Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
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Traces of a Soviet future in Kazakhstan
MARCEL CARTIER talks to the citizens of a diverse nation that, despite dark periods, blossomed under socialism — but now faces turbulent times as it navigates a new post-Soviet identity
The Wedding Palace in Almaty, Kazakhstan
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
Born on this day in 1931, the heroic revolutionary faces a dangerous new wave of White House aggression. We must treat his birthday as a rallying cry to resist the illegal siege of Cuba, writes ROGER McKENZIE
RAMZY BAROUD decries the rats of Gaza, the rodent and human type. Both abound as profiteering from tragedy reaches obscene levels
WHAT is striking about Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and the former capital until it was moved to Astana in 1997, is the diversity of it.
Kazakhs make up the majority of its population, but here one can also be Kazakhstani without being Kazakh. A proud Kazakhstani citizen can belong to one of the other dozens of nationalities that make up the fabric of this multinational country.
Ethnic Russians make up the largest minority at around 20 per cent, but there are also significant communities of Uighurs, Ukrainians, Koreans, Germans and Tatars in this vibrant city of just under two million people.
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