2 - Who Are Oyan, Qazaqstan?

Summary

In this chapter, I discuss how the protests of April 2019 initiated by the Kazakh Spring activists led to growing feelings of injustice and the necessity for more protest. This chapter is devoted to the contextualization and explanation of why and how the protest movement of Oyan, Qazaqstan emerged in the corridors of the courthouses on the days of the activists’ trials. The paradox of the authoritarian regime is revealed in these contexts. Still unable to adapt to the new conditions or see how the socio-political landscape had changed since Nazarbayev’s resignation, his authoritarian regime machine continued to operate in the same repressive manner by arresting and harassing dissidents and protestors. Unlike previous periods, protestors’ arrests fuelled even more unrest and led to the organization of the protest movement Oyan, Qazaqstan, which publicly launched their programme to democratise Kazakhstan in June 2019.