Guest speaker gives hope for Uzbekistan's future

Uzbekistan, an important U.S. ally in Central Asia, may soon become more free despite a recent tightening of control by the government, said an Uzbek sociologist Friday in Ballantine Hall. \nAlisher Ilkhamov, director of the Open Society Institute in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, spoke to an audience of more than forty people on the contradictory political and economic situation in his country, a nation that is home to a U.S military base and assists the U.S. in its fight in Afghanistan.\nEconomic power in the country is concentrated in the hands of the top elites, who pay off national deficits by not paying wages to workers, not giving payments to elderly people and allowing banks to charge fees to withdraw funds, Ilkhamov said. \nHe also mentioned that Uzbekistan has one of the highest tax rates in the world and the "lack of transparency" in the economy damages the country's opportunities for international investment. \nBut things are not all bad, the sociologist said. \nIlkhamov said that the recent overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze in Georgia has helped to inspire those working for liberalization in Uzbekistan, he said.\n"(The overthrow) shows that a strong civil society can bring about social change," Illhamov said. "Thousands of young people are going to Western universities, and the younger generation has a different mind and different knowledge [and are] ready to bring about social change." \nIlkhamov also noted governmental change, according to Central Asia observers, could happen within a few years in Uzbekistan.\nThe U.S. is one of the forces helping to bring about this change, as it is the most active in the international community in raising issues of human rights violations, Ilkhamov said. \n"(Its) current policy towards Uzbekistan is engagement, which is productive," he said.\nIllhamov's perspective and knowledge about the area impressed some of the audience members. Bill Fierman, Central Asian professor and director of the Inner Asian and Uralic Resource Center, which organized the event, said the lecture went well. \n"There was a lot of interest, and he gave a good, balanced lecture," Fierman said.\nFreshman Kimberly Ventresca attended the lecture and encouraged students to come to events such as this one to get a perspective on a country they might not know anything about. \n"It was interesting -- a good perspective from someone involved in the citizenry and government of Uzbekistan," Ventresca said. \nUnique lectures such as this one show the strength of IU's Central Asian department, said Martin Spechler, professor in the Russian and East European Institute and economics at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis\n"Thanks to Bill Fierman, we have the best Central Asia program in the country," Spechler said.\n-- Contact staff writer Charlie Szrom at cszrom@indiana.edu.