Krishna Conscience

On a pleasant few acres of farmland outside Almaty, Hare Krishna devotees are counting down their final few weeks. When their temple is destroyed they will have nothing left. They still graze their sacred cows and bulls, and a few vegetables still grow in the allotments they have cultivated, but garbage once more litters the banks of a lake they shared with the villagers because no one bothers to collect it anymore. Very soon they will abandon their farm altogether.

The Kazakh Religious Organisation Society for Krishna Consciousness lost their rights of ownership following legal battles with the local government that lasted for five years. Over that period, the diggers came and destroyed many of the private homes in the village owned by Krishnaites (once without warning, in mid-winter), and they will come a final time to raze the makeshift farmhouse temple.

The Krishnas cannot prove it but allege that someone with great power and influence is forcing the local authorities to bring questionable lawsuit after questionable lawsuit at great expense, as the real estate is prime location. Their plight has received plenty of coverage by local and international media, but the airtime and column inches haven't saved the farm.

I learned that other minority religions in Kazakhstan are also finding themselves in trouble with the authorities. Meanwhile a new draft law will force all religious organisations to undergo a complex system of registration before they can practice. The penalties for not doing so will be high. Human rights observers think this is all to do with a paranoid government seeking to prevent religious groups entering politics, or keeping unconventional faiths that don't fit in with the ideal Kazakhstan image at heel (ie. anyone that isn't Russian Orthodox or Moderate Islamic).

So this is either a case of discrimination laced with corruption or a local government's legitimate pursuit against an organisation that has flouted the law of the land. But since the end of Communism, quite a few years ago now, the law surrounding private property remains fuzzy and full of loopholes. One can't help asking why the local authorities won't give the Hare Krishnas the benefit of the doubt.

Up in Astana, the extraordinary Foster-designed pyramid, the Palace of Peace and Harmony, is supposed to be a place of worship for all religions. President Nazarbeyev wants Kazakhstan to be a host for peace and dialogue between faiths, and his country will rightly or wrongly be chairing the rights and security watchdog the OSCE in 2010.

They may be vegetarians and look funny but surely it wouldn't do any harm for the Kazakh government to start by being nice to the Hare Krishnas if it's really serious about being a crucible of interfaith dialogue?

Side note:
The Krishna bulls have a last laugh with a nosy journalist: