Support the Kyrgyz-Uzbek Peace Initiative

I know that some of you are looking for ways to help with the ongoing crisis in Kyrgyzstan. Unfortunately, there are already reports of aid shipments going astray and not going to those most in need. In a situation in which already very active criminal organizations are taking full advantage of chaos (which they may have instigated--I think it will be a long time, if ever, before we know who coordinated the original attacks), the government has been unable to adequately address the crisis, and attacks are ongoing, the problem of directing one's humanitarian impulses is a real one. I'm still sticking with the idea of the ICRC as one of the best bets for monetary donations, simply because they are a well-known organization which can be held accountable with a history of work in the region.

I'm posting this to point people's attention to the Kyrgyz-Uzbek Peace Initiative, an group who describe themselves thus:

"We are a group of Kyrgyz and Uzbek professionals living in Washington, DC, whose families and friends are affected by the tragic events in the Southern Kyrgyzstan or who are just simply not indifferent to sufferings of fellow humans.

We realize that unless decisive and fast actions are taken by each of us a humanitarian catastrophe of a huge scale can unfold in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring countries. We appeal for your help!"

The website I linked to above (the group also has a Facebook page) has information on the crisis and a variety of ways to help, including tips on how to write to legislators and officials and information on how to make both monetary and in-kind donations.

I'll be bringing it up when it's a bit closer, but the group has already scheduled a day of mourning for the victims for July 11. I know that it's hard for many of us to donate in any concrete way, but this day of fasting and remembering those whose lives have been affected is one way to focus attention on what is going to be a crisis for a long time to come. Though, let's be honest, if you do have $5 or $10 or $20 or some old clothes to give, that will probably go a bit further in getting a refugee some food and clothing and medical care and a place to live.

I spent a bit of time chatting with my dear and very wise friend E, who has made many an appearance in these pages before (for those of you who know me personally and have been reading this blog for a long time--there have been visitors recently from the places I've been posting about the tragedy--welcome!). E is Kyrgyz and from Osh (though not currently in Kyrgyzstan), and reported from family that no, the violence does not seem to have abated. She also spoke about family members--people whom I don't know well, but who have been truly warm and welcoming and thoroughly gracious to me in the past--and how intolerance is hardening as atrocities continue, order remains elusive, and rumors fly. She made some excellent and troubling points about the future: how do Kyrgyz and Uzbeks move forward after something like this? When killing and raping and burning and looting and all the worst types of behavior you can imagine were started so easily and spread so quickly, how do you go back to what came before? There have been beautiful stories of people helping one another regardless of ethnicity, and perhaps those will come to dominate in the future, but right now they seem to be a sad minority. All of these questions of continued co-existence are heightened by a government that is unstable and ineffective at best, and possibly indirectly contributing to the violence (considering the role or lack thereof of law enforcement, for example).

E also expressed a feeling that the phrase "ethnic violence" is one that allows Americans and other outsiders to distance ourselves from what is going on. It's a phrase we've heard so many times before, one that carries with it whispers of primordial savagery and inscrutable Otherness, that it may make it easier for us to think of events in KG, to the extent we think of them at all, as a far away problem happening to people very different from us who were doomed to something like this because of ancient hatreds. Somewhere, it seems, some ethnic group is always killing some other ethnic group, and there is a sense of unreality to it all. (Full disclosure: this topic came up at my instigation, as I pulled together a brief essay on ethnicity and media coverage of the crisis at the invitation of an editor of another blog, one actually read by lots of people. I'm not sure if or when it will get published and if it does not I'll put it up here anyway, so as not to deny you all my oh-so-brilliant insights).

I guess my point here is: pay attention. Do something, even though there isn't really much meaningful that any of us as Americans in America can do at this point. Do it anyway. Because it matters that people notice, and care, and feel terrible that this is going on, and try to contribute to circumstances that will stop it and then keep it from happening again. And yes, I'm fully aware that I'm so invested in this particular crisis because it's happening in a place I care about, very likely to people I care about, at least in the caring that evolves in any research situation between the researcher and her participants. And you probably don't have the connection I do, so violence in KG doesn't affect you any more than any of the horrible violence going on in innumerable locations worldwide. I'm trying to long-windedly argue that, well, human nature or no, you SHOULD care, just as I should care more about all those places about which I don't care enough about.

I'm tired and I'm babbling. My ultimate point? These posts aren't going to stop, I'm not going to stop bringing it up in conversation, or asking for money or anything else you can give. So really, you should go check out the Kyrgyz-Uzbek Peace Initiative because it will get me off your back and they all have some practical suggestions for things to do, rather than whatever it is I'm doing here.