An unexpected scandal occurred in the Kazakh city of Rudny in the Kostanay region during public hearings on the renaming of two streets. A proposal was submitted to the local representative body to change the names of Ivan Franko Street and 50 Years of October Street to Dostyk and Hero of the Soviet Union Aliya Moldagulova, respectively. The majority of city deputies supported this proposal, while some residents opposed it.
Many Kazakhs admit during discussions that have already gone beyond Rudny that it was only thanks to these public hearings that they were surprised to learn that there is still a street named 50 Years of October in the city. And it was the initiative to rename it that caused the most debate. City deputies supported the renaming by a majority vote, but a significant portion of the city's residents who attended the hearings opposed it.
"Almost all of you, 90% of those who want to rename it here, refer to the Soviet past. But I just want to remind you that the city of Rudny came into being thanks to the Soviet past. Thanks to the fact that people from all over the Soviet Union gathered here, who came, left their health here, and were able to raise this city," said entrepreneur from Rudny, Katerina Korchagina.
Due to her overly emotional speech, Korchagina was removed from the hall. After that, she posted another video on her Instagram page against the renaming, lamenting that in Russia, streets are named after "our national heroes" from World War II, while in Kazakhstan, "we are so eager to eradicate everything related to this period of time" – but then deleted that post. Now social media users are demanding that Korchagina be held accountable – they discerned signs of incitement to hatred in her statement.
Political scientist Gaziz Abishev believes that "50 Years of October" is an "ideologically outdated name": Kazakhstan does not recognize the October Revolution as a state-significant date and does not commemorate it in any form.
According to historian and human rights activist Galym Ageleuov, Kazakhstan has not been able to offer the people a clear national idea in its 30 years of independence. Therefore, Soviet symbolism remains important for a certain part of the population:
"All the old Soviet remnants exist because modern life does not show us such examples. People do not see real heroes, national leaders around them. Because this all gives birth to civil society. And if civil society is absent, if it is cut off, then the authorities find it convenient to impose from above – let’s just rename it by decree and that’s it."
The process of renaming Soviet streets and settlements in Kazakhstan began immediately after gaining independence in 1991. Moreover, this does not always involve assigning Kazakh names. For example, in Almaty last year, two streets were renamed in honor of Kazakh actors Yuri Pamerantsev and Vladimir Tolokonnikov. As for the streets of Rudny, the fate of their names will now be decided by the republican onomastic commission.
