Jul 302014
 

 

29.07.14 22:44

Shavkat Mukhammad: an Uzbek on Maidan Square

 

Shavkat Mukhammad on Maidan Square in Kiev © Uznews.net

 

An Uzbekistan native built barricades, worked as a field nurse, and cooked rice pilaf for Maidan protesters. Now he accompanies humanitarian cargo to conflict areas in eastern Ukraine.

Currently fighting is going on in the Ukrainian provinces of Luganskaya and Donetskaya located 700 km from Kiev. Separatists are in control of Donetsk (940,000 residents), Lugansk (about 420,000), and Gorlovka (250,000).

Separatists have also taking control of about 150 km of the border with Russia from where they are being supplied weapons, ammunition, and fresh volunteer fighters, including from the Russian-breakaway republic of Chechnya.

“Maidan is still needed, in order to control the new government”

31-year-old Shavkat Mukhammad has spent months on the Maidan Square. The Maidan movement, named after the central square in Kiev, sprung up after the former President Yanukovich refused to sign an agreement of cooperation with the EU.

The movement’s focal point has shifted from the central square in Kiev to the eastern parts of the country and Maidan, with its few dozen remaining tents, has lost much of its significance and has become a tourist attraction. Uznews.net spoke to one of the remaining Maidan Square protesters who strongly disagree that they should all just pack up and go home.

“Maidan is not a place for idle slackers. Every week we have two-three buses of volunteers bringing humanitarian aid to the east,” says Mukhammad. “But many of my colleagues are not accepted because they have lost their documents during fighting and fires. They do not take you without a complete set of documents – your military draft card, passport, and ID code.”

“Maidan is still needed. In order to control the government and future elections to the Ukrainian parliament. We should leave only when they set up new rules to make sure a new Yanukovich cannot come to power. Maidan is becoming more intellectual and new civic organizations are being created here.”

Became an activist in Tashkent

The Uzbek “ambassador” to Maidan – Shavkat Mukhammad – was born in Jizzakh province. He has three siblings. After completing only one year at Tashkent State University he exchanged a student life for that of an apprentice handyman. Mukhammad says that he did not want to ask his parents for money. He became an experienced handyman a year later.

He could do everything – build furniture, lay hardwood floors, install saunas. He eventually had some well-off clients: he has worked on pop-stars homes and once fixed up the former interior minister’s house. A few years later Shavkat started going to Russia and Kazakhstan to make more money.

He organized his first political protest in Tashkent after he came face to face with Uzbek reality when he opened his own woodworking shop at a market. The authorities made an announcement that the market would be relocated but law enforcement hinted to the merchants that should they collect a certain sum of money the market would not be moved. However, even after every merchant paid up 5-10 thousand USD the market was shut down anyway. Those who resisted lost all of their merchandise as well. While Shavkat did not pay the bribe he did protest with everyone else. That is when he was jailed for one month on a technicality – for having no residence permit for Tashkent.

Mukhammad moved to Kazakhstan in 2011 where he met his future wife.

“I did not have a work visa because I had a problem with the official responsible for my case. He wanted me to renovate his house for free, which I refused. So I had to pay a fine and leave the country.”

Having moved to Ukraine Shavkat advertised his services and quickly received his first orders. At the moment, however, his work is being constantly interrupted by his participation in the political life of the country.

Q: How did you end up on Maidan?

A: I would come to the city center after work. I was curious what was going on here. When the government drove away student protesters for the first time in November 2013 I spent the entire day on Kreshatik. I was amazed that people came here en masse, brought food, and tried to help the wounded. Later I signed up as a volunteer nurse. I often remember my conversations with Serhiy Nigoyan. He was the first to lose his life on Maidan. His family fled to Ukraine from the war in Nagornyi Karabakh. The day before he was killed he got pummeled by a water jet and was completed soaked. We sat by the fire together. I joked that he is not your average-looking Ukrainian – too much facial hair and he looked like a Wahhabi militant. I did not know then that he is actually Armenian.

Q: Do you now live on Maidan?

A: I come whenever something is needed to be done. I stay as a guard sometimes. I have work to do. I need money. I am renting a room in Kiev, saving money so that I can bring my wife to Kiev. It’s a pity that the earnings of a handyman of my class are lower in Kiev than in Kazakhstan or Russia (about 400-450 USD per month). Plus brokers take a large percentage.

Q: What are your most memorable experiences from the past winter in Kiev?

A: I always wore the same t-shirts and helmets as medical personnel. We were told to not participate in any of the fighting; otherwise they would have started shooting at doctors as well.

I never could have imagined that Ukrainian protesters would be killed. That is possible in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. But it’s crazy for Ukraine. I was amazed when medical personnel from law enforcement refused to help a wounded protester, not even to give them a bandage.

Q: Were there many Uzbeks on Maidan?

 

 

 

Tents on Maidan Square are needed in order to control the new government, believes Shavkat Mukhammad © Uznews.net


A: Previously there were 10-12 people and now only two. Some have left to go home, some returned to Russia to make a living, and some found jobs in Kiev. One of my compatriots met a Ukrainian woman and got married. They have a good life now.

Q: Were you on the square during the mass shootings of protesters?

A: On February 18 we were making rice pilaf on the square. We handed out half of it and then suddenly some commotion started, everybody was running, refusing our food. I came up to the people on Institutskaya Street. We were waving flags and shouting. Law enforcement started throwing sound grenades at us. One exploded right next to me; my entire foot was covered in shrapnel. When law enforcement set Union House on Kreshatik Street on fire, we started hauling mattresses, clothes, and firewood in order to create a barricade for Special Forces Berkut.

All Uzbeks tried to keep an eye on each other: we do not have any relatives here; no one would have looked for us, were we to disappear.

Q: Russia has annexed Crimea after the Maidan victory. You have many friends among Crimean Tatars. What was their reaction to that?

A: I was amazed by the Ukrainian and Crimean reaction. Crimean Tatars make up only about 15 percent of the peninsula’s population but they were ready to go there and protect that part of Ukraine. They were waiting for a signal from the new government in Ukraine but it never came.

But now we know how to act without orders from the government. We know how to do things and how to organize ourselves. The entire country of Ukraine is collecting money, weapons, and bulletproof vests in order to protect its fighters. If we had acted like that from the very beginning, no one would have taken Crimea from Ukraine.

Q: Have you been to eastern Ukraine?

A: I was only able to accompany humanitarian cargo to Slavyansk (a city in Donetsk province with pre-conflict population of 119 thousand). I was not allowed to fight: foreigners are not allowed to have a weapon and be on the front line. Most of the people who lived on Maidan have moved to the east of the country.

Q: There have been reports that Uzbeks are fighting on the side of separatists. What do you know about that?

A: I have friends in Aidar battalion (a volunteer-run armed unit fighting against separatists in Luganskaya province – editor) who have recently come back from Lugansk. They told me that an Uzbek-separatist was captured. I wanted to call this Uzbek on the phone but while we were looking for a phone number it turned out that it was a Kazakh not an Uzbek.

Q: How do Central Asian citizens end up there?

A: They are hired in Russia. My friends from the front line say that they are paid about five thousand USD. What reason do Uzbeks have to fight against Ukrainian? Only money. I think there are some Uzbeks among the separatists but very few.

Q: Do your parents know where you are?

A: No, they think I am in Kazakhstan. When I call home, I switch off my phone number ID. I do not want to worry them. My friends and former classmates do not care for politics. They hardly speak Russian. Anyway, no one in Uzbekistan is openly interested in politics. And these kinds of events in Ukraine are not being covered on local (Uzbek) TV. I see on social networks that many do not understand what is going on because they watch Russian news. I get a lot of insults on Facebook – that I am a Banderovic, fascist, an enemy of Uzbekistan who sold out his motherland.

Q: Will this Ukrainian experience be helpful to you in Uzbekistan?

A: I am not sure. There is no opposition in Uzbekistan. Everybody has fled the country. Ukraine has always had freedom of speech. For us this is a very democratic country. Anyone can protest outside of the president’s administration. In my country only well-known activists can protest and even they are risking their freedom.

Q: What do Uzbeks think about what is going on in their country? Is there growing discontent?

A: I think that the quality of life has been on a constant decline. Corruption and lawlessness are everywhere. Millions have become migrant workers. But it is far from a revolution. Uzbeks first have to realize that they are not slaves and the president is not God. The media could help but a free press is against the law I Uzbekistan. We Uzbeks need to start learning how to fight for our rights and how to make the government work for us and not the other way around.

Uznews.net

 

http://www.uznews.net/en/world/26999-shavkat-muhammad-an-uzbek-on-maidan-square

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