Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, is very active in social media, and her provocative Twitter posts and photos shared on Instagram often raise eyebrows among the mostly conservative audiences in Uzbekistan and other countries in the region. Blogger Ayana Seidimbek presents a collection of the most controversial posts and images the ‘Uzbek princess’ has shared in social media.

After going offline for about a week, the top Russian-language social network service Odnoklassniki has become available again to tens of thousands of users in Uzbekistan. Blogger Doch’ Bukhari (Bukhara's Daughter) explains [ru] why Internet users in the Central Asian country choose this social network over other ones and why the network is “addictive like a drug”.

[I]n former Soviet Central Asia there is little debate that the root problem [of extremist beliefs] is “foreign ideas,” defined so broadly as to become a target of opportunity for both every political purpose and every local policeman or official’s ambition. Any sign of dissent from state policies or ideology <…> can be enough to bring the wrath of the state, sometimes with great violence.

Uzbek Music Friday is a (rare) feature in which I post a pop music video from an artist in Uzbekistan. It could be catchy, annoying, funny, insightful, brilliant, awful, or anything in between. It’s what’s playing on the radio, what all the cool kids are listening to these days… [It] gives you a glimpse into how pop music is done on this side of the world.

How do people in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan celebrate Nowruz today? NewEurasia.net bloggers have produced a video that gives you an idea.

About 20 countries and communities almost all over the world celebrate Nowruz today. Commonly known as the ‘Persian New Year,’ Nowruz has its origins in the ancient religion Zoroastrianism. Don Croner celebrates the holiday on the ruins of the so-called ‘Zoroastrian Tower of Silence’ in Uzbekistan. The blogger writes about the history of the festival and posts photos from the venue where people celebrated the holiday centuries ago.

With this cultural virus we clearly see that if people want to have fun, nothing will stop them. Fighting with Western influence or restrictions on YouTube will not  help the authorities.

[Over the almost twenty years since Uzbekistan switched to Latin script] it has become clear that the new script in itself does not create the knowledge of foreign languages… Besides, the Russian language has proven to be more in demand [than Latinized Uzbek].

Poi Kalon Essemble, one of Bukhara's architectural gems. Image from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Qurutob, a traditional Tajik vegetarian dish. Image from Caravanistan, used with permission.

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A hostage crisis developed over the past weekend in Sokh, a little Uzbekistani enclave inside Kyrgyzstan. All hostages have now been released. Central Eurasia Standard blog summarizes media coverage of the crisis.

What’s the most boring thing in the world? Waiting for a bus? Attending a philosophy class at a university? Elections in Belarus? No! The most boring thing in the world is Uzbek television!

The dispute over the birthplace of the Poet Rudaki [whom both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan claim "as one of their own"] is heating up and may soon lead to wine-throwing and fist-fights…

Still frame from video ‘Meet the Stans’ on Vimeo.

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Yard of a private house in Samarkand. Image by Svetlana Astakhova.

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Just imagine, it is a classic Norwegian play, staged [in Uzbekistan] by a Turkmen director, featuring Uzbek, Russian, and American actors, staged in Russian, with support from the Indian Academy of Dramatic Arts – you cannot miss this cultural ‘mix’!

A recent cartoon featured on ‘Uzbekistan Illustrated', used with permission.

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I realized that once you find yourself at [the Moscow airport] Domodedovo, you start feeling like you are [crap]. And you feel so not because you are actually [crap], but because the personnel at the airport treat you this way.

How is it possible that in Central Asia, a region with abundant water resources, safe drinking water is still a luxury for many people? On his blog, Bakhrom Mananov features several documentaries about water problems in the region and explains why this important resource has become a contentious issue in Central Asia.

Uzbek blogger posts photos from the International Silk & Spice Festival in Bukhara (which the organizers have erroneously advertised [ru] as ‘Silk & Space Festival').

Following in the footsteps of Tajikistan, the Mayor's Office in the Uzbek capital Tashkent has banned [uz] ‘lavish’ weddings in the city. However, as Marat Satpaev writes on NewEurasia.net, the ban will mostly extend to poor families because people with money and power will be able to defy the restrictions.

Uzbek blogger Gulasal Kamalova has translated [ru] Skype software application into Uzbek. Kamalova explains [ru] that she did the translation in order to make Skype – a service that connects millions of users around the world via Internet-based telephony and video – accessible to people who speak no other language but Uzbek.

YouFace is a new social networking site launched in Uzbekistan. Its interface is strikingly similar to that of Facebook except that YouFace quotes Uzbek President Islam Karimov on its welcome page. Another local social networking platform, the Uzbek-language Muloqot.uz, was established about a year ago.

Tomyris reports that Uzbekistan’s Ilkhom Theatre (“Inspiration” in Uzbek) was given the 2011 Prince Claus Award, from the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, for its cultural achievements. The Theatre is Uzbekistan’s only independent theatre, and today it also functions as a school of dramatic art.

Nathan Hamm writes that Uzbekistan’s parliament decided to delay the next presidential election from December 2014 to March 2015, a move that experts see as president Karimov's preparation for a future in which he is no longer the President of Uzbekistan.

Nathan Hamm takes a critical view on recent pictures of Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov, who has been rumored to be on the verge of death from cancer for about the last decade. The latest photographs show a shiny happy person, “but it is somewhat striking how obviously fake these photos look”.

Nathan Hamm says the Seoul-based publication Korea Times has had a long history of praiseful coverage of Uzbekistan, and wonders why.

Sarah Kendzior reports that Uzbekistan’s ban on Wikipedia, enacted late last month, blocks all articles written in Uzbek while leaving articles in other languages accessible.

Nathan Hamm informs that a well-known imam from Uzbekistan who has been living as a refugee in Sweden, was shot outside his home, and that police rules out Swedish nationalists and investigates the crime internationally.

Nathan Hamm reports that two young natives of Uzbekistan residing in the United States and working as officers at Awareness Projects International (a non-profit engaging in human rights education work in Uzbekistan and elsewhere) were summoned to the police for interrogation, when they returned to their hometown of Jizzakh in late December 2011 to visit family.