Article in Eurasianet today: "Wikipedia Founder Distances Himself from
Kazakhstan PR Machine"
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/72831
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[...]
On March 20, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales hosted an Ask Me Anything
<http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2zpkxx/we_are_jameel_jaffer_of_the_aclu_wikipedia/cpl4maq>
conversation
(AMA) on Reddit, a social-networking platform. Before long the audience was
questioning Wales’s and Wikipedia’s roles in helping to improve
Kazakhstan’s image. Back in 2011, Wales awarded
<http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66343> a once-and-future Kazakh government
employee, Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, the inaugural “Wikipedian of the Year” for
his work with WikiBilim, a Kazakh-language platform criticized both for
receiving state funds and for publishing multiple articles toeing the
authoritarian government’s line. At the time, Wales told
EurasiaNet.org,
“As far as I know, the WikiBilim organization is not politicized.”
But during the AMA, Wales backpedaled on his decision to name Kenzhekhanuly
the first Wikipedian of the Year.
Wales was on the receiving end of a fresh round of criticism last year when
Kenzhekhanuly was named deputy governor of Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda
region. During the AMA, a commenter asked Wales if he would have bestowed
the award had he known Kenzhekhanuly would go on to serve as deputy
governor. “If I had known in 2011 that someone would get a job that I
disapprove of in 2014, would I refuse to give them an award in 2011?” Wales
responded. “Yes, I would have refused to give that award.”
Wales also clarified that Kenzhekhanuly “was not a government official” at
the time of the award – which is, technically, true. However, according to
Kenzhekhanuly’s LinkedIn profile
<https://www.linkedin.com/pub/rauan-kenzhekhanuly/24/8b7/b16>, before
receiving the award he had served both as a policy adviser to the governor
in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau region, as well as first secretary at
Kazakhstan’s embassy in Moscow. After the AMA, Wales said by email that he
was “not aware” Kenzhekhanuly had held those positions.
[...]
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