BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan has called for respect for its “historical and cultural heritage” after a Russian clothing brand used traditional Kyrgyz designs and claimed copyright over them, prompting accusations of “cultural appropriation.”
The Central Asian country is closely allied with Moscow, but has taken steps to reinforce its national identity in recent years after many decades of dependence on former ruler Russia.
“Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols, which are an integral part of the historical and cultural heritage of Kyrgyzstan,” its culture ministry said on Facebook Wednesday.
“The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic.”
The furor began earlier this month after social media users accused Russian fashion label Yaka, founded in 2023, of ripping off traditional Kyrgyz patterns and including a legal warning against “copying” its designs on its website.
Yaka sells a range of clothes and accessories featuring colorful Kyrgyz patterns, describing them as “modern ethno-chic.”
It also sells “shyrdaks,” traditional felt rugs native to Kyrgyzstan that are sometimes used as a dowry at weddings and have been included in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.
Some social media users accused the brand of “cultural appropriation” — when a tradition is taken from another culture and used in a way that was not intended.
Kyrgyzstan has a relatively freer media and looser controls on social networks than its authoritarian Central Asian neighbors, but open anger against Russia is rare.
Yaka’s founder Anna Obydenova reacted to the criticism by calling on Kyrgyz people to “learn Russian better” in an Instagram video.
She later deleted the video and apologized.
In an Instagram post Tuesday, she denied accusations of disrespect toward Kyrgyz culture, saying she had worked with local craftswomen.
“I never said I came up with these patterns, nor did I call myself a designer or author of the motifs,” she said.
“I am simply a person who saw incredible beauty and wanted to share it with the world.”
Russian remains an official language in Kyrgyzstan, with a segment of the population expressing pro-Russian attitudes.
But others, especially among the younger generation, have turned away from Moscow, partly due to the invasion of Ukraine and Russian authorities’ often harsh treatment of Kyrgyz migrants.
Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
https://arab.news/ckstb
Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
- “Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols,” its culture ministry said
- “The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic“
US congresswoman supports censure of colleague over comments against Arabs, Muslims
- Republican Randy Fine ‘spreading hate,’ Democrat Robin Kelly tells Arab News
- ‘Members of Congress should not be targeting Muslims for political gain’
CHICAGO: Illinois Congresswoman Robin Kelly has said she supports calls in the US House to censure Florida Congressman Randy Fine, who has repeatedly made derogatory comments about Muslims and Arabs on his official social media accounts.
Kelly, a Democrat, denounced anti-Muslim and anti-Arab statements made by Fine, a Republican, saying she expects a censure resolution to be put together by House members possibly next week.
“There’s just no room for hate. That’s just the bottom line. I’ve seen hate. It causes people to lose their lives. It causes people to not have the same opportunities as other people. It causes people to have extra stress, extra trauma. And to categorize a whole group of people is so unfair,” Kelly told Arab News.
“I come from a family with a lot of different ethnicities or cultures, and I’ve seen the damage that hate has done in categorizing any one community.
“The Islamic community is just always presented as the bad guy in the movies and on TV … Being a person of color and seeing things that even my own family have gone through, I’m just very sensitive to it.”
Last month, when a supporter of New York’s Muslim Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on social media that dogs have no place in a Muslim home, Fine wrote: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
Then on Feb. 20, Fine introduced to Congress the “Protecting Puppies from Sharia Act,” cosponsored by nine Republicans.
Fine has been criticized in the past for making Islamophobic and anti-Arab comments on his social medial pages.
Last May, when Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib said it was “a crime to use starvation as a weapon in Gaza,” Fine responded: “Tell your fellow Muslim terrorists to release the hostages and surrender. Until then, #StarveAway.”
During his election campaign in December 2023, in response to an anonymous poster on X who criticized delays in getting food trucks into Gaza, Fine wrote: “Stop the trucks. Let them eat rockets. There are plenty of those. #Bombsaway.”
Before running for Congress, responding to a New York Times report and photo of 67 Arab children killed by Israel, he said: “Thanks for the pic.”
Muslim groups in Florida have been complaining about Fine’s rhetoric since 2021, including after he sent a private Instagram message to a Florida Muslim saying: “Go blow yourself up!”
Kelly said she is also disturbed by the comments of Fine’s allies, citing them as a broader undercurrent of Islamophobia rising in the US.
She insisted that Islamophobia is no different than antisemitism or racism against other groups, including African Americans like herself.
Fine and Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles “are spreading hate and should be censured,” Kelly wrote on her own Facebook page this past week.
“Our country is already divided enough, members of Congress should not be targeting Muslims for political gain.”
Ogles, a cosponsor of the “Protecting Puppies from Sharia Act,” declared: “Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.”
Kelly, who was elected to Congress in 2013, said: “I think they should all be censured. I say to people that feel the Islamophobia, ‘Don’t get weary, don’t get lost in the chaos. That’s what they want you to do. You can’t go in your house and close the door. You have to be a voice. You can’t stay on the sidelines because this isn’t acceptable.’”
Arab News reached out to Fine for comment.
