Latest posts by Mahina Shodizoda
New Year's Eve is Past but Debates Continue in Tajikistan
Although the New Year's Eve is past, social media users in Tajikistan continue debating over the appropriateness of the holiday which many Tajiks see as a remnant of the “alien” Russian culture. On NewEurasia.net, Loki suggests that the very discussion about whether the New Year's Eve should or should not...
Things to Love about Kyrgyzstan's Capital
While social media users in Kyrgyzstan often discuss what they don't like about the country's capital, they seldom talk of what they do like about Bishkek. Breaking up with the tradition, blogger Amina Suleyeva offers [ru] a list of qualities that make the Kyrgyz capital a city she loves. These include...
Online Petition to Stop Torture in Tajikistan
An increasing number of social media users in Tajikistan are calling on their friends and followers to sign an online petition [ru] to pressure the country's authorities to stop the use of torture. The petition was started following the death of an opposition party activist, 34-year old Umed Tojiev, in a Tajik prison...
Kyrgyz Scholar: Marijuana Legalization Keeps Governments in Power
As US President Barack Obama's recent comments on marijuana reignite the liberalization debate across the world, including in Kyrgyzstan, a Kyrgyz scholar offers a non-mainstream explanation for the decriminalization of marijuana in a number of countries. In a blog post on kloop.kg, Dr. Rustam Tukhvatshin claims [ru] that legalization helps governments...
Kazakh Rapper Asks Fans for Money to Finish a “Political” Song
Kazakh rapper Takezhan (Oteghaliev) has reached out to his fans to help fund the production of a new song. In a video [ru] posted on his blog, the rapper sings for his fans and asks them for financial help to finish a “political rap [song]” he is working on. Takezhan,...
“I have Dreams of My Own”: Revolting Against Patriarchy in Kazakhstan
A Kazakhstani blogger writes [ru] about her transformation from a “wife and mother”, the role that the patriarchal society reserves for women, to a “free woman”. She calls the process a “revolution in my head”: And then I realized it… I have dreams of my own, the dreams that have little...
Kazakhstan's Facebook Rival Groups Members by Tribe
How do you create a social networking platform that would be popular in society dominated by Facebook and Odnoklassniki? In Kazakhstan, the answer is tribe. Rulas [Kazakh for “tribemate”], a new social network that has already attracted several thousand members, groups users according to their clans and tribes. Although tribal identities...
Soviet Environmental Posters
Skyfall presents [ru] a collection of environmental posters from the Soviet period. The blogger who often writes about environmental problems in Kazakhstan and some of his readers are nostalgic about the “environmental education and awareness-raising programs” of the Soviet era. Below are some of the posters collected by the blogger:
Kazakhstan's “Bilingual” Currency Turns Twenty
Kazakhstan has recently marked the twentieth birthday of the national currency, the tenge. Blogger Serikzhan Kovlanbayev presents [ru] a brief history of the tenge, showing how it has changed since 1993 and what is unique about it: A unique thing about the Kazakhstani currency is that it is “bilingual”, that is,...
Tajikistan: The Elections Boycott That Wasn't
During the months leading to Tajikistan's presidential polls, the idea of a boycott of the elections was popular among social media users. Why has the boycott not happened?
Halloween in Tajikistan: Devil Worship or Innocent Fun?
In Tajikistan where most people have not even heard about Halloween, even rare Halloween fun raises eyebrows.
Central Asia's Presidents: Political Stalwarts and Musical Softies
Some presidents in Central Asian countries sing, dance, and play musical instruments. When they fail to impress their populations, however, people sing against them.
Tajiks Note that “Moscow Has Changed”
As Russians try to make sense of ethnic riots rocking Moscow, these developments are also carefully watched in Tajikistan where more than half of the population depends on money that their relatives working in Russia send home. Halil Qayumzod who lived in Moscow in the 1990s suggests [tj] that over...
After a Fatal Car Crash, Tajik President is Told to “Get His House in Order”
A relative of the Tajik president has left the country after causing a fatal accident. Netizens now scorn at police and urge the president to keep his family in check.
Tajik Children in Russia “Should Go to School”
A Russian lawmaker and member of the ruling party recently suggested [ru] that the children of labor migrants should be barred from Russian schools and kindergartens. LJ user prosto_vova explains [ru] why this is a bad idea. His list of reasons for not barring migrants’ children from Russian schools includes the...
Kyrgyzstan: “It is Impossible to Propagandize Homosexuality”
Prominent Kyrgyzstani blogger Bektour Iskander reflects [ru] on on the recent law banning gay ‘propaganda’ in Russia and speculations that some Kyrgyz human-rights NGOs are engaged in such propaganda: It is impossible to propagandize homosexuality. Because a heterosexual cannot turn into a gay, even if she/he communicates with hundreds of...
Stop Somonizing Tajikistan!
It is a pity that instead of the 'leninization' of the monument space we now have its 'somonization'. Every town erects a Somoni statue. How much more can we take? Why do we need so many identical monuments? Somoni might have been a heroic figure (which is impossible to ascertain now because the country's history is excessively ideologized and politicized), but we should not turn him into a new Lenin, a 'father' or 'grandfather' of the nation.
Tajik Blogger Urges to Stop ‘Topless Jihad’
[D]o something useful. Stop sticking your breasts there where they may offend people. And don't stand in the way of real feminists doing their noble job.
“Judges in Tajikistan are like Elite Prostitutes”
The judiciary in Tajikistan has recently attracted more than its usual share of criticism from social media users. Following two controversial high-profile cases, Tajik netizens have slammed the country's 'corrupt' judges and compared them to prostitutes.
