When the two “rights” make wrong
It is no surprise that CA countries are young. It would not be too much of a problem if one thing was not also true. We are quite inexperienced in self-governance.
Let’s face it people, for the past 70 years under the soviet rule we have been told how to live our lives (for the most part) and now, when it is a high time to decide for ourselves what kind of country we want to build, we are torn apart.
On one side we have extreme rightists (if we can actually call them that) who preach the idea of returning to our “roots”, and by that they basically refer to a process whereby people’s everyday life is governed by a set of norms/rules of Islam subject to interpretation by a few chosen ones.
On the other side of the spectrum we have equally extreme rightists (again) with a totally tainted world outlook. Their views and their ways are too much reminiscent of the “good old” soviet days, which were nothing short of horrible (ok, maybe apart from the rigor of educational system and 20-kopek bread).
This is indeed a grave situation since there is no internal generation of principles in our society, which make a nation what it is. And that is not healthy. When I think about some of the more successful countries I can’t help but notice how they nurture and protect the principles that define them. I appologize if I simplify things a bit but from what I can tell Britain is all about its traditions and it’s Queen. France has this idea of fraternity and equality that goes back to its revolution days. The US is all about freedom and realizing your dreams… But what are we about?
I understand that in other countries these ideals and principles might have taken years to take the shape they have now, but yolki-palki what have we done during these past 15 years???
I believe when the constitution was drafted in the US, they had a couple of guys working on it. Whatever came out was the essence of the new nation that felt so different that it fought for its independence. We are lucky enough to be independent (relatively speaking at the moment) but why can’t we put together our best heads and coin out something (and I am not talking about this copy-paste BS constitution we have now) that could define us?
Some might say that I am raising a less important issue here. Indeed the issue may seem irrelevant when other more pressing (economic) problems exist. But again if you think about it from a different perspective this might very well be the mental breakthrough that we need.
One thing that sets apart a healthy country is the presence of principles that most of its people adhere to. Once these principles are defined and are in place the society will have an increased integrity and once that is achieved the economics will become just a technicality…One thing I learned in college was that economics always follows politics…
Alas when the push comes to shove, we still are stuck with these two blindsided groups that are more willing to follow someone else rather than look for the answers deep inside their souls. After all that is where you find the truth.
on September 9th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
In my opinion, the set of values which define a nation can take years to evolute and develop; the way i look out from my glasses, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I only realized this when i actually really tried to look at the situation in TJ as an outsider, that is - when i put my feet in a non-tajik’s shoes and tried to analyse.
Since the moment i actually tried to think about things - i always thought that there was a problem in Central Asia and that i was sometimes even convinced that this infinite crave for peace in the minds of Tajiks was the result of some kind of genetic mutation in every single Tajik’s body - I always tried to compare the situation in TJ to that of the Fall of the Berlin wall, the French revolution etc. where recovery of the country’s economic and political situation took place as rapidly as it had actually fallen down. I always asked myself why Tajiks were mute to the oppression and never revolted - for the sake of things dear to them.
Anyway, now i think exactly the contrary of what i used to think - that is - that we are no different from all those other nations.
Everytime i look for some history from 10th century onwards of TJ - i never really find anything precise - apart from invasions and again other invasions - but nothing regaring TJ as a STATE; all i find is the emergece of TJ as a region invaded by the bolsheviks in the 1920’s and so on. I believe that the emergence of nations as powerful states has cycles with peaks of success and eminence and i also believe that the intervals between these “cycles” are usually marked with “depression” that is - invasion, war, political problems and etc.
The only pre-soviet tajik-governed powerful state with some history dates back to that of the Somonids - which dates back to the 9-10th century - after that there havent been any eminent tajik states apart from invasions, wars and then the long period of medieval Tajikistan which actually lasted until the 19-20th century. The sudden invasion of the bolsheviks and the emergence of the Soviet Union as a world superpower is not exactly my notion of “evolution” whereby a nation actually takes it’s time to develop and advance and most importantly - realise its dreams and principles.
In Europe, the last centuries have been of enormous importance and the process of their evolution and emergence as states dates back to centuries. France - for instance after having killed the whole royal family, guillotined thousands of people and changed five republics before being what it is now - and all this just during the past two centuries. All that classical, neo-classical, and renaissance periods have justly served to the cause of the nation to build it up to what it is today. And this involved the evolution of their principles dear to all the french.
In my opinion - it is unjust to label TJ as a country with no set of values or to ask the question: “what are we all about?” In my opinion, every single nation in the world is about something - and this is just the reason of their existence.
Let’s admit - the soviet system was corrupted from within - and the idealisation of this corrupted system with all its power, dignity(!), equality(!!) for all has affected the mentality of the nation such that today, in TJ it is viewed as a completely normal phenomenon of the society.(!!!)
Principles which define a country are only nurtured when they have had a cause fighting for them. During the soviet time - we were told which principles to fight for - hard work, unity etc. while this was an illusion - a lie, some kind of mask forced on everyone’s face - it was really obvious who had the priorities, who were favored, who did the hard work and who profited; values such as “unification” and “hard work” were forced values while other values such as personal opinion, individuality, choice were trampled upon, destroyed or sent to gulags. Ofcourse we have values, but people have just seen what expressing these values resulted to, and it takes time for these scars to fade away.
Now i see that the silence of Tajiks is not some kind of genetic mutation but that its the realisation of a national value - peace, a value, an ideal and a principal dear to us all. A so called “principle” which is costing us many things.
And honestly, being one of the last generations still holding a SSR birth certificate, it is hard for me and many others of my generation to understand why our parents and many others stay silent. They have seen and we haven’t. So it’s for us to sacrifice their principles to be able to stick to ours. Trust me - we don’t need to make them up - as they already exist - in every single one of us.
The Tajik constitution - for one thing - is a very young one indeed and not a very original one niether. Apart from the laws - the stuff about human rights and etc. are not all that bad at all but completely unknown to the society; i think that once we fight for our own causes and values we nurture, then we will be able to transform the constitution to a concrete and not abstract representation of the values dearest to us, and not vice versa - if you get what i mean. It takes a long time to coin - a constitution.
on September 10th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
thanks for sharing your interesting viewpoint…