Uzbekistan’s unique accomplishments in theatre and art have been respectfully recognized. On April 5th, the country’s Ilkhom Theatre (“Inspiration” in Uzbek) was prized with the 2011 Prince Claus Award, from the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, for it’s cultural achievements. The Theatre (Ильхом Театр Марка Вайля) is Uzbekistan’s only independent theatre, was the first in the USSR, and today also functions as a school of dramatic art. The award was presented to the Uzbek Ilkhom Theatre, by Dutch Ambassador to Russia, HE Mr Ronald Keller.

In terms of free expression and artistic development, the 2011 Prince Claus Fund was awarded to Ilkhom Theatre for:

“the high quality of its dramatic productions, for creating a space of freedom in a zone of silence, for nurturing and inspiring the younger generations in Uzbekistan, and for upholding the role of theatre as a means of opening minds and stimulating development.”

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Popular Uzbek singer, Yulduz Usmonova, has been censored by authorities in her homeland for years… but not any longer. Usmonova is said to have received official permission to stage her first concert in Uzbekistan, since 2007. And that concert is being held today, March 6th, in the historical city of Samarkand.

The singers website says:

“Уважаемые поклонники и почитатели творчества Юлдуз Усмановой .Рады ,вам сообщить , что 6 марта 2012 года в г. Самарканд , в ресторане “Дилафруз ” пройдет концерт Народной артистки РУз Юлдуз Усмановой.”

“Dear fans and admirers Yulduz Usmanova. Glad to inform you that the March 6, 2012 in the city of Samarkand, in the restaurant “Dilafruz” will be a concert of the People’s Artist of the RU Yulduz Usmanova.” (Google Translation)

In regards to her performance in Uzbekistan, the Facebook page titled “yıldız usmanova” – which has almost 45,400 “Likes” – shares the same information as above about Usmonova’s March 6th performance.
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According to official propaganda, UzA, the primary news agency of Uzbekistan, is not only a source of trusted information about processes going on in the country but an organization that “became a competitve actor in the world’s mainstream media.”

In this month of February, people affiliated with UzA are supposed to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Right after winning presidential elections in December 1991, Islam Karimov reorganized former UzTAG, Uzbek branch of TASS (Телеграфное агентство Советского Союза — Soviet Union Telegraph Agency), into Uzbekistan National News Agency.

Since February 5, 1992, UzA has served as one of the main megaphones of official propaganda with the news full of — let’s be realistic — too-good-to-be-true stories.

It’s no surprise that local mass media used this ocassion to praise UzA and label it with something like “An Active Distributor of Great Reforms.”

Surprise: UzA has not mentioned anything at all about its anniversary. How come? I don’t think that the UzA leadership would go out of line by adding a piece on how honored they were to have the president’s trust and blah, blah, blah. Or is this — finally– the surrender against the fact that “nothing hurts like the truth”?

Moreover, no official congrats to UzA staff on behalf of Islam Karimov, who just loves awarding people for falsified “large-scale developments” with a number of orders that are almost not known to ordinary Uzbeks. Read the full story »

Translator’s Note: Translated from Jamil’s post (RUS).

On March 14, 2011, Mukhiddin Khojimuradov suggested to his compatriots Khairulla and Sunatullo Yuldashevs from Chinaz region of Tashkent oblast that they move to Kazakhstan’s city of Turkestan, where they could earn decent money. When the four young men reached the place, the only job they were offered was at the car washing station; their employer refused to pay for their labor, reports the Initiative group of independent rights activists of Uzbekistan (IGIRAU). They never signed contracts and their passports had been taken away; they had effectively become slaves, who were constantly beaten and forced to work each day from 7am to 10pm.

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Editor’s note: Uzbekistan is having its seventh-annual National Journalism Prize Oltin Qalam (Golden Pen), with awards from several state ministries, the UN, UNESCO and the World Bank. The contest’s aim: to award the best achievements in journalism. Celebrating press freedom… in Uzbekistan… seriously? neweurasia’s Tomyris reports.

The National Journalism Prize Oltin Qalam VII (Golden Pen) gathers young talented journalists in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The contest’s aim: to award the best achievements in print, television, radio, Internet and press journalism. Ministries, authorities and mass media partake in the event – even the UN, UNESCO and the World Bank participate and give their own awards.

About the awards, Uzbekistan National News Agency said:

“One of the complimentary awards will go for the best article devoted to 2012, the Year of Family.”

UzDaily says:

“The competition, which was established on initiative of the Uzbek President, is dedicated to the World Press Freedom Day.”

Celebrating press freedom… in Uzbekistan… seriously?
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“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thy own eye?”
Matthew 7:3

Karimov knocks out Rahmon?

Official Uzbek media keep downgrading Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon regime by reprinting online critical articles written by journalists who are, in fact, perfect “Uzbek state enemies.”

Nowadays, apart from finding disadvantages and ‘assisting’ in postponing the construction of the Roghun project in Tajikistan, Uzbek media representatives decided to impose themselves as ready-to-analyze independent online sources on the search for as much information as possible that tells of the Rahmon’s regime’s failures and lies.

One of them, Tashkentskaya Pravda (Tashkent Truth) allowed itself to publish an article from Paruskg.info website, which refers to Wikileaks information, entitled, “Apple Does Not Fall Far From The Tree.”

Shamsullo Gulov, author of the ‘kompromat’ starts with calling Wikileaks a “famous web site” that gives opinions of U.S. State Department employees regarding Rahmon’s family seizing control over main industrial and financial facilities in the counrty. Later on, the author says that the information provided by Wikileaks are “concrete facts.”

Well, first of all, the fact of using Wikileaks as a source of information is something out of reality for Uzbek media since Wikileaks itself, based on American diplomatic cables, called Karimov an “authoritarian leader” and linked his regime with the Uzbek mafia. Read the full story »

Building on my theme of the possibilities and problems for an “Eurasian Spring”, neweruasia‘s Schwartz and I have co-written a three-part article series entitled, “Life After the Taghut”, for the new online magazine Fair Observer. Therein we explore scenarios for regime evolution, change, or breakdown after Uzbekistan’s strongman president, Islam Karimov, inevitably dies (and yes, the publication of the series is intended to coincide with his 74th birthday). In the first and second parts, we use both recent and older historical examples of other despotic regimes as tentative models and attempt to anticipate a bit about the choices that could be faced by a post-Karimov regime. In the final (and still upcoming) part, we explore how a certain social, economic, ideological and historical “logic” in Uzbekistan could cause a post-Karimov regime to place their country on a direct path to Islamicization, and what that would even mean.

Regarding the title, those of you familiar with political Islam shall understand the reference to طاغوت (taghut), an Arabic Islamic term meaning “to cross the limits, overstep boundaries” or “to rebel” vis-à-vis divine authority. Traditionally a term connoting idolatry, it is mentioned in the politically significant Qur’anic verse 4:76 (which Schwartz and I quote in the final part of the series). During the medieval period, it has was used by Muslims to describe the rampaging Mongol khans and their vassals. Today, in contemporary Islamic political theory, it has come to be used to describe dictatorships, i.e., as violating the will of God.

You can read the piece here: http://www.fairobserver.com/article/life-after-taghut

On January 3rd, 2012, young activists of Birdamlik Peoples Movement of Uzbekistan protested in front of the Uzbek Embassy in Washington, DC.

“The kids of our family, some of whose parents are not here with them in the U.S. and who became vistims of the Uzbek regime’s prosecution for being my relatives, are the ones trying to bring international attention to this problem,” Bakhodir Choriyev, leader of Birdamlik who currently resides in the United States, told neweurasia.

As a result, some kids are either without one parent or both parents — their relatives are deprived from their right to move freely and come to the U.S. where they have residence permits (the so-called Green Cards).

“This is the first protest in the series but not the last,” says Choriev. “We will continue our protests and call our Uzbek citizens, who are abroad, to occupy Uzbek embassies in countries of their residence! By doing this we can inform the world and publicity in developed democratic countries about horrible dictatorship regime in Uzbekistan, about President Karimov’s intolerance towards freedom of speech and political rights of the people of Uzbekistan!”
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The beginning of 2012 has become quite progressive for Uzbek media. First change: Newspapers of Uzbekistan that used to publish in an A4 format are now being published in an A3 one. The reason — new standards and technical requirements.

Second change: Newspapers that belong to official governmental agencies are now 30% more expensive than in 2011.

Of course, there are explanations justified enough to be acceptable. But, I am going to use this opportunity to think the way a regular reader presumably would. Read the full story »

While Uzbeks are confused about growing prices on farmers’ products, and have a hard time figuring out how it was possible to produce “6.8 million tons of grain, more than 8.2 million tons of vegetables and melons” and still use their best in math to calculate miserable salaries and growing expenses on basic needs, President Karimov has sent congratulatory messages to nine political figures on the occasion of the New Year.

Uzbekistan President’s heartfelt greetings were delivered to Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, Barack Obama, U.S. President, Christian Wulff, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Hu Jintao, President of the People’s Republic of China, Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation, Ivan Gasparovic, President the Slovak Republic, and Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, Chairman of State Council and Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba.

Even though the latter two were not about the New Years coming, the date of when they were sent qualify them as a part of the Uzbek President’s ‘congratulatory mood’ and overall emphasis on relations with particular countries.

The most important thing in this torrent of messages by Karimov is that out of all countries represented, U.S., Russia, China and Germany are main strategic partners of Uzbekistan. Greetings to Slovakian President are President’s diplomatic protocol duty.

What the heck is Cuba doing on this ‘exclusive list’ of recipients?
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