-- April 13, 2002 --

Hello everyone,

Soviet-era legacies are both physical and cultural. I've written before about how pre-1991 philosophies and mindsets restrict academic development at Uzbek universities and lead to the people's widespread acceptance of authoritarian rule, including curbs on freedom of speech, the press, religion and political rights.

In the physical realm, Soviet architecture remains evident in Tashkent, including squat apartment blocks (such as mine) with as much character as a concrete Saltines box. One intriguing legacy is the former KGB headquarters that is now used by its successor, Uzbekistan's own secret police. The four-story building is midway between the Navoi Opera and Ballet Theatre and Mustakillik Maidoni, or Independence Square (called Red Square before independence). There's no name on the building, just the street name Buyuk Turon Kochasi (street) and number.

There are anomalies evident here. On the one hand, video surveillance cameras mounted on the building are visible from the street, heavy steel doors shut off the driveways and even the first-floor window air conditioners are shielded with metal grating. The dingy gray stone contrasts with the decorative pillars one side, painted white at the top. Part of the sidewalk on one side of the building is blocked off, but pedestrians are free to use the rest of the sidewalk. The building occupies a full block. A soldier in camouflage stands at each corner, but whenever I pass by, they're usually standing casually around smoking cigarettes and chatting with passers-by. A little girl on her way from the theater after a matinee performance of the ballet "Cinderella" picked dandelions within sight of a soldier. Thirty feet away, street stalls sell notebooks, newspapers, pens, maps and cheap plastic shopping bags promoting cigarettes, instant coffee, tea or luxury products like Gucci.

And behind the building is the gaudy stretch of pedestrian street nicknamed "Broadway" which is popular among high school (secondary) and university students out for a stroll or cheap date. It's part bazaar with shops and tables selling pirated videos and kitchy souvenirs, part county fair with cotton candy, ice cream cones and games of "skill" and part eateries with small restaurants and snack kiosks. Decadent West meets authoritarian East.

***

Partnership: Some of my teaching and much of my learning take place away from formal classes.

For example, I met recently with 20 students from a half-dozen or so universities in Tashkent to discuss student organizations and student activism on U.S. campuses. It took place at the new American resource center sponsored by the nongovernmental Central Asian-American Partnership for Academic Development. The Hamkorlik ("partnership" in Uzbek) Student Center has a 6,000-book library and Internet access for students who are proficient in English and pay a small annual membership fee. Coincidentally, it's in the same building as BBC Radio and a Korean foundation (New Hope) that provides prosthetic limbs.

One of the Hamkorlik Center's goals is to encourage development of student organizations and student-led activities and programs, which are uncommon in Uzbekistan. When I described a typical American campus with its array of official and unofficial groups - you know the variety of academics-oriented, ethnic, religious, culturally themed, career-driven, recreational, entertainment and arts, athletic and student governmental groups -- it was as if I was discussing a different planet.

One local campus does have a student center with a three-member council or board that suggests social and cultural activities to the administration. Another has a weak form of student government with a president: "If we have problems (such as not liking a teacher or the schedule), we go to him and he goes to the administration," a student explained. That same university has an English club, but it's run by teachers and draws 15 or fewer students to its weekly meetings. "I don't think it's a real English club," one participant told us.

The Hamkorlik Center will be a venue for events that may be unwelcome at the universities, perhaps debates or speakers on controversial topics, as well as a place for students from different campuses to meet.

University students here have few extracurricular activities. There's not even a student newspaper at my university, and plans for one when the previous Fulbright journalism lecturer was here in 2000-2001 reportedly ran aground on the reef of administrative unease - too much potential power for students, too much worry if the paper criticizes the university or government and similar objectives. Incidentally, all newspapers in Uzbekistan, even student ones, need a government license and are subject to pre-publication review a/k/a censorship.

***

Workshops: I also spent three full days running workshops for a dozen independent journalists and journalism students sponsored by Internews, an independent news agency that operates in Central Europe, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus region and Africa, among other places. Its emphasis is on training and assisting broadcast journalists, but I was asked to train broadcasters to become betters, with an emphasis on analytical writing for the eurasianet.org Web site.

Since they are all journalists, I told them it was OK to leave their cell phones. (Maybe that was a mistake, because one reporter left early when she got a call from Moscow about a story.)

We covered the gamut from story structure to analytical leads to sourcing and anonymity - a major problem here where many sources in and out of government justifiably fear retribution if their names appear with their opinions, observations and criticisms. Even innocuous - to us - comments about a recent increase in gas (petrol) taxes raise concerns. Other topics included writing tactics, fairness and balance, headlines and self-editing.

Collectively, we also tore apart first drafts of several articles by Eurasianet contributors, as well as articles they wrote.

Some participants understand little English, so a translator explained things to them in Russian and translated their comments and questions into English. Many of my handouts were translated as well. Incidentally, some eurasianet.org articles are online in both languages. (Check out the Web site.)

We had four guest speakers - all of them potentially rich sources for independent journalists - each of whom was there for 45 minutes or an hour. Bekdijan Tashmukhamedov is a biologist at the Academy of Sciences and works with UNESCO on environmental issues. One of Uzbekistan's first ecologists, he discussed the disaster of the Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest body of fresh water in the world and now shrunken and virtually dead due to water loss (irrigation, industrialization) and chemical contamination. Galina Mayorova is a women's rights activist and a lawyer involved with issues of independent media, human rights and violence against women. Maria Struthers represents Human Rights Watch, an international nongovernmental NGO that monitors abuses of religious, political, speech, press and other rights. And Azizulla Ghazi is with the NGO International Crisis Group, which collects, analyzes and reports information on such topics as political corruption, religious freedom and economic problems. In this type of closed government, NGOs often provide far more information -- and more reliable information -- than official ministries and politicians.

Eric

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