World Finding unity in ‘mosaic’ republic MAKHACHKALA, Daghestan — The legend has it that when Allah was creating the world he sent out the youngest angel with a huge sack full of languages to be distributed among the people. However, fly- ing over the Caucasus mountains, the little angel became exhausted and decided to lighten the burden by dumping half the bag. The place where all those languages drifted down and took root was called Daghestan A tiny “autonomous republic” located on the shores of the Caspian Sea in southern Russia, Daghestan is about the size of Denmark but has 32 constituent nationali- ties and 14 official languages — all in a population that numbers less than two mil- lion. Daghestan is the original “mosaic” society, in which diverse ethnic groups are defined not so much by the territory they inhabit as by their place in an intricate, historically-evolved division of labour. Kumiks, Azeris, Chechens (who were deported by Stalin), and some others tend to farm the rich Caspian coastal plain, while high in the mountains Avars, Dargins, Lakhs, Lesgins and many others practice traditional occupations of alpine farming, sheepherding, mining and forestry. One of the innumerable sub-nationalities woven into this tapestry are the almost mythical Middle-Eastern race of Kubachins — still occupying their medieval mountaintop vil- lage of Kubachi — an entire ethnic group that specializes in gold and silver crafts, a vocation they have followed for over a FROM MOSCOW b thousand years. “Historically, no nation was ever domi- nant among us, not in size nor in wealth or power,” says Gadji Gumzatov, director of the Institute of Daghestani History, Lan- guage and Literature in Makhachkala. “A natural balance took shape here over the centuries,” he says, “a chain of co- existence all on the same territory. We are many different peoples, but all relatively the same in importance. Hence you find this micro-structure of co-operation and inter- dependence. Nothing else would work here.” Indeed, Daghestan does seem to be an island of tranquillity ina USSR increasingly rocked by ethnic conflict. Just to the south, Armenians and Azerbaijanis seem on the verge of civil war over the national district of Nagorno Karabakh. To the west, Geor- gia is expelling small culturally-Moslem nationalities such as Avars and Lakhs from its territory, while making life difficult for others such as Abkhazians and Ossetians. BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Dele- gates from parliaments in 49 countries put a number of pressing international issues on the front burner at the 35th Commonwealth Parliamentary Associa- tion conference held here Oct. 9-13. Although the gathering is traditionally not a decision-making body, observers here saw the discussion on such topics as southern Africa, de-colonization, envir- onmental problems and electoral reforms in some Commonwealth countries as part of the process in bringing about meaningful and just solutions. Said Janet Jagan representing the Parliamentary group meeting in Barbados Shridath Ramphal said it was one of the tasks of participants to ensure that citi- zens have equal rights including the right to participate in free and democratic pol- itical processes. He noted: ‘Fulfillment of these rights in the primary responsibil- ity of individual member countries and ‘meddling’ is not the Commonwealth’s modus operandi. “Increasingly, how- ever, as our world society becomes more truly internationally linked and interde- pendent, we cannot pretend that those matters are of no concern to others — > least of all to fellow members of the Commonwealth.” People’s Progressive Party in the Guya- nese Parliament: “Some people say it is a talk shop. But there were a number of good subjects worth continued discus- sion. There is the question of the arms race, for example. I pointed out in my speech that we seem to be living in an upside-down world where millions are spent on arms when citizens need basic things — in the case of my own country, it is things like food and electricity.” “I do believe,” she added in an inter- view with the Tribune, “that the majority of delegates thought that sharing views on such topics as the rights of children and the need to erase the debt problems of developing countries, is important.” Commonwealth secretary-general Ramphal also spoke about what was becoming a scourge on the economic and social dimensions of Caribbean island life and that of many countries around the world: illegal drug usage and trafficking. He pointed out that the mat- ter, as was the case at last year’s Com- monwealth leaders conference in Van- couver, would again be on the agenda at the just-concluded huddle in Malaysia. Here in the Caribbean, the recent trial in Havana of corrupt military officials plus the well documented case of the Baha- -mas and the Turks and Caicos Islands getting kickbacks from international drug traffickers show that the malady . needs a political solution. — 8 Pacific Tribune, November 20, 1989 The Caucasus are aflame. Daghestan’s diversity seems to be its sav- ing grace. The school system is incredibly complicated, but seems to be able to give classes in all 14 official languages up to grade four, after which pupils study in Rus- sian, the lingua franca of the region. I asked the famous Dargin writer, Achmedkhan abu-Bakar: doesn’t the use of Russian create tensions? “Here in Daghestan there has always had to be a lingua franca,” he says. “In the Caucasus, within any 10-kilometre radius, you will find several villages speaking totally different languages. Every mountaineer speaks at least two, usually three or four. At the time of the Moslem conquest 1,500 years ago we adopted Arabic as our com- mon language. Much later, after Persian conquest, it was Farsi. For awhile after that it was Turkish. For the past century or so it’s been Russian. No one resents that. We need it.” About 130 years ago, during the Russian- Persian wars, czarist Russia finally took Daghestan. It was a long and bitter struggle, ‘ which saw Daghestan’s diverse peoples unite under the legendary Avar leader, Shamil — the original mujahedin — and hold off czarist forces for a quarter of a century. Today ‘Shamil’s portrait glares sternly ’ down from beer parlour walls, calendars and truck windows. He is an authentic Daghestani hero. Yet the people who live and play under his eagle-beaked gaze speak to each other unselfconsciously in Russian. However, the balance may be fragile, and modern forces are putting it under increas- ing tension. Urbanization and industrializa- tion have come to Daghestan in recent decades: in the cities, every apartment block and every factory is a real tower of Babel, but torn out of the traditional fabric. New alignments and new pressures are unques- tionably appearing. During the years of Soviet power a carefully-calibrated system of quotas and affirmative action ensured that each nationality would be equally represented in science, politics, the arts and industrial management. Each was given equal cultural and publishing facilities. Now, democratization may be throwing a wrench into that system. At the Mak- hachkala fibreglass plant they have been holding their first-ever direct elections for plant manager. There are two front-running candidates: the administration’s choice, an experienced technocrat, Gabib Abasov, and a maverick workshop foreman, Arsen Kurbanov. I asked Abasov why he seemed nervous about the outcome, seeing that he was clearly the more experienced candidate and was, in fact, already serving as acting direc- tor. “There are 3,500 workers in this plant,” he answered. “I am a Lesgin, but only 300 Lesgins work here. Kurbanov is an Avar, and there are 1,200 Avars in our workforce Does that mean workers will vote along ethnic lines? “No, no, no,” is the hasty response, “well, maybe some ....” It is a flash insight into the destabilizing potential of change, a fear echoed many times by urban Daghestanis. : High in the Caucasus, in the breathtaking mountain village of Kubachi, the outlook seems more serene, even timeless. Here the ‘schools along with languages, geography and maths, teach each child the ancient skills of silver- and goldsmithing. There is a new boom in these traditional crafts and the town is even signing up for joint ventures to market their unique products around the world. The hope here, and perhaps for all of Daghestan, is that they can bypass the vicious and disgraceful conflicts of the 20th century altogether .... UN study: ‘sanctions effective’ By TOM FOLEY Sanctions against South Africa have had an important effect on the apartheid regime, a new United Nations study has concluded. The study, by the UN Centre Against Apartheid, states: “While the official sanctions imposed on South Africa to date overall have been limited in scope and do not always target the main areas in which South Africa is dependent on the rest of the world, their cumulative effect has imposed important constraints on the economy.” The report notes that the South African economy “‘is highly depend- ent on the outside world. The coun- try’s foreign trade has represented, on the average, over 50 per cent of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP), in the 1980s. “At this juncture,” it states, “with inflows of foreign investment capital and long term loans to South African drastically curtailed, the importance of foreign trade as a provider of for- eign exchange is even more pro- nounced.” South African manufacturing (in- cluding mining) makes up nearly 25 per cent of GDP, yet “‘the sector is a net consumer, rather than a net pro- ducer of foreign exchange, importing four times as much as it exports,” the report states. Moreover, it adds, “the vast bulk of capital goods (machinery and equip- ment) used in the economy are imported. It is estimated that as much as 80 per cent of the country’s imports are comprised of capital equipment and. intermediate goods without which the economy cannot sustain itself.” The UN study reports that as a result of the apartheid education sys- tem, South Africa is desperately short of trained scientific and technological personnel. However, “in the transfer of technology to the South African economy, transnational corporations play a crucial role,” most of it in the electronics and computer industries. The U.S., Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan had been “the four major suppliers to South Africa, accounting for over 70 per cent of all South Africa’s interme- diate and capital goods imports and close to 80 per cent of various tech- nology transfer agreements, “the UN study notes. But sanctions have pushed Italy and Taiwan into more prominent roles, and today Japan is the top among the four in many cate- gories. The UN oil embargo against South Africa has had the greatest impact, costing the apartheid regime at least | $2 billion a year and forcing a major transnational oil company, Mobil, out of the country. Shell, British Pet- roleum and California Standard/ Texaco (Caltex) are the chief corpora- tions left. But they too are under strong pressure to leave, particularly Shell which is facing an escalating - international boycott.