Umida Akhmedova

At the end of last year, Uzbek documentary photographer and filmmaker Umida Akhmedova had criminal charges filed against her, and was accused of defamation and of "insult and slander of the Uzbek nation."

She was one of several people who were charged due to having participated in a project sponsored by the Swiss Embassy Gender Program. Akhmedova's contribution was the photo book Women and men: from dawn till dusk from 2007 - 110 photographs documenting aspects of life in rural Uzbekistan. In court, an expert panel of 'specialists in the fields of religious affairs, spirituality, and psychology' found that her images portrayed Uzbekistan in a negative light to Western audiences: "a foreigner who has never been to Uzbekistan, but who is familiar with this album, would reach the conclusion that [Uzbekistan] is a country where people live in the Middle Ages".

On February 10th Akhmedova was found guilty of slandering and insulting the Uzbek people, but could walk away free, as the judge granted her an amnesty in honor of the 18th anniversary of Uzbek independence.

However, many fear that this case is "exemplary" - paving the way for many more cases like it against artists and journalists who are too critical or "unflattering".

Here are a few photos from Women and men: from dawn till dusk that are relevant to Chirayliq (click to enlarge!). See many more at fergana.info and datablog.info.

Comrades, 1950

Probably taken soon after the treaty of friendship between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China on 14 February 1950, and just a few years before the Sino-Soviet split... An unusual image of youthful international friendship from the Borodulin collection of Soviet era photography. Other interesting images include a visit by workers from the Caucasus in Moscow 1925, muscular Komsomol youths, and this nice 20's photo of Eisenstein, Mayakovsky, Pasternak and other cultural personalities welcoming Japanese visitors.

Real Bears Don't Wear Somebody Else's Fur

Mum gave us a tip on this one:

After activists and supporters of the Croatian animal rights organization Animal Friends gave their support to the ice hockey club Medvescak Zagreb (Zagreb Bears) during many games in the regional league EBEL against Slovenian, Hungarian and Austrian teams by unfolding a huge banner that said "ANIMAL FRIENDS ADORE THE BEARS", the Bears paid them back for their support and in turn gave their support to the "For Croatia without Fur" campaign – by undressing their handsome 26 year old defender Luka Novosel!



Luka said: "I joined this campain because I love animals, and if there is anything I can do for them, the least I can do is to get my picture taken and help animal protection. Fur should be where it belongs. On animals!"



January 1st 2007, the new Animal Protection Act that bans fur farming in Croatia came into force. But this regulation will not be effective until January 1st 2017. In this long period, hundreds and thousands of animals will continue being killed for fashion and human vanity. And in any case, an end to fur farming does not mean an end to selling fur in Croatia and importing it from other countries. Thus, Animal Friends launched a national campaign in January 2007 called "For Croatia without Fur" - the aim of which is to completely stop the cruel treatment of animals by the fashion industry as soon as possible.
Croatian fashion models and designers have already joined the campaign, and now they also have a real Bear defender on their side!

Read more on the official Animal Friends website!

Portrait of the Artist as Chirayliq (Part 1)

Here are some artistic visions of famous (and rather handsome) painters in the 19th and 20th century.



Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, Armenian: Hovhannes Aivazian (1817 — 1900) Portrait by Alexei Tyranov, 1841.

Born in Feodosiya, Crimea. Studied in Simferopol and St. Petersburg, traveled around the Black Sea and through Europe, worked and exhibited in Rome, Paris, and Constantinople, as well as his hometown, where he also spent his final years. Some of his maritime works can be viewed at Zeno.org



Pyotr Zakharov-Chechenets (1816 — 1846) Self portrait in Chechen costume, 1842.

Russian painter of Chechen origin. Orphaned during the Caucasian War 1819, he was raised by a Cossack family and later adopted by a Russian officer who recognized his artistic talents. In spite of ostracism because of his Chechen background, Zakharov-Chechenets remained proud of his heritage (as seen on his chosen name and his costume) became a successful artist, but died of tuberculosis at a young age.



Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848 — 1926) Self-portrait, 1868.

Son of a village priest, grandson of an icon painter. His brother Apollinary also became a painter. Vasnetsov became a friend of Ilya Repin while studying in St. Petersburg and even modeled for him. He is famous for his mythological and fairy-tale motifs, but he was more interested in everyday scenes of simple life in the beginning of his career. He designed uniforms for the Red Army in 1918 and is credited with the invention of the distinctive budenovka hat - directly inspired by the pointy helmets of the ancient bogatyrs (epic heroes) in Vasnetsov's paintings.



Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel (1856 — 1910) Self-portrait, 1885.

Born in Omsk, studied in St. Petersburg. Symbolist painter inspired by medieval religious art and oriental aesthetics. Particularly famous for his paintings inspired by Mikhail Lermontov's Caucasian romance poem "The Demon".

Part 2 with 20th century artists coming up soon!

Buzkashi the movie!

Buzkashi 1-minute trailer
Uploaded by Buzkashi. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

"Not everything about Buzkashi is action and danger." September 2010 an exciting docudrama about three Tajik Buzkashi (Ulak-Tartysh/Kökbörü) sportsmen is coming from Oxus Apertura Films. I can't wait to see it. Read more on the official site!

Vitali Klitschko will help Ukrainian stray animals survive the 2012 European Football Championship

Mum is a great fan of Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, the famous handsome heavyweight boxer brothers, so it's really about time that we write something about them.

Vitali was born in Belovodsk, Kyrgyz SSR, and Wladimir in Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR. Their father is an Air Force General. Later on, the Klitschko family moved to Germany, where the brothers began their boxing careers. On the side, they both studied in Kiev and got Ph.D's in Sports science. After presenting his dissertation in 1996, Vitali was apparently the first boxer to hold a Ph.D. Wladimir followed in 2001.

Wladimir currently holds the IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine world heavyweight titles. Vitali is the current WBC world heavyweight champion, and he is the fourth boxer to ever win a heavyweight belt three times, after Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.

The brothers are active in several charitable causes helping children around the world. Now Vitali has also stepped up to help furry children in need in his home town Kiev.



In his free time, Vitali is involved in local politics in Kiev. He is right now a member of the city parliament, and sits in the organisational committee for the 2012 European football championship.



The Football championship is something that deeply worries friends of animals in Kiev. The authorities have already organized mass killings of stray animals to "clean up" the streets for their international visitors, and animal rights activists are working hard to stop them from further mass killings.



Mass killing is not a sustainable solution, since it doesn't do anything about the root causes for strays, not to mention that it of course causes immense suffering. Neutering stray animals to prevent them from reproducing uncontrollably, and, most importantly, enforcing an Animal Protection Bill that would prevent most animals from getting to the point of being abandoned in the streets in the first place, are a much more sustainable solution.



The local animal rights organization Society for the Protection of Animals (SOS) has been in contact with members of the city parliament, among them Vitali Klitschko, to convince them of a humane and long-term solution to the problem with stray animals. Klitschko is now convinced that a humane solution to the stray problem is the right thing to do.



Recently he visited SOS's animal shelter with TV cameras in tow, in order to raise awareness about the work the organization is doing for animals in need. He was full of admiration for the people at the shelter, who work hard to improve the lives of stray animals in Kiev.





Find out more about the Society for the Protection of Animals (SOS), and what you, too, can do to help them.

Photos from Streuner in Kiew.

We are all Majid Tavakoli

Majid Tavakoli is a student leader in Iran, who has been arrested several times by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, most recently on 7 December 2009, during protests over the disputed presidential election of 2009.

After his December 7, 2009 arrest, semi-official news websites published photos of Tavakoli dressed in women's clothing, taken while he was in custody. These media claimed he was arrested dressed in "women's clothing" to avoid the security forces while escaping Amirkabir University in Tehran. Eyewitnesses present at the time of his arrest have denied these claims and stated that he was forced to put the hijab on while in custody by the security forces, to discredit and ridicule him.

In solidarity with Tavakoli, some Iranian men are taking pictures of themselves while wearing the Islamic hijab, which is compulsory for women in Iran. They are calling for an end to Iran’s mistreatment of prisoners like Tavakoli. Their protest is also in solidarity with women in their fights for equal rights. One message echoed by many Iranian men is "Until Iranian women are free, Iran will not be free. Iranian men: let's begin wearing the chador in solidarity with Majid AND the WOMEN of Iran". (More at Wikipedia)









































Women are also expressing their solidarity with Tavakoli by drawing moustaches and beards on their faces and putting on the hijab.

Join the protest on Facebook!