Saturday, October 21, 2006

A Think Tank Conference in Istanbul

I arrived in Istanbul a couple of days ago for the Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS) Conference. I gave a presentation about fund raising yesterday and moderated a session on standard-setting.

There are 26 think tanks in PASOS, all from emerging democracies. The conversations are fascinating. There is so much to learn about how life is other places and just being where people are talking about their countries' policies and processes, as well as their own daily interactions with those policies and processes is a amazing experience. I had no idea that corruption was a way of life in so many places. Bribes to go to school, to the doctor, to get a passport, to take exams at school, to get a permit to rent, everything!

I had dinner with a woman who said all services in her country...doctors, utilities, education...require bribes. It is a way of life. Another woman, from Central Asia...can you name three countries in Central Asia?...bribed someone $100 to get her passport renewed to come to the conference. Otherwise the wait would have approached one year. And these folks just keep on working to make things better. I am coming home and VOTE! We need to take advantage of our really good system to make things better, least the system get as bad as what these folks are dealing with.

What a trip this is turning out to be. I cannot believe how much I am learning about this big world we live in. I am shocked by how isolated we are in the US...especially educationally. I cannot place on the map some of the countries of people I am meeting here….and they know all about America. They quote our generals and former presidents. They know our history and theirs. They talk lived what we read about in World History…the invasion of their countries, being behind the Iron Curtain, glasnost, the fall of the Soviet Empire, the rise of the current systems, the birth of the EU.

When they get started on policy development issues, they are passionate. I had coffee with a woman from Kazakhstan who formed an Economic Policy Think Tank. Her country has so many migrant workers that it provides between 15 and 20% of the GDP of three neighboring countries.

Did you know that the EU has a policy that it only gives money to governments, who then redistribute it? That means that the EU gives money to Belarus and expects the government to redistribute it to NGOs working to build democracy there. Today I heard a story from a conference attendee who was in St Petersburg and met with a Belarusian NGO executive director. The Belarusian told him that he was being trailed on all his activities in St Petersburg by a Belarusian KGB agent. So the NGO exec and the KGB agent got to know each other, going to the same places every day. One day when it rained they had a coffee together. The KGB agent asked him if he got EU funding for the NGO. The NGO exec said no and the KGB guy said they get lots of EU money and he could help him write a proposal. Even if it is an urban legend, everyone here thought it described the problematic process well. Around here, people see good reasons to have somewhat less transparency sometimes.

So far, this is so NOT being a tourist. I have hardly left the hotel, and I have learned more than I would have dreamed I could in a few days. This afternoon, about 4:00, I had the window open and a loud speaker was calling everyone to prayers. It is Ramazan. Actually Ramazan will end while I am here and I will get to see the holiday, Seker Bayrami that celebrates the end of the near-month of daily fasting. Before daybreak someone walks by in the street right below my second floor windows beating a drum to wake us all in time to eat before the sun comes up and fasting starts. From sunrise to sunset, nothing passes the lips…food, liquids, smoking! I hear that taxi drivers are pretty grumpy about 6:00 from being so hungry. Of course, we are not fasting!

At lunch a woman told a great story about coming into town from the airport last week about 6:00. The taxi driver asked if it was okay with her if they stopped and got some food because they would still be in traffic when the sunset came. She was not fasting but said sure fine. He assumed she was also fasting and got water and cookies for her too. She was really thirsty but it would have been super impolite to drink the water before he could. He had the radio on to tell them when the fast could be broken. The radio said okay, but he rolled down the window to listen for the call from the mosques. Then he broke open the water and cookies for them, and tossed cookies to folks stuck in traffic next to them. Cool!

Tonight we all went on a dinner cruise. I had a great time. This may not be my last trip to Central and Eastern Europe after all. Maybe even Central Asia will beckon. Tomorrow I will start seeing the city. I’ll post photos, if I get any worth posting.

No comments: