Over the past years, Kazakhstan has seen a peculiar trend of demands to ban concerts of various artists, mostly Russian ones. This is written in his Telegram channel by Daniyar Ashimbayev.
The initiators consistently appear to be individuals working in structures with American-English financing (homegrown ‘foreign agents’), who create noise and hysteria on social media, presenting their personal (or official) opinion as ‘public’ opinion.
Interestingly, equating the political views of certain artists and singers with their work, as well as seeking to ban the latter, has become a ‘professional hobby’ of those presenting themselves as democrats, liberals, and human rights activists. Since this provocative activity has long exceeded the bounds of decency, the state has responded.
In September of last year, Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, when asked about the reasons for cancelling concerts of Russian pop stars, stated,
‘We will set strict requirements for content. Concerts will be banned in case of political propaganda and attempts to divide society.’
It is worth noting that the ‘cancelled’ Russians did not violate the laws of Kazakhstan and did not make ‘calls to war’ on the territory of the republic.
In October, against the backdrop of the now-cancelled concert of a comedian who had repeatedly made anti-Russian statements, the minister explained once again:
‘It is important for artists to understand their role and mission and not involve art and politics. Of course, the most important thing is for artists not to divide society into for and against, as is happening now. It practically results in the polarization of society on this basis. Therefore, it is important for artists, first and foremost, to respect the laws of our country. We live in a legal state, we also have our own principles, the main one of which is to preserve the stability and unity of our people.’
At yesterday’s meeting of the Ministry of Culture and Information, Aida Balayeva hinted that constant concert cancellations due to ‘public’ pressure have become tiresome for everyone. The minister stated that ‘culture should not be an instrument of politics’, and the issue of regulating concert activities will be addressed at the legislative level:
‘Currently, announcements of concerts by famous performers are posted on social media, tickets are sold, but there are cases of concert cancellations. In order to prevent these and other negative actions, work is being done to amend legislation to impose prohibitions and penalties on organizers.'»
