the Navajos and Apaches. You got to love those Yankee do gooders, real humanitarians them boys.

A Short History of the Balkars under Soviet Rule

The recent events in Nalchik, the capitol of the Karbardino-Balkar Republic in Russia have inspired me to write a short piece on the Balkars. The Balkars are one of the native peoples of the North Caucasus deported by the Stalin regime during World War II. Officially, the Soviet government accused the Balkars of collaborating with Nazi Germany and engaging in mass treason against the USSR. The real reasons for the deportation of the Balkars had to do with their resistance to Soviet policies, historical and cultural ties to Turkey and the proximity of their mountain homeland to a major military highway. In preparation for a post-war conflict with the Turkish Republic, the Stalin regime removed all ethnically related nationalities from strategic areas that would be involved in any military actions against Anatolia. These nationalities included the Karachais, Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks as well as the Balkars. The Stalin regime deported all of these people to Kazakhstan and Central Asia from 2 November 1943 to 28 November 1944. In total the NKVD banished nearly 400,000 Turkic Muslims to special settlement restrictions in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan during this year. This crime against humanity has received little attention in the US primarily because the victims belong to "politically incorrect" ethnicities and religions. In contrast the perpetrators officially espoused an ideology still given favorable treatment by much of the US intellectual elite.

The Balkars are closely related to the neighboring Karachais. Both speak a language related to Turkish. Their language derives from their Kipchak Turkish ancestors who settled in the Caucasus and intermarried with other peoples. The Balkars nominally adhere to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam as a result of later Ottoman influence. Traditionally they have supported themselves through animal husbandry.

The Soviet government formed the Karbardino-Balkar Autonomous Oblast on 1 September 1921 and upgraded it to an ASSR on 5 December 1936. Balkars only made up a small percentage of this territory's population. In 1939, they constituted 11.1% of the inhabitants versus 43% for Russians and 36.3% for Karbardians. Their ethnic ties to Turkey made them disfavored among the Soviet elite. In particular the large number of prominent Georgians in the Stalin regime such as Beria and his associates had a strong hostility to all things related to Turkey.

The German military entered the Karbardino-Balkar ASSR on 7 August 1942. It captured Nalchik on 29 October 1942. The Soviet military recaptured the city on 4 January 1943. A week later the Germans had completely withdrawn from the territory. A little over a year later, on 26 February 1944, Beria ordered the deportation of the Balkars from their homeland to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A total of 4,000 NKVD and NKGB operative workers and 17,000 NKVD internal troops forcibly rounded up and loaded over 37,000 Balkars onto train echelons bound eastward on 8-9 March 1944. The Stalin regime transferred much of the land previously inhabited by the Balkars to the Georgian SSR and renamed the Karbardino-Balkar ASSR, the Karbardian ASSR.

Like other deported peoples subjected to special settlement restrictions, the Balkars suffered horribly in exile. The Stalin regime had confiscated most of their property and abandoned them in confined regions of an alien land without sufficient resources to sustain themselves. Malnutrition, exposure and typhus took a heavy toll upon the population in exile. More than 8,000 Balkars died in less than five years as a direct result of the deportations. This excess mortality constituted a fifth of the total population. Not until the 1960s did they manage to replace the population losses incurred as a result of the deportations and exile.

The Soviet government released the Balkars from the special settlement restrictions after Stalin's death. It freed the last Balkars from this status on 28 April 1956. In early 1957, a series of Soviet decrees restored national territories for the Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush and Balkars and allowed them to return to their historic homelands. The Balkars quickly took advantage of these reforms to leave Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and resettle in the reestablished Karbardino-Balkar ASSR. By 1959, over 80% of the total Balkar population again lived in their historic homeland. In 1958 and 1959, the territory reopened 20 Balkar language schools and enrolled over 2,500 students. This move represented the first step by the Balkars in a long and still unfinished process of recovering from the massive damage inflicted upon their cultural development by the deportations.