Reading the Newspaper (1938), N. Karaxan (1900-1970), Savitsky Art Museum, Nukus, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, 19 November 2008. Image courtesy of Flickr.

Editor’s note: neweurasia’s Musafirbek Ozod goes beyond statistics and formal reports to write about what it’s actually like to live and work as a journalist in Uzbekistan. This is the first part of a series, and part of the ongoing CyberChaikhana project.

A few days ago, Chris Schwartz, one of neweurasia’s managing editors, asked me to write about the disconnect between what the news reports about Uzbekistan and what life is actually like there for journalists. I started quoting reports by international organizations but he immediately stopped me.

“No, don’t think like a journalist this time; think like a blogger,” he said.  “Write from life, not statistics.”

As you can imagine, breaking out from the dry officialdom of journalism and speaking with one’s own inner voice is a challenge, but “writing from life” is what neweurasia is about.  So, here goes…

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The media situation in Uzbekistan is at such a low point that no self-respecting journalist decides to work for the public, or any other kind of mass media there.  The reason is because working in these sectors just won’t allow them to grow professionally.

A colleague who is a former employee of a metropolitan newspaper wrote the following to me in a recent e-mail.  For security reasons, I cannot disclose his identity.

My salary was only 120 thousand soum [approximately 65 USD] – and I was not a rookie.

My editor obliged me to write nothing that included reasonable criticism of the President or the government; no analysis of social policy; not a negative word about the President’s family (indeed, don’t say nothing at all unless it’s about his famous daughter, Gulnara); and God be with you if dare report on the activities of opposition parties.  Do otherwise and  you’ll get fired for a long time.

Actually, from what I have seen myself, if journalists are critical about anything in the country, not just the government and its policies, then, first, their article will be immediately rejected by the editor, and second, they will be denounced as a parvenu, or worse, blacklisted.  Blacklisting in Uzbekistan is very serious: the journalist becomes deemed an “enemy of the state” and their families are shunned from normal community life.

So, any sane employee of the Uzbek media will write laudatory articles, submitting himself to official “guidance”.  Yet, praise for articles that are considered “good” isn’t given to the journalists who write them, but to only one man, the president himself!  It’s crazy: journalists must endure humiliation and poverty but cannot even enjoy the simplest joy of reporting — the byline.

Uzbek media gives the impression that the country is a veritable paradise on earth. So, it’s a supreme irony of the situation is that life is hell for the journalists who slave away to present this illusion.

So it’s not surprising that the Uzbek media is having a “brain drain”. My colleague writes,

I left as soon as I felt that I was wasting my time there: every employee of the Uzbek media degrades rather than gains experience to report as a real professional and to write on the issues he/she wants.

One of the peak of the Sulaiman-Too. Photo by Elena Skochilo.

Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain of Kyrgyzstan has become [en] the country’s first site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

On 26 June, during the 33-rd session of UNESCO in Spain the members of the Committee passed by a solid vote to include the Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain of Kyrgyzstan in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

100 countries and 1400 culture-historical objects were also participated in the “Sacred Mountain” nomination.

Culture minister of Kyrgyzstan Sultan Raev told that it wasn’t easy to receive the approval of all members of the Committee from different countries. Kyrgyzstan tried to nominate Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain 10 years ago, but only this year became successful.

So, what next?

Osh city mayor Melisbek Myrzakmatov considers that the Sulaiman-Too will become “worldwide famous”.

Tourists from all the world will come to see Sulaiman-Too and the investigation will increase. Moreover, UNESCO will assign means to support and save the cultural and historical treasures of Sulaiman-Too, Melisbek Myrzakmatov told [ru].

Culture specialist of the National Commission Sabira Soltongeldieva said [ru] BPC, that Kyrgyzstan is going to nominate the Issyk-Kul Lake and Shakh Vasil mausoleum in Jalal-Abad region to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in future.

The Internet-society of Kyrgyzstan were also shared the gladness of the bureaucracy. But a lot of users of Diesel Forum asked [ru] the same question while discussing this news:

Are you sure that the UNESCO means will be received and will be spent only to save the treasures of the Sulaiman-Too?

Building mosque near the Sulaiman-Too. Photo by Elena Skochilo.

I have another question. Aссording UNESCO criteria for selection [en], authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations. So, what about the big mosque that has been building near Sulaiman-Too more one year? Last year I saw the start of the construction work. I think this year the building of the mosque will be finished. Where is the authenticity?

By the way, The World Heritage Committee decided [en] to remove Germany’s Dresden Elbe Valley from UNESCO’s World Heritage List due to the building of a four-lane bridge in the heart of the cultural landscape which meant that the property failed to keep its “outstanding universal value as inscribed.”

Dresden was inscribed as a cultural landscape in 2004. The Committee said that Germany could present a new nomination relating to Dresden in the future. In doing so, the Committee recognized that parts of the site might be considered to be of outstanding universal value, but that it would have to be presented under different criteria and boundaries.

Our government should understand the importance of saving our Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain in it’s primeval status.

Also, I found small video from the Sulaiman-Too. There is one sacred stone. People believe if you make a secret wish and roll down from the stome several times, you wish will come true :)

Small video

The World Heritage List includes 890 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value.

These include 689 cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed properties in 148 States Parties. As of April 2009, 186 States Parties have ratified the World Heritage Convention.

Sponsored by Opera and many other organizations, the agenda of the NevaCamp’s did not differ from traditional barcamp agendas. It included opening ceremony, presentations and StartUp project competitions. And traditionally, the event gathered different people with different backgrounds from different countries, but, united by the same idea of exchanging ideas and experiences and creating a network.

Presentations given during the NevaCamp were also very interesting. They included talks on blogging as citizen media, social networks and how to make money out of it, future of internet and New Media tools, and many others.

However, to tell that NevaCamp was successful would be far from the truth. Though the organizers did a great job in running the barcamp, there were many flaws in the organization. Maybe therefore, the NevaCamp did not attract too many people – the number of participants did not reach the expected number of 400. Moreover, unlike other barcamps, the majority of participants were not from the host country, but mainly from other post-Soviet countries. Is it an indication of the non-popularity of barcamps in Russia? Maybe…

A web designer Anya, hailing from the Ukraine, shared her opinions concerning the Camp:

“The organization, I think, was not that good. The organizing team could have done a better job in PRing the event. The fact that not many people came to the Camp is a proof of it. I wish there were more participants, as the sessions and presentations were very interesting. Well, this is the first barcamp in St Petersburg. I am sure next ones will be better organized, as the “practice makes perfect!”… But, I am glad that I came here, as I had a chance to meet clever young minds from different places, and create a network with them. I hope we will keep in touch in future.”

As there were no travel grants for participants, not many people came to the NevaCamp from Central Asia – only 4 people. Timur, participant from Kazakhstan, is also glad that he came to the NevaCamp:

“I am glad that I am here. I met different smart people, and exchanged ideas with them… Of course, the organization was not perfect. But let’s look at the positive sides of it – I learned a lot, and networked with interesting people.”

The NevaCamp, despite some flaws in organization and a small number of participants, was indeed a very interesting event, especially in terms of creating networks with clever ambitious young people. “Thumbs up” for the organizing team that they could gather such, even if small, but very interesting minds together.

The NevaCamp came to its end with a tour on Neva, and long and fun enjoyment of the “white nights” of St Petersburg.

Training attack to neutralize the conditional terrorists. Kyrgyzstan, Chon-Tash village, photo by Elena Skochilo.

Last week of June was stressed for the law machinery of Kyrgyzstan. Our special force neutralized two armed criminal group and lost one force officer.

On 23rd , June the armed group of militants was destroyed in southern Jalal-Abad town.

On 27th, June 3 militants were killed in Kosh-Korgon village, Uzgen region. According to the preliminary information, they belonged to the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan. Within 2 days, the Kyrgyz Special Forces killed one more militant when he started shooting and tossed a grenade.

On 30, June three supposed members of the armed group, which was destroyed in Kosh-Korgon village were arrested in Bishkek.

As the press-center of the State Committee of the national security of Kyrgyzstan said [ru], one of the arrested was learnt in the Pakistan’s terrorist’s centers. He arrived in Kyrgyzstan to prepare the conditions for the living and legalization of the other members of the international terrorist organizations.

Other two arrested persons are Kyrgyzstanis. One of them was responsible for the convey of the terrorists, other made forged Kyrgyz passports for the members of the international terrorist and extremist organizations.

The experts are sure that the appearance of the militants in Kyrgyzstan isn’t an accidental circumstance.

The analyst and expert of the Independent research center of the religion, law and politic Kadyr Malikov suggested that the militants of the IMU would appear in Kyrgyzstan gradually and there would be more such armed conflicts in future.

Such armed conflict must happen sooner or later. We had the information from the Tajic and Afgan experts that the IMU would move to other country gradually because of the anti-terrorist operations. We suggested that IMU would appear in the Central Asia. I can assume that Kyrgyz security force tracked down this group and neutralized it in Jalalabad, Kadyr Malikov told [ru] in BPC interview.

Expert about national security questions Leonid Bondares approved the work of the Special Forces but told that the appearance of the militants in the south of Kyrgyzstan wasn’t accidental.

Our special forces worked well. They detected and destroyed this armed group in proper time. But the gunbattle in Jalal-Abad makes me think that the militants appeared not randomly. Why the IMU members are fighting in Kyrgyzstan, while their main goal is the overthrow the government in Uzbekistan? Leonid Bondarec said [ru] in BPC interview.

The question of the terrorism also disturb the Internet users.

Terrorism is a double problem. One problem is to prevent. Other is to neutralize. While the government doesn’t make any preventive measures, our special forces have to shed blood. At the same time we can’t confront the aliens ideas of the terrorist because the ideas are spreading not by only who has nothing to lose, but the usual people, Diesel Forum user Atai told [ru].

roose, the blogger from YVision.kz blog platform in Kazakhstan, has posted [ru] a letter from the government to the principals of schools and colleges of the country containing recommendations to use KazTube.Kz video portal, which was created in February, 2009 at the expense of the state budget. In particular, the principals are urged to post videos about “significant events taking place in their institutions on a regular basis.”

akost has associated [ru] this “marketing approach” with the one that had been applied back in the Soviet times, when “people were forced to work on subbotniks (area clean-ups), and nowadays people are forced to upload videos to inferior video portals”. bakha has suggested [ru] that the reason for that is that “the authorities have dumped a lot of money into that project and now they are looking for the ways to justify it by administrative increase of traffic”. At the same time, Kimberly jokingly notes [ru] that “fun” is the most popular tag on KazTube.

Against the background of the notorious amendments on Internet regulation and their adoption by the Parliament, one may readily suppose that such approach can become a regular practice in the near future. Kazakhstan may deliberately hinder the development of web 2.0 with its user generated content and replace it with the “approved by the government content”.

Kuanyshbek Yesekeyev, the head of IT and Communications Agency, who initiated these amendments, is worried [ru]:

“Internet has to be regulated to some extent. If it flows naturally, then there is a possibility that the events similar to those in Moldova (when popular uprising was organized via Internet) will take place in Kazakhstan.”

So far no criticism has taken due effect. Roundtables held by rights advocates, letters addressed by journalists and politicians to the Parliament, and even the strong criticism of the OSCE and other international organizations failed to stop adoption of this online censorship law. OSCE Representative for the Freedom of Media Miklos Haraszti has said that this law would become a step backwards and asked president Nazarbayev to veto it.

Is Kazakhstan going to remain the country with positive contemporary history, which voluntary abandoned nuclear weapons and put forward various integration initiatives, or is it going to spoil its image and give a green light to censorship despite protests of local and international community? The Parliament of Kazakhstan has already passed the amendments and submitted them to the president for signing.

Also posted on Global Voices

Today’s roundup of blogs from Kazakhstan is dedicated to culture and media and how they come across each other. Of course, it did not go without politics being involved in it, as well as well as in many other things in Kazakhstan.

Megakhuimyak thinks that the main problem of Kazakhstani literature and arts is their irrelevance and lack of topicality [ru]:

“I am talking about satire and caricature – the genres, which are reflecting the current situation. The ones that exist at the moment are restricted by the editorial policy and trite techniques. In my personal opinion, it will be possible to say that our culture comes to life, only when these two genres revive”.

Ehot, a media professional, has tried to watch a weekly news bloc on the state TV-channel. Here is what he thinks about it [ru]:

“I am not sure, whose idea it was to announce the content of the broadcast for entire 5 minutes, but it was too much. What can be said about average TV-viewers, when it was so much boring even for me, the one who deliberately tried to watch the news? I switched off the TV-set before the announcement ended”

A-strekoza has also tried to do her best and watch the film about the incumbent president after she downloaded it from the official web-site of the film’s main character [ru]:

“It’s kind of a disaster. I have no complaints about the cameraman’s work, but the entire movie is a wild mix of an uncovered flattery with bad off-screen voice saying something pathetic and a far-fetched script… I wonder who has decided that such film can improve the image of the country and the president?”

Count-asylum shares his ideas that he has got after participation in the meeting of anime fans in Karaganda. What exactly happened there is that the police was watching closely the group of young fans of the Japanese animation art. The law enforcement was afraid that they had gathered for some unsanctioned meeting [ru]:

“It is necessary to top some pathos and exaggeration over this story to add more drama. Like this: “When they cracked down on the opposition newspapers, I was speechless - I read news on the web. When they put Zhakianov [opposition leader] in jail, I also did not say anything - I was a schoolboy. When they blocked Livejournal, I still did not resent - I know about anonymizers. But when they came for anime fans, nobody has been there to protest”.

Also posted on Global Voices

“It is amazing that this group of young professionals has launched such a serious organization with ambitious goals, which are, of course, achievable and necessary,” said Aida Alymbaeva, the chairman of the Social Research Center at the opening.

The leaders of the group set out their goals and strategies, introduced strategic research areas, and announced several key events and campaigns of the Institute.

CAFMI's Opening Party in Bishkek

“We intend to become the leading think-tank for the whole region, by providing constructive options for economic reforms,” said Mirsulzhan Namazaliev, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Institute.

Special guests were Sascha Tamm, the head of Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Moscow, and Emil Umetaliev, CEO of the Kyrgyz Concept company and a board member of CAFMI.

CAFMI will promote free-market reforms by producing relevant, scientifically rigorous, and constructive research and policy proposals.

CAFMI leaders also announced their plans to share with the world the free-market successes of each of the countries in the region to encourage further reforms and to create a spirit of friendly competition in enacting better reforms.

In 2009 Institute plans to hold two “Liberty Camps” for students in the fields of economic and personal freedom. One will be in English, the other in Russian. A “Researchers’ Camp” will be organized to enable Central Asian researchers and experts to present, discuss, and improve their research work, and Bishkek will be host to a regular series of “IdeaNights,” during which young activists, researchers, and reforms will share, discuss, and improve their projects and reform proposals.

CAFMI will launch within days a new website (www.freemarket.kg) and an ambitious campaign (www.freetrade.kg) to create a free-trade region in Central Asia, to facilitate exchange and wealth-creation throughout the countries of Central Asia.

The Institute’s Board of Directors include Emil Umetaliev (CEO of Kyrgyz Concept), Krassen Stanchev (Chairman of the Institute of Market Economics, Bulgaria), Tom G. Palmer (Atlas Economic Research Foundation’s Vice-President), Timur Shaikhutdinov (Free Generation Liberal Youth Alliance’s Co-Chairman), and Seyitbek Usmanov (Institute’s a Co-Founder).

The Central Asian Free Market Institute is headquartered in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. CAFMI directors hope to see establishment of branches in Osh (Kyrgyzstan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), and Dushanbe (Tajikistan) within the next two years.

From June 01 to June 10 school graduates in Kazakhstan were undergoing Unified National Test (UNT) - the first and one of the most important tests in their lives. As Zara, one of our bloggers, writes, the average test result has been 74.9 points, which is 7 points higher than the one for the last year. The number of graduates with excellent marks, who confirmed their knowledge, has increased from 36% in the last year to 54.5%.

“On the whole, the situation with UNT results over the country is more optimistic comparing to the previous years”, she notes [ru].

Sadenova gives her own calculations, based on the officially stated figures, and her conclusions are far less optimistic [ru]:

Analisys of UNT-2009 results shows that every 7th school graduate hasn’t scored the threshold of 45 points, every 9th school graduate scored over 100 points, and only 1 school graduate out of 13,500 scored the maximum of 125 points.

And lord-fame tells about rumored violations during the test. Crib notes and mobile telephones used by the graduates are nothing, comparing to what is described below [ru]:

$ 300 - is the price fixed by local level some education officials and their cronies for not noticing a mobile telephone in the hands of a graduate passing the test. This price is valid for the provinces, and it’s more expensive in Almaty and Astana. By paying $1000 you can be sure that your child will get teacher’s help in case of a difficult question.

Also posted on Global Voices.

The biometric data passports are introduced with the purpose of raising their security level, development of mechanisms for prompt and exact personal identification at crossing the state border, ensuring the safety of international civil aerial navigation and effectiveness of international avia transport.

As Ferghana.ru informs, the passports of people, working for ministries, authorities and institutions and going abroad or residing outside of the country will be exchanged during 2010. This category of people also includes the citizens, picking up their passports at lawful age or other basis, assumed by the law. Other citizens are of the country are going to receive their passports at the second phase (2011-2015).

Besides, the government is planning to establish special State personalization center under the Cabinet council for centralized production and accounting of biometric passports and their time provision to the population. It will be located at the territory of the biometric passports producer – Davlat belgisi (State Emblem) Production Company, owned by Central Bank.

Among other problems Uzbek citizens may face the main one is the situation with remaining corrupted officers of OVIR of the interior ministry: nobodu can guarantee that this time they are out of their everyday business. On the other hand, the government has 5-6 years to spread its control over that division of the ministry to finally ensure citizen that we are building crruption-free and laws-in-action society.

Today, the passports with biometric data, produced with the use of modern technologies, are introduced in more than 100 countries of the world, including Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

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The application of biometric passports is recommended by Chicago convention on international civil aviation (December of 1944) and decision (resolution) of Montreal Assembly of International civil aviation organization (ICAO), dated 2004. The ICAO member states should organize the distribution of civil passports, containing electronic information on personal biometric data and setup data of their owners and having high security level.

To see the Uzbek passport follow here please.