three articles follow... -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 10:03:38 -0400 Subject: MASSACRE IN UZBEKISTAN; U.S. BACKS BRUTAL REGIME From: The Wisdom Fund <•••@••.•••> To: Richard Moore <•••@••.•••> THE WISDOM FUND News & Views MORE AT http://www.twf.org/News/Y2005/0515-Uzbekistan.html DO NOT REPLY -- contact information at bottom of page May 15, 2005 The Independent (UK) MASSACRE IN UZBEKISTAN Up to 500 protesters feared dead. Ex-ambassador accuses UK of failing democracy movement by Stephen Khan, Francis Elliott, and Peter Boehm Hundreds of protesters are reported to have been gunned down in bloody clashes with government forces that have ravaged eastern Uzbekistan. One human rights observer in the eastern city of Andizhan said that up to 500 people may have perished in the shootings and the gun battles that followed. A doctor spoke of "many, many dead", witnesses said 200 to 300 people were shot dead, and an AP reporter saw at least 30 bodies in Andijan. As night fell, tension was high, with armoured vehicles positioned at crossroads and trucks blocking main thoroughfares. Terrified demonstrators tried to flee the country, seen as a key ally by Britain and the US in the war on terror. As blood-spattered bodies were lifted from the streets of Andizhan, survivors and thousands of others packed their bags and headed for neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. Some made it across the border and were in refugee camps. In a severe rebuke to London and Washington's approach to the region, Britain's former ambassador to the country yesterday said the countries had swallowed Uzbek propaganda that sought to portray the democracy movement as a brand of Islamic extremism. . . . Craig Murray told the IoS that the Government had to take some responsibility for the unfolding events because it had failed to support those trying to oppose the dictatorship of President Islam Karimov. . . . Sir Menzies Campbell, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said, "Rather than use force to impose democracy, as in Iraq, should we not be more assiduous in promoting democratic movements in countries like Uzbekistan?" . . . --- Uzbekistan is believed to be one of the destination countries for the highly secretive 'renditions programme', whereby the CIA ships terrorist suspects to third-party countries where torture is used that cannot be employed in the US.--Nick Paton Walsh and Paul Harris, "Anger as US backs brutal regime," The Observer (UK), May 15, 2005 The Wisdom Fund www.twf.org -------------------------------------------------------- From: "Global Network" <•••@••.•••> To: "Global Network" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Silence in Uzbekistan - Why it Matters for Peace-in-Space Activists Date: Sat, 14 May 2005 18:25:19 -0400 Silence in Uzbekistan - Why it Matters for Peace-in-Space Activists We can thank the BBC, the Russian Interfax news agency, and various human rights organizations for getting the truth out about Uzbekistan, after its government, the US government, and various Western news agencies tried to put the "fix" in Friday night. Here's what really happened: an armed group of local residents of Andijan (NOT IMU or Hizb-ut Tahrir militant supporters) stormed the local prison to release local business leaders. Local civic activists charged that the Uzbek government had been advised by the US government, without evidence, that these leaders were IMU "terrorists" and should be held in prison indefinitely. The prison doors were opened and everyone was freed. Later, more than 10,000 mostly-unarmed citizens, with a high percentage of children, gathered in the public square to demand the resignation of Islam Karimov. The BBC accurately reported as of noon Eastern time on Friday that security forces had opened fire on protesters with submachine guns, killing at least 500, including at least 100 children. Condoleezza Rice and State Dept. spokesman Richard Boucher said that they did not believe the reports, and in any event, these people were probably supporters of terrorists. Sure enough, on Saturday morning all the Western news reports from AP, Reuters, etc. said that only 10 were dead, and that these were "armed rebels". The BBC had warned Friday afternoon that bodies were being taken to Uzbek government hospitals, the hospitals were being closed, and that bodies would no doubt "disappear." Isn't it funny how some Russian news outlets told the truth, while virtually all Western sources outside BBC served as Uzbek government mouthpieces? Luckily, by Saturday afternoon, reports were emerging that 500 dead was probably an understatement. This should be a warning to all Stalinist governments that, in the Internet age, hidden massacres are simply impossible to maintain. It should also be a warning to the US to watch out for its seamier friends. This issue is of immediate relevance to Global Network and all working for peace in space, because the US maintains a major space and intelligence base, a so-called "Forward Operating Location", at Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan. Consequently, we will support Islam Karimov unflaggingly. But the position of Condi Rice and the US government will look more and more untenable over the next few days. Loring Wirbel CPIS/PPJPC Colorado Springs Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 652 Brunswick, ME 04011 (207) 729-0517 (207) 319-2017 (Cell phone) <mailto:•••@••.•••>•••@••.••• <http://www.space4peace.org>http://www.space4peace.org <http://space4peace.blogspot.com>http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Our blog) -------------------------------------------------------- http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05/21/uzbekistans_tiananmen/ Uzbekistan's Tiananmen By Fotini Christia | May 21, 2005 THE BLOODY protests in Uzbekistan's Andijan square have exposed the Bush administration's Janus-faced policy on regime change. Recent talk of spreading democracy and bringing freedom to the oppressed sits very uneasily with the ''yes, he is a bastard but he is our bastard" approach, reminiscent of the Cold War, which has guided US relations with Uzbekistan. In this case -- unlike Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan -- America's ally of choice is not a pro-democracy revolutionary but a proven despot, the Uzbek leader Islam Karimov. Plagued with political repression and economic disenfranchisement as well as a rise in Islamism, Uzbekistan is a case in point as to why the United States cannot and should not have it both ways. The most populous republic in Central Asia, Uzbekistan is rich in natural resources and the world's second biggest cotton producer after China. Despite its economic potential, Uzbekistan's growth and living standards are among the lowest in the former Soviet Union. Dominated by Karimov since the republic's independence in 1991, the Uzbek political scene has become increasingly repressive. After strategically aligning himself with the United States in the war against terror and offering an Uzbek military base for US military operations in neighboring Afghanistan, Karimov has used the threat of radical Muslim unrest to justify the persecution and oppression of his political opponents. No opposition parties are recognized and Karimov's regime has decimated Uzbek civil society: there are practically no independent local NGOs and no freedom of expression or association. Independent media operations have been driven underground and foreign correspondents forced to leave the country. Despite a constitutional ban on censorship, local journalists opposing the regime have been blacklisted. With the media neutered, no one really knows how many people have been killed or wounded in the recent protests. Estimates currently range from a few dozen to several hundred and the UN has called for an independent investigation on last week's violence. Karimov's persecution of the secular opposition has increasingly pushed ordinary Uzbeks into the arms of radical Islamist groups. The Islamist group with the broadest appeal is Hizb-ut-Tahrir (the Islamic Party of Liberation), which claims to stand for the peaceful overthrow of the Uzbek government and the creation of a caliphate throughout Central Asia. Karimov has branded Hizb-ut-Tahrir a terrorist organization (though it is not on the US State Department List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and blames it for bombings and suicide attacks that took place in Tashkent last spring and summer. The recent protests in Andijan were in opposition to the government's indiscriminate arrests on the grounds of membership to Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Uzbekistan therefore combines political oppression and the rise of Islamism with economic opportunity for rebellion. So far the mix has proved highly volatile. If the United States wants to avoid increased violations of human rights and the possibility of a future Islamist takeover, it must take immediate steps to strengthen civil society in Uzbekistan. Karimov has to be pressured to allow the registration of opposition parties such as ERK (Freedom), BIRLIK (Unity) and OZOD DEHQON (Free Peasants) as well as the registration of truly independent NGOs. The reintroduction of an independent media and guarantees that freedom of conscience, expression and association will be respected are also essential. But for Karimov to commit to change credibly, all reforms have to be tied to monetary incentives. The United States, as well as international financial institutions, should make aid and loans conditional on tangible reform. This pressure would be most effective if it involved coordinated action from the United States and Russia as well as international political and financial organizations. Action has to be immediate to avert further refugee flows to Kyrgyzstan and other neighboring states that could prove highly destabilizing for the broader region. According to one of the leading opposition figures, the Free Peasants Party General Secretary Nigora Khidoyatova, a revolution is on the way in Uzbekistan. ''Our revolution will be green," she said, alluding to her peasants' party color and pointing to an orange poster of Ukraine's Victor Yushchenko hanging on her cabinet. Unless the United States effectively pressures President Karimov to strengthen civil society and its fledgling democratic forces, a revolution will sweep Uzbekistan. And once it erupts it may very well be green: Islamist green. Fotini Christia is a fellow in international and intrastate conflict at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. She served as an elections observer in Uzbekistan. ©Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company -- ============================================================ If you find this material useful, you might want to check out our website (http://cyberjournal.org) or try out our low-traffic, moderated email list by sending a message to: •••@••.••• You are encouraged to forward any material from the lists or the website, provided it is for non-commercial use and you include the source and this disclaimer. Richard Moore (rkm) Wexford, Ireland "Escaping The Matrix - Global Transformation: WHY WE NEED IT, AND HOW WE CAN ACHIEVE IT ", old draft: http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/rkmGlblTrans.html _____________________________ "...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the Reichstag fire." - Srdja Trifkovic There is not a problem with the system. The system is the problem. Faith in ourselves - not gods, ideologies, leaders, or programs. _____________________________ cj list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=cj newslog list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog _____________________________ Informative links: http://www.indymedia.org/ http://www.globalresearch.ca/ http://www.greenleft.org.au/index.htm http://www.MiddleEast.org http://www.rachel.org http://www.truthout.org http://www.williambowles.info/monthly_index/ http://www.zmag.org http://www.co-intelligence.org ============================================================
