Behind the Violence in Uzbekistan

According to The Boston Globe, hundreds have died in the recent clashes in Uzbekistan (boston.com, Poverty, crime, and oppression seen as fueling Uzbeks’ anger, Anna Dolgov, May 17, 2005). The article reports that protests erupted over the jailing of a group of businessmen. President Islam Karimov accused the businessmen of being Islamic extremists, and he blamed Islamic extremism for the protests. Witnesses accused the government of firing on the protesters. But what is really behind the protests?

The Globe notes that Uzbekistan is among the poorest countries of 15 former Soviet Republics. It gained independence in 1991. Unemployment is widespread, and Afghan opiates pass through the country on their way to the west. Karimov is a dictator with a dismal human rights record. The press is controlled by the state, and no opposition voices are tolerated. "The United Nations has accused Karimov’s government of systematic torture of his political opponents," the Globe states. Because Uzbekistan provides the United States with a military base where they can keep an eye on Afghanistan, Karimov thinks he has an excuse to further violate human rights, since the US needs him. The State Department has declared the exiled Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to be a terrorist group. Karimov uses this as an excuse to persecute all Islamic groups seeking change. He persecutes Muslim groups dedicated to change through nonviolent protest and considers them the same as Islamic extremist groups. This causes much popular resentment. Protesters feel the businessmen jailed were not Islamic extremists, but that Karimov labels every dissenter as such to find an excuse to repress them.

According to the Globe, a Russian political commentator, Yulia Latynina of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, this revolt had nothing to do with Islamic extremism. It was "simply a revolt by desperate Muslims, who above all wanted to free their relatives from prison."