EurasiaNet Civil Society - Long-Distance Revolutionary: Uzbek Exile Strives to Foment Protest Movement in Tashkent

CIVIL SOCIETY

LONG-DISTANCE REVOLUTIONARY: UZBEK EXILE STRIVES TO FOMENT PROTEST MOVEMENT IN TASHKENT
Joshua Kucera 6/07/06

The odds against Bokhodir Choriyev realizing his regime-change dreams in Uzbekistan are daunting. His movement numbers a few hundred people scattered across the globe. Much of his time he’d like to spend organizing is consumed by a full-time job as a construction worker. And he lives 7,000 miles away from Uzbekistan, in St. Louis, Missouri.

But Choriyev shows no sign of abandoning his quest. To him, the key to success is gaining access to mass media outlets, especially Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which can spread his message of resistance to the Uzbek population. So far, RFERL has kept him at arm’s length. Aiming to get the broadcaster to give him air time, he’s bending the ear of every member of Congress he can find, threatening lawsuits, and going on hunger strikes.

Choriyev, the leader of the Birdamlik (Solidarity) movement, has drawn up an elaborate multi-stage plan of civil disobedience in Uzbekistan, based on elements from the so-called "color" revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. First, on one weekend day, participating Uzbeks would remain at home all day. If that form of protests succeeds in building momentum, he would ask people to stay at home on a work day. And then several work days in a row.

In the meantime, people would be alerted to turn off their lights for 10 minutes at predetermined times, and would be asked to wear white shirts as a symbol of opposition to the government. In addition, people would be expected to turn off the television or radio when Karimov is speaking. Eventually, once the movement gained a critical mass, he would ask Uzbeks to take to the streets to demand President Islam Karimov’s departure from power. The message would be: "Resign, or we’ll force you to leave," he said.

At present, few people, if anyone, are aware of his protest plans. That’s where RFE/RL fits in. He is seeking 10 minutes per day on the radio’s Uzbek-language service to explain his platform. "If it’s on Radio Liberty, everyone will hear it," he said, estimating that about 60 percent of the people in Uzbekistan listen to the Uzbek-language service. "If RFE/RL gives us a chance, we can do it [bring down Karimov] in a year."

While RFE/RL officials may empathize with the plight of many Uzbek dissidents, they insist the network’s mission is to inform, not to foment revolution. "Dealing with activists and especially dissidents from a place as bad as Uzbekistan is ... they don’t see our mission that way. They see our mission as working with them to overthrow the government," said Joyce Davis, RFE/RL’s associate director of broadcasting.

Choriyev is not the only Uzbek dissatisfied with RFE/RL’s lack of revolutionary ardor. Abdurakhim Pulatov, another dissident, is critical of the US government-funded broadcaster. "He calls us KGB radio; he says we are working for Karimov. They don’t pay attention that we’re trying to get information from this closed society � It’s like we are their number one enemy, not the Karimov regime, it makes me crazy!" said Sojida Djakhfarova, head of the Uzbek service.

"Of course we give the microphone to all dissidents and give them the chance to explain what is going on inside Uzbekistan, how to solve this problem [of autocratic rule]," adds Djakhfarova. "But not to give a platform to one particular movement � [Choriyev] wants to be on the air all the time."

Choriyev has lived in St Louis just a year. He fled Uzbekistan in July 2004 and spent eight months in Moscow, until the US granted him political asylum and settled him in Missouri. He now lives in a two-bedroom apartment with his four children and his wife, who works as a housekeeper at an area hotel.

His flair for dramatic political protest was honed while he still lived in Uzbekistan and headed his family’s large agribusiness company in Shakhrisabz. As a result of what he said were repeated attempts by the government to either take over or shut down his company, in 2001 he went on a hunger strike to protest. During one of his many run-ins with authorities, he was beaten, and claims to suffer from chronic headaches to this day.

In 2003, he started to regularly gather his relatives and workers in front of a municipal government building in his hometown for public protests. He once got 30 women and children of his family to conduct a sit-in in the mayor’s office; the mayor backed down only when two of the women, who had brought gasoline to the office, threatened to set themselves on fire, he said. In May of 2005, he helped organized one of the largest public protests in Tashkent in recent memory, trying to call attention to what he maintains was the government’s illegal move to take away his farm. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Since coming to the United States, Choriyev’s opposition to the Karimov regime has not waned. Earlier this year he went on a brief hunger strike to protest RFE/RL’s refusal to put him on the air, and said he has contacted a St. Louis lawyer to explore the possibility of a lawsuit against the broadcaster.

Choriyev also said he is arranging a meeting with his local congressman, Russ Carnahan, Democrat of Missouri. Carnahan’s office did not return a call seeking comment.

In early May, Choriyev went to a conference on Andijan in Washington, and in his halting English pleaded his case to two of the most active members on Congress on Uzbekistan-related issues, Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Rep. Christopher Smith, Republican of New Jersey. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"We have to be careful what kind of encouragement we give in order to prevent needless bloodshed," McCain responded. "This is a very difficult kind of balancing act that we play here. I can assure you that the record of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty has always been in defense of freedom and democracy." Choriyev later got Smith to pose for a picture with him.

His tenacity is paying off. The day after the Washington conference, RFE/RL called him again and interviewed him about a protest he was organizing in front of the United Nations. This time they put the interview on the air. And Djakhfarova said she has decided to use him more often. "I decided that if something happens related to elections, to the situation in Uzbekistan, definitely we have to ask for a few words from Choriyev, just to let him be happy," she said.

Editor�s Note: Joshua Kucera is a Washington, DC,-based freelance writer who specializes in security issues in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

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