Paper long abstract:

This article analyzes dynamics and main trends of labor protests in Kazakhstan from 2008 till present. The protests in country leaded up to the massacres in Zhanaozen in 2011, while in others part of the countries not. This study is important to understand how labor protests develop in transitional states of Central Asia, which heavily depend on extracting industry. In 2021, labor strikes and income-related rallies held by workers across Kazakhstan made up more than 28 percent of all registered protest activities. This is a significant rise in comparison to previous years. Again, the most active region has been the western oil-extracting region of Kazakhstan. Holding a legal strike in Kazakhstan requires a complicated procedure. Almost no one can meet the requirements of the law, so the majority of strikes are spontaneous and therefore not recorded by the official statistical office. This paper is based on data provided by the Oxus society protest tracker, as well as newspaper materials to track cases of labor protests, their character, geography and intensity.