Report on the 'Religion and Politics in Today's Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan' Seminar held at Tokyo University
2012/08/14
On August 5th, a joint seminar was held by the ‘Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies’ Global COE program of Hokkaido University and the Islamic Research Unit at Tokyo University, bringing two scholars from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to the University of Tokyo’s Hongo campus to give a seminar on the religious experiences and particularly religious extremism in the two countries. Both scholars also presented at the Global COE program’s third Summer School in Sapporo.
Bakytbek Jumagulov from the 'Institute of Peace and Development' in Central Asia, a Public Foundation, gave a talk entitled ‘Islam in Kyrgyzstan and the activities of illegal religious parties’. Beginning with an overview of Kyrgyzstan’s religious policies and make-up, including Christians and new religions, Jumagulov explained more about the activities of Islamic ‘extremists’ in the country, with the details behind the financing, organization and ideals of the movement for Islamic liberation particularly interesting.
Following this, Igor Savin of the South Kazakhstan State University, presented a talk entitled ‘Characteristics and contemporary state of religious affairs in Kazakhstan’. Beginning by describing the religious affiliations of the people and the government’s religious policies, Savin analyzed the reasons for the penetration of ‘extremism’ into Kazakhstan, focusing on three in particular. First is dissatisfaction with the state and official religious establishment encouraging the flight to extremism, the second is the lack of prospects for the youth encouraging the adoption of a ‘religious’ identity, while third is the effectiveness of Islamic educational foundations. The success of this ‘extremism’ is shown in the clashes between supporters and police in 2011.
Despite being on a Sunday in early August, it was a lively seminar for the audience of 15 and went at least an hour over time. Our gratitude must be expressed to Professor KOMATSU Hisao for permission to host this seminar in Tokyo and to Professor SHINMEN Yasushi and SHIMIZU Yuriko for setting up the room. We will try and host more seminars like this in Tokyo.
CHIDA Tetsuro (Global COE Special Researcher, Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University)
Bakytbek Jumagulov from the 'Institute of Peace and Development' in Central Asia, a Public Foundation, gave a talk entitled ‘Islam in Kyrgyzstan and the activities of illegal religious parties’. Beginning with an overview of Kyrgyzstan’s religious policies and make-up, including Christians and new religions, Jumagulov explained more about the activities of Islamic ‘extremists’ in the country, with the details behind the financing, organization and ideals of the movement for Islamic liberation particularly interesting.
Following this, Igor Savin of the South Kazakhstan State University, presented a talk entitled ‘Characteristics and contemporary state of religious affairs in Kazakhstan’. Beginning by describing the religious affiliations of the people and the government’s religious policies, Savin analyzed the reasons for the penetration of ‘extremism’ into Kazakhstan, focusing on three in particular. First is dissatisfaction with the state and official religious establishment encouraging the flight to extremism, the second is the lack of prospects for the youth encouraging the adoption of a ‘religious’ identity, while third is the effectiveness of Islamic educational foundations. The success of this ‘extremism’ is shown in the clashes between supporters and police in 2011.
Despite being on a Sunday in early August, it was a lively seminar for the audience of 15 and went at least an hour over time. Our gratitude must be expressed to Professor KOMATSU Hisao for permission to host this seminar in Tokyo and to Professor SHINMEN Yasushi and SHIMIZU Yuriko for setting up the room. We will try and host more seminars like this in Tokyo.
CHIDA Tetsuro (Global COE Special Researcher, Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University)
