Fatima's story

Over the past few weeks I've been working with City Gateway, a charity based in Tower Hamlets in London, running photojournalism workshops and working individually with women to shape their stories into poetry and creative writing.

Fatima is from Somalia. She will remain an inspiration to me for a long time.

I have a dream that the women in Africa come to power
To lead their people the right way
To give a chance to women
For learning, for earning, for speaking freely, for being who they want to be.
For all the people of Africa


I have a dream that one day my country will breathe the fresh air of peace
In my country there is never ending war
There is no normal life
All people have left is hope
We need democracy and reconciliation for all the people of Africa


I have a dream that men will give women confidence to lead the world
Women can give love, women are patient, women can lead as equals with men, and they let you
love
Sometimes they let you cry
I have a dream to become the President of Africa
To give the African people all the things they need. Especially the women

For more stories see the 100 women website.

When in doubt, blame the Islamists

Published on NewEurasia, 30/11/2010

Despite widespread panic, Monday’s gun battle in Osh was localised and is reported to be due to a state security raid to arrest Islamic Militants. The State National Security Services are eager to state that they have the situation under control and that they ‘will not allow any massacres and clashes.’ It’s a shame they didn’t feel the same way in June.

While they may not be allowing any violence on the same scale as the mass killing and destruction earlier this year, yesterday’s events are part of a concerning pattern of intimidation and detention of ethnic Uzbeks in which combating ‘terrorism’ and ‘radical Islam’ is being used as a guise for the abuse of human rights.


The explosion and gun battle that sparked fear of a reprisal of June’s violence were part of an operation by the State National Security Services to capture ‘nationalist separatists’ accused of planning acts of terror. As a result one of those targeted detonated an explosion in which he was killed, and three others were killed by gunfire while attempting to evade security forces. This follows arrests six days before the Osh events in which nine Kyrgyz citizens were arrested for planning terrorist attacks aimed at destabilizing the socio-political situation.

In a statement to the news agency 24.kg Zarylbek Rysaliev, Minster of Internal Affairs emphasised that those arrested on November 22nd were of Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Russian ethnicity, and are not linked to any international terrorist or extremist organisation. Official statements about yesterday’s events are not as clear, with suggestions the raid was targeted at the ‘detention of dangerous criminals, members of the religious and separatist movement’. Reuters indicates that the operation involved one of the two nemeses of the Karimov regime and the Kyrgyz government: the outlawed Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

At this point conclusions drawn from this single event are mere speculation. We don’t know, and probably never will, whether those who died were indeed involved with the IMU or Hizb ut-Tahrir, whether they were members of a nationalist separatist movement, or indeed neither. Their ethnicity too remains unclear.

Yet, postured within the context of oppression and intimidation of the ethnic Uzbek minority in Kyrgyzstan, and the frequent use of the word ‘Islamist’ and ‘terrorist’ in justifying arrests and detention in many of these cases, Monday’s events are indicative of a concerning trend.

While in Osh in September I met Alisher sitting outside his shop, with a curious mixture of décor due to being half gutted by arson in the June events, and half fitted out with new stalls and stock thanks to US Aid (the very large poster on the wall showed all who came that the replenishment was thanks to the people of the USA). He told me of his arrest in August. ‘The police came to the mosque and arrested me along with several others after Friday prayers. We were charged with inciting hatred and mobilising young Uzbeks to attack Kyrgyz during the violence, and with being religious extremists.’ He added, ‘Young men are too scared to go to the mosque now. We pray at home.’

The trend extends to journalists and human rights activists, labelled as members of separatist groups and arrested. Since the violence in Osh in June several prominent Uzbek human rights activists have been detained on charges relating to inciting violence and being involved in Islamist groups. On 15th September Azimjon Askarov was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in June’s clashes and other charges including possessing extremist literature, despite widespread condemnation.

Playing the ‘Islamic radicalism’ card to achieve other means is not new in Central Asia. President Karimov of Uzbekistan is an expert, using the ‘terrorist’ label to clamp down on any opposition to his regime, as famously highlighted by Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, back in 2004.

Perhaps the most spectacular of Karimov’s attempts to cover up his persecution of those he considers a threat to his autonomy by citing Islamic radicalism were the Andijan events of May 2005. Several prominent businessmen in the city involved in a cooperative were arrested on the pretext of Islamic extremism, evoking an unanticipated public demonstration of support. While portraying the events on state television as an Islamist group attempting to gain control of the city, Uzbek Security Services fired into the crowd killing several hundred in what has since been described as a massacre. A report published last week by the refugee group Anjidan Justice and Revival recounts the events in detail, based on the stories of survivors now living in the diaspora.

The stand off between Kyrgyz Security Services and ‘terrorists’ yesterday marks a trend sweeping the divided nation. There is no doubt that some in Kyrgyzstan do want a separatist state, and freedom from persecution because of their religion or ethnicity. But we need to see beyond the smokescreen of ‘fighting terror’ created by the West and now used to deceive it, to the oppression of ethnic minorities by state security services.

One only has to look at the Wikileaks revelations from Iraq and Afghanistan to see the dangers inherent in the abandonment of human rights standards for the new norm ‘do whatever you like in the name of the eradication of terrorism.’ In Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay this has incited a deeper level of hatred and extremism- there’s no reason to suggest it wont do the same in Central Asia.

Demotix Snapshot of the Day

This photo from my article 'Destroyed Livelihoods and Lost Hope in Osh's Bazaar' was selected for Demotix's snapshot of the day on Tuesday, featuring the 'most stunning images from around the world.'


Caption: Osh bazaar is one of the largest bazaars in Bishkek but it has changed dramatically with violence that has ravaged the city of Osh in June this year and destroyed almost all the infrastructure of the bazaar. Kyrgyzstan.

Lost livelihoods and destroyed hope in Osh's Bazaar

Published on Neweurasia 08/11/10

Firoza smiles at me revealing her gold teeth so characteristic of Central Asia. A seventy- five year old ethnic Tajik, she has worked in Osh Bazaar since she was twelve years old. At the front of an abandoned section of the bazaar Firoza arranges her selection of black mashi, a unique type of boot, on the wooden slats of her stall. As she holds them out to me with her henna painted fingernails, her husband sits beside her, amused at our conversation and her attempts to sell a Central Asian necessity to a Westerner.

Osh Bazaar, located on the left bank of the Ak-Bura river, has changed dramatically during the sixty-three years that Firoza has worked there. The violence that ravaged the city of Osh in June this year destroyed almost all the infrastructure of the bazaar — a former thriving hub of commerce is now a shell of destroyed livelihoods and lost hope.

Wandering off the main street of the bazaar into the side streets that once contained a flourishing meat market, a gold quarter, and hundreds of choixonas, the silence and destruction are at times overwhelming. Scraps of material flutter in the breeze while rubble, dust and bricks sit untouched, surrounding remnants of businesses and livelihoods destroyed in four short days. Naked meat hooks glisten in the sun.

The spray-painted ‘Kyrgyz’ and ‘Sart’ on the doors of containers served as a threat to the predominantly Uzbek business community, which has vanished, frightened into silence and submission. Occasional clues reveal information about the owners of the destroyed businesses amongst the charred remnants of livelihoods — a pair of old men’s trousers, a fake orange flower, charred flower pots. In most cases businesses are unidentifiable due to the looting and targeted destruction that took place. Signs for ‘meat’ and ‘eggs’, even ‘billiards’ and ‘plov’ can be found behind broken flame-licked glass.

Once vibrant, with goods imported and distributed from all over Central Asia, the now-subdued bazaar now hosts blackened containers with padlocks wrenched off and broken tandoors. There are few reconstruction efforts, and the memory of what once was seems to have vanished with the traders who used to work there.

The story of the bazaar is one of many stories untold from June’s conflict. The two thousand residential properties destroyed remain poignant reminders of suffering and of the ethnic dimension of conflict, yet the thousands of destroyed livelihoods represented in Osh Bazaar are less tangible.

I approached one of the remaining traders a few stalls along from Firoza — a woman selling toiletries arranged neatly in small lines in a cardboard display case. ‘I’ve worked in the bazaar for 10 years but couldn’t work for three months after the unrest. This is my fifth week back. Many horrible things happened here; many places are burnt.’

The emotion in her voice is clear, ‘All of my stock was destroyed. It was in a warehouse here that was looted and then burnt. We couldn’t come here in time to collect it. Not one thing was left.’ She lowers her voice and scans the area for Kyrgyz people before continuing, ‘I have applied for compensation, but they keep saying “later”. They will compensate for “their” people but not for us Uzbeks.’

This is a complaint heard regularly in the bazaar. Umida says, ‘I lost 19,000 som [just over $400] during the violence as all the shoes I owned were stolen or burnt. I filed a complaint with the police for compensation but have heard nothing.’ She still perseveres by trading new stock obtained from nearby Kara-Soo bazaar. The double tragedy is that Umida lives in Cheryomushkee, a neighbourhood that suffered severely during the violence with whole streets being destroyed and hundreds killed.

The destruction of Osh Bazaar has contributed to the changing dynamic of the city. As the main hub for commerce and a point of contact between those from all ethnicities who worked side by side in many cases, the trading areas that remain within the bazaar are now divided between Kyrgyz and Uzbek. Vibrancy and cooperation have been replaced by fear and mistrust.

In place of the languishing Osh Bazaar, several new bazaars have sprung up, in clearly ethnically demarcated neighbourhoods, including one in the Kyrgyz area of Zapudnee that threatens to replace Osh Bazaar entirely. Locals started trading outside their houses straight after the conflict, afraid to leave their neighbourhoods, a pattern that has continued. The destruction of the bazaar has caused further ghettoisation and has contributed to the dramatic change in the atmosphere and composition of the city.

As I walk around a part of the bazaar now completely empty, a man walks out from the shell of a former billiard hall and questions me. ‘They all knew,’ he said. ‘Everyone knew it was happening, but they didn’t do anything. They just watched.'

For further photos see the full article here

Life goes on but the walls tell a different story

PhotoEssay published on NewEurasia 22/10/10

As reconstruction picks up pace, winter approaches and June’s conflict is described publicly as ‘war’ or more commonly ‘unrest’, collective remembrance of the events takes on a different tone.

A glaring reminder of the violence is painted on walls in and around Osh, despite recent attempts to paint over the markings. An examination of this and writing and drawings painted in the months following the events in which as many as 4000 people may have died reveal the contested narratives of conflict.

A climate of fear permeates many Uzbek narratives of the violence in June and oppression faced since, with few public spaces in which to voice concerns and frustrations. Some perceive the markings of ‘Kyrgyz’ and ‘Sart’, dominating some areas of Osh such as the streets of Kurmanjan Datka and Lenin, to be direct threats against their ability to live in Kyrgyzstan and a reminder of the ethnic nature of the conflict. Others have used writings and drawings as a way of expressing their grievances.

The rise of nationalism in the aftermath of the conflict can also be seen on the walls of the city. As Kyrgyz narratives increasingly blamed Uzbek communities for the outbreak of violence in the weeks and months following the conflict, the ethnic dimension solidified, resulting in several political campaigns during the Parliamentary Elections that focused heavily on ethnicity.

Contested narratives of the conflict, its causes, and the history of ethnicities in Southern Kyrgyzstan have deepened divides between the two groups since violence broke out for the second time in twenty years. The walls tell this story.

For photos see the published article.

Uzbek voices on the eve of the election

‘How we have suffered. We don’t want others to suffer as we have suffered’ says a tearful Uzbek lady in a gold and black velveteen dress at a recent political rally in Osh. ‘The police took my son and have kept him in jail without charging him. He was arrested on the 26^th June and has been beaten and tortured. Now they are asking for money but I am an elderly lady- where can I get money from?’

The desperation in her voice can be heard in many stories since the targeted arrests and oppression of Kyrgyzstan’s Uzbek minority following June’s ethnic violence.

In an election campaign entrenched in ethnic rhetoric and with nationalist parties such as ‘Ata Jurt’ (Fatherland) enjoying considerable support in the South, many are asking if any of the 29 political parties running for Presidency will uphold the rights of Kyrgyzstan’s 850,000 Uzbeks

Ar Namys, led by Felix Kulov, claims to be such a party. Kulov has attracted much support amongst Uzbeks in the South. Nodir Khudaybergenov, a former university lecturer who resigned in the aftermath of the June events due to pressure from his colleagues, says ‘My hope is in Kulov- he is the only leader with honest words. I’m not a member of any party, but I believe in Feliz Kulov.’

‘After everything that has happened to us do Uzbeks still have a future in Kyrgyzstan? We are sitting at home too afraid to go out. Will there be laws for us, will we again feel free to walk on the streets, will we be protected by the government?’ asked a frail man at an Ar Namys rally in an Uzbek school in Osh.

Kulov’s answer was to the point, ‘We will uphold the human rights already present in Kyrgyzstan’s new constitution. If we are represented in Parliament then in three days you will feel safer’

‘Our party can provide stabilization and peace because all ethnicities are represented in our party,’ said Kulov in a recent interview, ‘If we were the governing party then all nationalities would feel safe in Kyrgyzstan. We don’t prioritise any ethnicities and this is a key principle of our party. All ethnicities are equal in the constitution and we promise to uphold this.’

Some are actively engaging in Kyrgyzstan’s upcoming democratic election, pinning the remains of any hope they have left on Ar Namys, ‘We are just asking for security and for protection. If you can provide us with this then we will learn Kygryz, we will teach it to our children, its not difficult for us,’ a lady told Kulov and the 500 others present at the rally, ‘we believe that you can provide security, and if you promise that you will do this then we will vote for you.’

For others even these promises from Kulov are not enough to engender hope. For Anvar, a 31 year old economist-turned-builder leaning on a shovel in the ruins of his house in the Foorkat area of Osh, the answer is simple, ‘No one supports us. I am even scared to talk to you now because it’s so dangerous. Every day Uzbeks are taken from the streets and imprisoned, and no one protects us. I won’t vote in the elections because whoever wins will not grant us equal rights with Kyrgyz.’

Call for international assistance in Osh on behalf of its residents

As you may be aware, large-scale ethnic conflict is taking place in Osh, Kyrgyzstan between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. Current weak governance has exacerbated ethnic tensions and is resulting in violence towards Uzbeks. Residential areas have been destroyed, hundreds killed, thousands have fled to Uzbekistan and thousands are hiding in their homes.

I have been receiving text messages and pleas for help, from both ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, as the fighting rages on and military forces are ill-equipped to quell the disturbances.

These are reports from people in Osh, in their own words (unless it is stated MP)

11.45 The clashes and combat in Osh are provoked by the Bakievs.

In Osh the death toll has reached 5000 among who there are elder people, children and women. The criminal gangs (around 300 each) roam the city and kill any civilians trying to escape. They burn houses and buildings to make the civilians out and kill them indiscriminately. They call themselves Kyrgyz nationalists and appeal to the volatile and morbid Kyrgyz youth to kill the Uzbeks. However, they kill anybody moving in the town by sniper rifles and armoured troop-carriers wrested out from Kyrgyz soldiers.

The Kyrgyz civilians, adverse to extremist and criminals, help hide and provide refuge to the Uzbeks some part of who is moving to and crossing the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border. In Kyzyl-Kia, Isfana (Batken region) the Uzbeks, Tajiks and Kyrgyz organise militia to control their towns and villages. In Uzgen the situation is also calm since both Uzbeks and Kyrgyz do not confront each other.

The chaos is reigning in Osh and the Interim Government does not possess full forces to stop violence.

11.36 The Kyrgyz gangs kill civilians in the streets by armoured troop-carriers wrested out from Kyrgyz soldiers In Osh Kyrgyz help the Uzbeks to find refuge and hide them in their apartments

Uzgen, the home for Uzbeks too, is calm

why do not then the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks kill each other in the other towns and villages and just in Osh? So, you see the Osh events are planned by external forces: the Bakievs did it

11.35 MP- Reports emerge that the former president Bakiyev may be behind the violence. People are questioning the amount of weapons and seemingly planned attacks, and the fact that other areas around Osh remain calm.

11.30 around 5000 well armed bandits roam the city

the Uzbek witnesses say that the it is not the inter-communal conflict between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz it is the gangs of well armed to attack houses, cars and buildings the clashes are provoked by the Bakievs and criminal gangs

11.25 Reports from Osh that 1000 people have been killed including women, children and old men.

11.10 Mary help us please. Kyrgyz killing Uzbek. 800 Uzbek died and not stopping. Osh burnt, dont know what to say and how to explain.

10.44 young people armed with tommy-guns move in the streets and do not fear the curfew

they are sure that the soldiers won't fire at them

Osh is burning and people panically evacuate

Kyrgyzstan does not possess the internal forces to stop the violence and need international help

Osh is full of barricadeand it is unsafe to ride a car in Osh the armed throngs harass and attack civilians

08.00 I want to request you to help us. The situation is terrible in Osh. Uzbek people are being killed openly, the government is not doing anything. Pls help us to spread the information on genocide of uzbek people in kyrgyzstan.Could you pls contact the world TV channels or web-sites. It should be done very quickly. We are at a track here.