"Islamists See Opening in C. Asia Chaos," from Newsday, with thanks to JS:
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- The only splash of color in the drab bluish gray office of Kyrgyzstan's Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society was a wool orange scarf thrown over the back of its president's chair.It was Edil Baisalov's souvenir from Ukraine's Orange Revolution that swept opposition leader Victor Yushchenko to the presidency. Baisalov had been in Kiev in December as an election monitor. He returned home inspired: "I was intoxicated by the protests, by the desire for change, the power of the people."
The popular uprisings in Ukraine and in Georgia a year earlier have fired up Central Asia's nascent political opposition and brought protesters into the streets of Kyrgyzstan.
The movement is unsettling authoritarian regimes who have ruled since the Soviet Union collapse 15 years ago. But it's also exposed the frailty of opposition groups who lack charismatic leaders -- and created an opening for extremist Islamic parties to gain power in a strategic oil-rich region known as a terrorist haven....
Although the Bush administration supports pro-democracy movements, the turmoil in the region also has created a potentially dangerous opening for extremist Islamic parties.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, or the Party of Liberation, has a following among the young in Central Asia. It has called for Islamic rule to replace secular governments and unite the Muslim world. And its pamphlets criticize U.S. bases established in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to support the war on terror.
A senior Western diplomat in Tajikistan confirmed that Hizb ut-Tahrir's influence is growing across the region, particularly among the young who are looking for alternatives to what they perceive as corrupt, totalitarian regimes with links to the Soviet past.
The United States has not declared Hizb ut-Tahrir a terrorist organization because it does not advocate violence, but the diplomat said some of its literature is virulently anti-American and anti-Semitic and could inspire violence.
Leaders across Central Asia have banned Hizb ut-Tahrir. Kyrgyz security authorities have accused the group of having links with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is allied to al-Qaida and operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Kyrgyz government has also warned of cooperation between Hizb ut-Tahrir and Uighur separatists in China, but has not provided evidence. Russia has accused Hizb ut-Tahrir of involvement in breakaway Chechnya.
The south of Kyrgyzstan is where Hizb ut-Tahrir is strongest, residential spokesman Seghizbayev told the AP. He said the group blames the government for every problem and makes promises it cannot fulfill.
Hizb ut-Tahrir has become more politically active. In Jalal-Abad, the scene of some of the fiercest anti-government protests, the group collected 20,000 signatures on a petition calling for more Islamic instruction in schools and segregation of the sexes.
The petition, circulated in November, also demanded state sponsorship of Muslim schools and restrictions on the sale of pornography. Candidates who espoused a like-minded philosophy got support from Hizb ut-Tahrir members.
Askarov Azimjan, a human rights activist whose office in southern Kyrgyzstan is partially funded by Freedom House, says Hizb ut-Tahrir has emerged as an alternative for residents frustrated by corruption.
"Most ordinary people I think support them now because they feel that in a democratic society it is difficult to get anything done without corruption. People believe that if the government was religious the situation would change," he said from Bazar Korgon, about 20 miles from Jalal-Abad....
The effects of Communism in Central Asia, in particular upon Muslims, needs to be taken seriously as a real factor in their collective craziness. In fact, the effects of Communism on the whole world do need to be reckoned with if we are to be honest and serious in our understanding of our present state of affairs.
A thumbs up to: "In Denial: Historians, Communism, & Espionage" by John E. Haynes & Harvey Klehr
Lenin and his Communist mass-murderers originally swept into power, in this same area, as a 'reforming movement', overthrowing the corrupt autocracy of the Czar by appealing to the latent idealism in all naive and mistreated people. And steering their righteous anger into what soon mutated into a 70 year long terror state. As it had to. Being built on the same thing as Islam: total fealty to one undoubtable idea.
As a psyops campaign, meanwhile-
I would suggest dropping battery-powered DVD players and boxes of videos to help distract the youth in the rural areas of these hellholes.
As silly as it might sound at first, I think since 'sex sells', and men are men everywhere (and they are the problematic gender in these regions), the hottest music videos of Britney Spears, Beyonce Knowles, Christina Aguilera, Little Kim, Jennifer Lopez, etc. would give them something different to think about beside jihadist indoctrination literature and the same-old beheading videos.
Never underestimate the power of the Eternal Feminine.
There are too many goats and guys in these zones.
They need a little leavening of the erotic spirituality that women can remind them of.
Their on-site leaders might confiscate and destroy many of the discs as unclean Western filth and immorality, but THAT would only give a subconscious clue about the puritannical 'paradise' in the offing to the local guys. Who might want to watch a REAL shaking 'booty' over yet another yelling fanatic talking about the joys of posthumous virgins.
And could give the recruits pause about the cause they were joining.
Just a thought.
Daisytoo has a point.
Marxism-Leninism distorted political dicourse and practice everywhere it was allowed to become influential (including the North American university). One of the great tragedies of Central Asia is that leaders like Akaev had some genuine democratic hopes, but the political culture instilled by totalitarianism is by no means easy to eradicate.
Further, authoritarian and totalitarians governments have a tendency to beget like-minded oppositions. They are very good at co-opting or killing off any oppositionist willing to compromise or settle for a half of the proverbial loaf; so those who survive in opposition tend to be those who are especially stubborn. A potentially revolutionary underground Islamic opposition has apparently been a long-standing fact of life in the Central Asian republics; and probably has deeper roots than any post-Soviet democratizing movement.
As for Ukraine and the Baltic countries (possibly Georgia and Armenia as well) these were countries that had always had a good-sized window on the West; whereas places like Uzbekistan and Kygyzia were, until the 1990's, veritable terra incognita for most Westerners. Indeed, even democratized Far Eastern peoples (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) are shocked to discover that people in Eastern Turkistan (your atlas calls it Xinjiang, which is Chinese for "new colony") are long-nosed and brown haired without the benefit of recent European progenitors--although the region has been Chinese-ruled since the 18th century.
I agree that a Salafi-ization of Kyrgyzia would be a major tragedy; yet apart from reaching part of a thin upper crust of society, the USA and other democratic countries have not made that great an impression on Central Asia.
BigSleep ..
Saturate them in what they can't even admit they long for! Heal them with more powerful medicine than they possess. There is a brilliance shining here!!! I'm heading off to sleep smiling thinking of those DVDS and falling out of the sky .. homeopathically erotic and truthful; providing honest and clean salvation. Why not?
Give those poor goats a break too :)
Kepha .. writing at the same time ... we crossed .. still smiling about BS's suggestion and at the same time wondering. Do you think the lack of discussion/accountability on North American campuses helps to keep the stagnating effects of Communism (esp. as it relates to Islamism) in place? Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.
Daisytoo-
I hoped my goat remark wasn't too 'musky'.
But the late ayatollah Khomeini had some curious recommendations about goats ;)
The main difference between the West and Islam- (aside from the obvious fact that we promote freedom of belief and they wish for a holy headlock for humanity) -
is that we have a sense of humor.
And they only have a sense of being laughed at.
Not that they don't ABSOLUTELY deserve it.
I'll take ONE old Laurel & Hardy silent film
(especially the one where they compete with a house builder in alternately tearing apart their Model T Ford and his small Hollywood cottage)
over ALL of the Koran & hadiths & siras combined.
Sic humor tyrannus.
Daisytoo:
While I am very critical of the tenured radicals on the American campus and the "lockstep" mind one still meets there in many circles, I'm not sure that it remains as strong as it once did. If you are smart, old, and know your rights at law, they can't touch you (I was a non-traditional after I left the State Department). I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on a topic that was, frankly, quite outlandish (theological roots of the rule of law ideal), yet I found respect for people who might never have thought a moment about the thing you write about coupled with honest scholarship can make a good impression.
I think many, including some who made careers out of analyzing Marxism, know that things have to change in Academia; and that there is a lot of utter nonsense going on in some departments. But, if there are tax dollars involved and "showbiz appeal", things will change only slowly. Also, for people who aren't Marxist--dare to know.
I'm so old that I use "he" and "him" for gender ambiguous persons when the verbs are third person singular. In a grad seminar, a hard-nosed feminist got after me for that. I then replied that Sinitic and Tai-Kadai languages don't have gendered pronouns, yet their speakers are among the biggest sexists there are--so that I should be allowed to continue respecting the honored memory of my (female) high school English teacher. I quickly discovered that most people in the room, male and female, appreciated seeing self-appointed "thought police" put in their place. They also respect real knowledge (I speak the Sinitic languages Putonghua and Hakka; and the Tai-Kadia language Thai)
I think people who respectfully raise questions in Middle East studies about the scarier parts of the Qur'an and Hadith, and press for real, honest answers might also win some respect--especially from classmates who aren't all the way sold on a terrorism-denying Prof's ideological line.
The communism was the unique regime that destroy islamism and islam there, it was so hard than islam, and islam coudn´t, but now with democracy and rights islamism come back, it´s sad that these people don´t change.
BigSleep .. still smiling!
and kepha, thank you .. helpful and hopeful. Wonderful anecdote about gendered pronouns!