from Uzbekistan:
A MEETING WITH THE U.S. AMBASSADOR
Here is my challenge; and it's a great one. I am blessed to be working in a country that has a US Ambassador that highly values freedom of the press. He has made it clear that if I come to him with a great idea on how to promote this value, he will do everything in his power to make it happen. I am supposed to meet with him the first week of January to discuss this. What shall I say????? I am going to be thinking about this all week and I am open to suggestions from anyone reading this journal.
UZBEKISTAN MOVES BACKWARD
The US is starting to think that UZ's move toward democracy and freedom were just temporary. It appears to some that UZ is backsliding into old and faithful habits. Deaths-while-in-custody have increased. NGO harassment has increased. Not a good sign. Could it be that UZ thinks that the US needs their military bases so badly that they'll will turn a blind eye to what is happening? As regards freedom of information, the President has put in charge of this monopolistic internet gateway a man with a reputation for old style Soviet thinking. Another bad sign. So what do we do? That is another assignment of mine for this week. That, and memorizing 10 more Russian verbs.
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To make matters worse, the current UZ govt monopoly over the internet is de facto supported by the current US administration. (I won't go into messy details. It gets complicated.)
Well, one of the Internews employees here is actively involved in trying to break that monopoly, which includes trying to stop UZ govt from monitoring and censuring internet content. To make a long story short, he was attacked by a gang of ruffians and is in danger of losing the sight in one of his eyes. The attack was unprovoked and out of the blue. It is the opinion of those close to the employee that the ruffians were sent to send a message.
Tomorrow I am meeting with USAID and this Internews employee to see what can be done about the UZ internet situation. We also hope to get a meeting with the US Embassy....
Marika Olsen's Uzbekistan Diary
