A mother of 12 children, three of whom are oil workers, supports their struggle for better pay and conditions at the “tent city” that was established in Zhanaozen’s main square in June 2011. The struggle started in May that year and grew into a strike of about 16,000 people in June. This continued through the year and eventually ended in violence and severe state repression and murder. The Kazakh elite has become rich, thanks to oil – but in Mangistau, the largest oil-producing province, one third of the population are below the poverty line.