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| Source: Google Images |
What does one of the recent bestseller trilogies and Azerbaijan's well known human rights tyrant Aliyev have in common? Well, don't you think it's already obvious by the first sentence of this post? If not then let me draw some parallels here so as not to leave anyone in the dark...
For those of you who have already read the books would know what I mean if I say- Capitol, Panem, President Snow and districts. For those who haven't read the book here is a short scoop- Capitol is the "capital" of what was once upon a time somewhere in North America. "Panem" is the nation that lives in the Capitol and other districts. And President Snow is the tyrant/dictator ruling the whole of Panem. Now without spoiling the book or the story let me go back to the connection.
As you already guessed- President Snow is no other but Ilham Aliyev. Capitol and Panem- well that's easy to figure out. And just like in Capitol where people live lavish life styles (not all but enough, where life moves at its paste, where buildings are high and sky is the limit) Baku fits the description just fine. But what is really extraordinary (I gotta' tip my hat off to the author) is the similarity of the ways in which President Snow and President Aliyev especially when it came to punishing, humiliating and what is more alarming- killing the dissidents and those who protested the system operated- cold blooded, threatening and uncanny.
And of course, the "Hunger Games" are daily challenges Azerbaijani people have to face- dealing with violence (especially during rallies), being beaten up by the police (instead of tributes, though in our case, we might as well call our police forces some kind of special tributes, like the challenges and mayhem that would be introduced during the games by those who run the games from their computers). Of course there is less blood (at least visible one, though if we look at most recent cases of journalists and human rights advocates being beaten this might no longer be the case) and murder but overall, the parallel is there. In fact, they way individual districts are described (coal, miners, agriculture, iron and etc.) fits our regional districts, starving people (more or less as salaries are low and prices are high, agitated and strict police reporting to the capital and doing whatever it basically wants, should I go on? No, I think I will stop here for now...
Now, the only thing missing in this parallel is the hero of the book, or the heroes of the book- the Mockingjay, Gale, Peeta and others. Unfortunately there ain't no Mockingjay in Azerbaijan but maybe one day we'll have one too- come out of its ashes, "the bird who was on fire". Who knows... For now however, we'll just have to do with what we have- President Snow/Aliyev, Capitol/Baku, Panem/Azerbaijanis.
