Hands Up! And We Surrender
POLITICS
Fakhreddin Khalbek (Asia-Plus), Dushanbe
"We acquired sovereignty to lose everything else". "Independence is when nothing depends on us". "Lenin left and his lamp bulb ceased shining." "Oh God, we want back to USSR!" "We are heading towards Afghanistan, not Europe."
And so on and so forth. These moans and groans could be heard in our society louder and louder. Moaners’ views are based on quite a few arguments. One can understand them – they are in despair.
The society has all reasons to hold a grudge against the most sacred of all - sovereignty. But why does it reject its necessity?
Sadly, it doesn’t come out of the current hardships. The grudge has been with us almost for 17 years now. And not only ordinary people hold this view, but even scholars and journalists, or more precisely, "the brains of the nation" are more inclined to loathe our sovereignty. Not all of them of course. But they say so. To put it mildly, the sovereignty is not admired by many.
Of course they can speak out and let them talk. But the question is: why after 17 years our society has not grasped the meaning of "independence"? For the sake of independence, for instance, India fought 200 years and Afrika even longer. But in Tajikistan the notion is not understood yet.
In former times colonialists were considered as enemies of independence: for India it was England, for Algeria – France, for Europe – the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. We were a part of the Soviet Union, the greatest empire. We could have never achieved independence if the Union was still intact. Here is a key to the enigma: we never fought for our own independence. Yes, we succeeded to shed some blood during this time, but it was a shameful internal war. We cut each others’ throats open and fought ourselves.
Even now we are not sure who incited the war in the first place. But who is known as the enemy of our independence now? Who wants Tajikistan to lose it and be forced into a state of peonage again, beholden to a great power? In the context of our current suffering and problems, these questions sound quite actual and timely.
Many errors are being committed. And too many of us err. However, only Sharifkhan Samiev (the head of Barq-i Tajik energy company) apologised on behalf of all of us.
External factors? Who says they don’t exist? They were, they are and they will be here for good. There are some internal factors as well, widely known and recognized by the nation too. But there could be only one correct conclusion: we are the biggest enemies of our own independence. We think by being obedient to stronger ones we can secure a better life with no problems. And those, the stronger, also implicate that our tummies will be full if we choose to remain behind the lines drawn by them.
The idea of independence is battered in our minds! We have submitted in front of emerging problems; put our hands up in front of internal and external enemies!
… This morning a neighbour knocked my door to complain about the leaking roof of our four-story building. Walls on two upper floors are wet and water is leaking down to the lower levels. Some predict that the building may be shut down very soon.
Shall I blame the independence again? No way. It could be blamed on us only. With a wider look you can see that almost the entire country is as shattered as our four-story building. Who’s guilty? What can we do?
Thank God, Tajikistan is not Afghanistan yet. God forbid to be assimilated to this literally devastated country. Our system is still working, but needs to be enhanced. If nobody’s willing to get his hands on it, that means we have to accomplish the task ourselves. All people together. Will anyone dare to stop the entire nation, if it intends to do something vigorously?
Unfortunately, unlike Afghanistan, Tajikistan suffers from the brain devastation. In Afghanistan nobody challenges sanctity of idea of independence. How about us? We are just waiting for someone to do something for us. Instead of us! Does it mean that we, the owners of great rivers, high mountains, the finest nature, and incalculable riches, are willing to give all these to others?
Hands up?
Youth
Entertainment