Comments on: Will Jack-O’-Lanterns symbolize cultural resistance in Tashkent?

By: neweurasia.net » Happiness came to Tashkent

neweurasia.net » Happiness came to Tashkent — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 09:55:14 +0000

[...] the gift. Citizens of Tashkent are happy! I wonder just why our government keeps silence? They are actively fighting with Western cultural influence. In my opinion, “Coca-Cola” – is one of the basic stereotypes of the Western way [...]

By: neweurasia.net » “Uzbekistan Illustrated”: satire meets social networking

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:26:32 +0000

[...] And in honor of the Halloween ban: [...]

By: Schwartz

Schwartz — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:56:18 +0000

@Bruno De Cordier, Well, I think it’s more grey than that, although I grok where you’re coming from.

- Cultures are not hermetically sealed from each other. Take Id al-Adha for example: should this be rejected in Uzbekistan (and a whole host of other societies) as “conformity” to imported “Arabianism” or “Islamicization”? If not, does it receive some special dispensation merely because it’s been in practice much longer than Halloween?

And keep in mind that there are many in Europe who would like to ban Id al-Adha precisely on these grounds: it’s imported “totalitarianism”, and its lack of “historical basis”.

- Additionally, imported Western holidays are not just the purview of Tashkent. Take Valentine’s Day for example, which has been spreading quite rapidly throughout Uzbekistan (and the world in general): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16921101

Again, I’m not a fan of the commercialism implicit in Valentine’s Day, but that’s a commercialism intrinsic to its practice in the West, not necessarily elsewhere. It’s comparable to what happened to Saint Nicholas: in some cultures, he became an excuse for commercialism (the United States); in others, he’s a reason for family excursions (the Benelux, Southern Europe, etc.).

By: Bruno De Cordier

Bruno De Cordier — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:31:34 +0000

Hm, ‘celebrating’ Halloween in the context outlined in this article is switching one form of conformity (to Karimovism) to another (to neoliberal totalitarianism and the cultural americanisation that is inherent to it). Hence I really don’t see the ‘dissidence’ or ‘resistance’ aspect here.

Besides, this is just not relevant to over 95% of Uzbekistan’s population.

‘And who doesn’t love to party?’

I.:)