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ABSTRACT
This article focuses on poetry written about the 13 May 2005 events in Andijon, Uzbekistan to examine how Uzbek identity is expressed in relation to the narrow nationalism of post-Soviet Uzbek state culture. While the Uzbek government insists the 13 May events were a justified retaliation against armed insurgents, the authors of the Andijon poems portray the episode as a brutal attack on innocent civilians by government forces. In so doing, they not only contradict the official state narrative, but challenge the legitimacy of the government's construction of Uzbek identity and nationhood. This article examines the content, language and distribution of the poems as well as the persecution and arrests of their authors. The cases of these dissident poets touch on a number of theoretical issues—among them nationalism, identity, authoritarianism and literary politics—which have risen to the fore as a result of the Andijon events.
Notes
1. Islam Karimov, Uzbekskiy narod nikogda i ni ot kogo ne budet zaviset’ (Tashkent: ‘O'zbekiston’, 2005), p 209.
2. Press conference by Rashid Kodyrov, Prosecutor-General of Uzbekistan, concerning events in Andijan, 19 May 2005.
3. National Information Agency of Uzbekistan, ‘Islam Karimov: Uzbekskiy narod nikogda i ni ot kogo ne budet zaviset’’, press release, 26 May 2005.
4. Anvar Mahkamov,‘Dissonant songs’, Transitions Online, 16 April 2006.
5. Many in Uzbekistan—both the government and the opposition—have used the vague appellative Andijon voqealari (‘the Andijon events’) to describe what occurred on 12–13 May in Andijon. Throughout this essay, I will use this term as well.
6. See Igor Rotar, ‘Systematic repression of Muslims since Andijan’, The Journal of Turkish Weekly, 7 November 2006; Tashpulat Yuldashev, ‘Persecution of journalists and human rights activists in Uzbekistan: a review’, Ferghana.ru, 8 November 2006; RFE/RL, ‘Harassment of RFE/RL correspondents in Uzbekistan since May events in Andijon—a chronology’, 29 August 2005, http://www.rferl.org/specials/uzbek_unrest/Uzbek-harass-chron.pdf (last updated February 2006); and Human Rights Watch, ‘The hunt for Uzbeks abroad’, http://hrw.org/campaigns/andijan/uzbeks.htm (last accessed 7 May 2007).
7. Hamid Dabashi, ‘Of poetics, politics and ethics: the legacy of Parvin E'tesami’, in Heshmat Moayyad, ed., Once a Dewdrop: Essays on the Poetry of Parvin E'tesami (Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 1994).
8. Despite this, there exists no major work on the subject. The most recent in-depth analysis of poetry in Uzbek political life is Edward Allworth, Uzbek Literary Politics (The Hague: Mouton, 1964), although Allworth has since touched on the subject in more recent volumes.
9. Bruce Pannier, ‘Central Asia: region's leaders feel the pull of poetry’, Radio Free Europe, 17 January 2006. The most prolific of the presidents was the late Saparmurat Niyazov, or Turkmenbashi, who claimed to have been visited by literary figures in his dreams and who forced citizens to read and memorize his many creative works.
10. For further discussion of music, identity and authoritarianism in Uzbekistan, see Nick Megoran, ‘The critical geopolitics of danger in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol 23, 2005, pp 563–568.
11. Razia Sultanova, ‘Music and identity in Central Asia: introduction’, Ethnomusicology Forum, Vol 14, No 2, 2005, p 135.
12. Allworth, op cit, Ref 8, p 239.
13. Craig Murray, Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2006), p 70.
14. B. Raman, ‘Islamic blame game’, Asia Times, 17 May 2005.
15. Quvg'indagi o'zbek ijodkorlari sahifisi (‘Webpage of Uzbek artists in exile’), http://www.jadidlar.org. This site is run by Yusuf Rasulov, an exiled journalist who runs several websites that publish Uzbek literature and interviews with prominent literary and political figures.
16. See Beatrice Forbes Manz, ‘Central Asian uprisings in the nineteenth century: Ferghana under the Russians’, Russian Review, Vol 46 No 3, 1987, pp 267–281.
17. For a thorough analysis of this topic, see the ‘Uzbek Identity Debates’ in the Spring 2006 issue of Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia, in particular Alisher Ilkhamov, ‘Archeology of Uzbek identity’, Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia, Vol 44, No 4, 2006, pp 10–36 and the introduction by editor, Marjorie Mandelstam Balzar, ‘Introduction’, Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia, Vol 44, No 4, 2006, pp 3–6.
18. It is common for scholars to make sweeping statements about the nature of Uzbek identity that would sound ridiculous were they about a more well-known nation. Take, for example, this excerpt by the respected journalist Ahmed Rashid: ‘The Uzbeks, the roughest and toughest of all the Central Asian nationalities, are noted for their love of marauding and pillaging—a hangover from their origins as part of Genghis Khan's hordes’. See Ahmed Rashid, Taliban (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000) p 56.
19. Islam Karimov, Istiqlol va Ma'naviyat, ‘O'zligimizni anglash yo'li’ (Tashkent: ‘O'zbekiston’, 1994), p 114.
20. See Islam Karimov, Olloh qalbimizda, yuragimizda (Tashkent: ‘O'zbekiston’, 1999).
21. For more detailed analyses of the 2005 Andijon events, see Human Rights Watch, ‘“Bullets were falling like rain”: the Andijan massacre, 13 May 2005’; International Crisis Group, ‘Uzbekistan: the Andijan uprising’; Adeeb Khalid, ‘Andijan and beyond’, Islam after Communism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007); and Fiona Hill and Kevin Jones, ‘Fear of democracy or revolution: the reaction to Andijan’, Washington Quarterly, Vol 29, No 3, 2006, pp 111–125.
22. See Sarah Kendzior, ‘Inventing Akromiya: the role of Uzbek propagandists in the Andijon massacre’, Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Fall 2006, pp 545–562; and Alisher Ilkhamov, ‘The phenomenology of ‘Akromiya’: separating facts from fiction’, China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Vol 4, 2006, pp 39–48.
23. The following account of Hasanov's life and work is drawn from ‘Tahlikali hayot: Dadaxon Hasanov bilan suhbatlar’ (‘A dangerous life: conversations with Dadaxon Hasanov’) an eight-part interview by Yusuf Rasulov for the Uzbek-language website Isyonkor. Rasulov was working on a book about Hasanov before being forced to flee the country after the Andijon events.
24. According to Hasanov, the first meeting of Birlik was held in Hasanov's house on 11 November 1988, his 47th birthday, and explained to credulous security officials as ‘a birthday party’.
25. It should be noted that the NSS is larger and more pervasive in Uzbekistan than was the KGB, to the degree that the government was able to organize an ‘NSS Olympics’ tournament in May 2007—held, appropriately enough, in Andijon.
26. David Tyson, ‘The role of unofficial audio media in contemporary Uzbekistan’, Central Asian Survey, Vol 13, No 2, 1994, pp 283–294, fn 14.
27. Initially, the term hofiz referred to someone who had memorized the Qur'an by heart, but came to be used to describe a great singer as well.
28. Tyson, op cit, Ref 26, pp 287–288.
29. Rahmat Zokirov, ‘Musical thought-crime in Uzbekistan’, The Journal of Turkish Weekly, 29 May 2006.
30. The Uzbek lyrics to the song were printed on several websites, including Isyonkor: http://isyonkor.ucoz.ru/news/2006-03-16-18. I have also seen it titled simply as ‘Andijon qo'shig'i’ (‘Andijon song’). As with all poems referred to in this article, the translations into English from the original Uzbek are my own.
31. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1991), p 142.
32. Zokirov, op cit, Ref 29.
33. Ferghana.ru, ‘Poet and singer Dadahon Hasanov will stand trial in Tashkent on September 5’, 5 September 2006, http://enews.ferghana.ru/article.php?id = 1584 (last accessed 7 May 2007).
34. ‘Lawyer: Uzbek authorities force musician who wrote song about uprising to represent himself’, The International Herald Tribune, 5 September 2006.
35. ‘Uzbek folk singer receives suspended sentence for song about Andijan crackdown’, Associated Press, 12 September 2006.
36. Surat Ikramov, ‘The trial of Dadaxon Hasanov was set for July 31’, Muslim Uzbekistan, 1 August 2006. http://www.muslimuzbekistan.net/en/centralasia/featured/story.php?ID = 5967 (last accessed 7 May 2007).
37. Mahkamov, op cit, Ref 4.
38. It should be noted that Kutliev and Ahmedov were both members of the Erk party, and this likely played a part in their arrest as well.
39. Ferghana.ru, ‘Nosir Zokirov: I commanded respect among other prisoners …’, 8 April 2006, http://enews.ferghana.ru/article.php?id = 1364 (last accessed 7 May 2007).
40. ‘Harassment of RFE/RL correspondents’, op cit, Ref 6.
41. Like Hasanov's poem, Komilov's appeared on the Internet on a variety of websites, including Isyonkor: http://isyonkor.ucoz.ru/news/2006-03-22-49 (last accessed 7 May 2007).
42. The ‘white palace’ [oqsaray] refers to Karimov's official residence.
43. Arena, ‘V Uzbekistane posazhen v tyurmu jurnalist’, 27 August 2005.
44. Ozodlik Radio, ‘Haydarali Komilov hibsdan bo'shatildi’, June 2005.
45. ‘Harassment of RFE/RL correspondents’, op cit, Ref 6.
46. Ferghana.ru, op cit, Ref 39.
47. ‘Harassment of RFE/RL correspondents’, op cit, Ref 6.
48. Ferghana.ru, op cit, Ref 39.
49. Gulnoza Saidazimova, ‘Uzbekistan: RFE/RL forced to close Tashkent Bureau after government denies accreditation’, Radio Free Europe, 13 December 2005.
50. The most notable example of this is Mahbuba Zokirova, a housewife who on 14 October 2005 announced to the court, ‘I'm not afraid of you. When I remember those events, I get scared’ and proceeded to detail a horrifying account of the shooting, which contradicted the government's claims. Zokirova was, like so many other Uzbeks, subsequently accused of membership in Akromiya. See Daniel Kimmage, ‘One witness's testimony forces courtroom collision’, Radio Free Europe, 23 October 2005.
51. Most websites are hosted under Russian and Ukrainian domain names and run by Uzbeks living in Europe, America, Canada, or Russia. Among them are Isyonkor (isyonkor.ucoz.ru/), Shamol Tegirmoni (www.tegirmon.com), Yangi Dunyo (www.yangidunyo.com), and Media.Uz (mediauz.ucoz.ru). Birlik, Erk, Birdamlik and other political parties and groups have their own websites, and there are also several religiously themed opposition sites, Muslim Uzbekistan (www.muslimuzbekistan.com) foremost among them.
52. Aleksei Volosevich, ‘Journalism in Uzbekistan is not history. It has but moved to the Net’, Ferghana.ru 26 February 2007, http://enews.ferghana.ru/article.php?id = 1855 (last accessed 7 May 2007).
53. Institute for War and Peace Reporting, ‘Internet hit by media law change’, 30 January 2007.
54. ‘Andijon media join campaign to slam independent websites’, Uznews.net, 23 February 2007, http://www.uznews.net/english/index.php?option = com_content&task = view&id = 252&Itemid = 53 (last accessed 7 May 2007).
55. The websites that printed Jumaev's poem include Isyonkor, Ferghana.ru, Muslim Uzbekistan, and Birdamlik. The poem was also reprinted on several Uzbek online discussion forums including forum.uz, where the poem spurred a debate that has received, as of May 2007, 228 responses.
56. Taqsir is an antiquated Persian term meaning ‘sir’ or ‘my master’, used here sarcastically by Jumaev.
57. Hizb-ut Tahrir is an Islamic political group that seeks to establish a worldwide caliphate. It is banned in Uzbekistan and allegations of membership in the organization have been used as a pretext for arrest.
58. A mo'min is a faithful Muslim.
59. Gulchehra Murodali, ‘Yusuf Juma: Haq so'zni aytadigan shoir-yozuvchilar deyarli qolmadi’, Amerika Ovozi, 17 September 2006.
60. United Nations 2002 Annual Report of the Commission on Human Rights, 2002, p 132. http://www.ishr.ch/hrdo/secretariat/AnnualReportsCHR/2002.pdf (last accessed 7 May 2007).
61. ‘ACTION ALERT: Poet Yusuf Dzhumaev goes into hiding’, Writers in Prison Committee, International PEN, 4 April 2002.
62. ‘Qon Andijonda’ appears, on some websites, as part of a collection called ‘The Andijon series’ (Andijon turkumi).
63. See Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983).
64. The poem can be found at: http://uzbekcongress.wordpress.com/2006/11/22/tahrisiz-maktublarshoir-emasman-lekin/. It was posted on 22 November 2006 (last accessed 7 May 2007).