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By Suhrob Sharipov
Translated by Jeremiah Zartman
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The current condition of the Tajik intelligentsia can be characterized as "expectation." On one hand, amidst the greater part of the intelligentsia a certain level of optimism is felt, which is connected to the signing in June of 1997 of the All-Tajik Peace Agreement between two conflicting groups and the beginning of a gradual political realization of national reconciliation, the successful conclusion of important political measures, the election of the President and the Majlisi Oli of the RT (Republic of Tajikistan), and in general the hope for the improvement of the social and political situation in the country. On the other hand, a pessimistic mood in society is overwhelming - an expectation of the worst, of an insufficiently stable or steady situation in the country. Additionally, there is the feeling that any group can use the temporary political calm. After gradually regrouping and locating the support of those unsatisfied with the peace process, they could turn the peace process backwards. The populace still has not recovered from the "shock" caused by the armed conflict of opposing factions in Tajikistan, and by all accounts is not able to sustain another trial.
The intelligentsia, as the leading, creative substrate of society, is in a state of deep crisis. This path to creative freedom is very complicated and demands significant efforts from all sides of society. [1] When a large fraction of society (in this case, the intelligentsia) has a negative attitude towards its responsibilities or fulfills them half-heartedly, the state of society is characterized as anemic by political science. Evidently, the economic and spiritual and cultural backwardness of the nation cannot be overcome without first overcoming the alienation of the intelligentsia in the political sphere. The nation must have the possibility of freedom of election between various alternatives, regarding the solving of the more important social questions, to overcome alienation in the political sphere.[2] Namely, the Intelligentsia must stand up for democratic values. ] In a short period (1987 - 1997), the Tajik intelligentsia lived through two fateful stages of transformation. The first stage, which took place at the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, is characterized by a powerful "splash" of national self-consciousness of the Intelligentsia, which shook up the Tajik society. A creative breakthrough and a free and public discussion of pressing problems took place, which began with problem of a national language and ended with problems of the sovereignty of the nation. The Intelligentsia, with great creative potential and democratic impulses, rushed into the democratic fuss, hoping that this process itself will show the way by which the nation must go. The democratization of society dictated the need for the creations of an atmosphere of political pluralism and different kind of social and political organizations. Such structures were beginning to be created. The role of the intelligentsia was fundamental in the beginning stages of the formation of the movement "Rastokhez", the Democratic party, the discussion club "Ru ba ru" (Face to Face). The Intelligentsia decided that the question of appointing the Tajik language as the official governmental language was one of the first tasks towards national regeneration. For a certain period, the major part of the Intelligentsia succeeded in consolidating the Tajik nation around this particular question. Having united, the intelligentsia and the people could solve an important problem - the eradication of regionalism and local interests. [4] Unfortunately, it was the single moment when the national interests of various substrates and regions of society were completely correlated with the problems of regenerating the nation and government. The weakness and the confusion of the political leadership of the center (at that time Tajikistan was still a republic in the USSR), the unhappiness of the Soviet people with the results of Perestroika and the reforms of M. S. Gorbachov, and finally the August events of 1991 forced the Tajik people to chose their own path toward development. The mobilizing role of the small politically active faction of the Tajik Intelligentsia in the process of awaking the national self-conscious, dignity and pride of the nation is undisputed. Tajiks felts that they had their own national originality and culture, which allows them to have their own sovereign and free government. Danger appeared when mafia groups, following their own clan interests began to penetrate into the social and political structure in the beginning of 1990. The culmination of this process was the events in February of 1990. (Footnote: The events began on Feb. 11. Thousands of protests and clashes with police turned into pogroms and robberies. Tanks entered the city on the 13th of February, as well as approximately 6 000 soldiers. Economic demands turned into political demands with the removal of the leadership of the country and the first secretary of the Central Committee Makhkamov K. A people's committee was established which conducted negotiations, which did not lead to anything. On the 16th of February, order was restored in the city. According to official figures, 22 people were killed, 589 civilians were wounded, among whom were representatives of various nationalities). However, according to our opinion, the opinion that the basic reason for the trouble was the acceptance by the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan of the 1989 law on "About Language" is incorrect. "This law, which is considered in the context of Central Asian and Kazakh realities, became an important factor for the development of "Tajik nationalism," which laded the ideological foundation and called into life all the modern political movements and in result became the catalyst of all social and political events in the beginnings of the nineties." First of all, the acceptance of the law "About Language" could in no was become the factor which caused the social and political factors. This law was approved by the legislative organ of the country, was and is democratic in its essence (in comparison with analogous laws in the republics of the former Soviet Union), and did not infringe on the rights of other languages. Secondly, the acceptance of the law for language was made possible by the ruling tendency, which was characteristic for other republics of the former Soviet Union [6]. Thirdly, such a phenomenon such as "Tajik nationalism" as a political movement does not and did not exist in the country. The course of the historical development of the republic, down to our day, shows that Tajiks opposed Tajiks, that not a single political movement, which participated in the social and political conflicts in Tajikistan, set nationalistic slogans as its goal. Only because of this, many Tajik refugees during the conflict were able to settle in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. A consequence may be the fact that there is a lack of political parties with the banner of nationalism in the modern political system of Tajik society, which cannot be said of other republics of the CIS. We consider the responsibility of the intelligentsia as the impossibility and inability of the intelligentsia to stop the process of disintegration and
lawlessness.
This was the first strategic defeat of the Tajik elite. Based on the activity of regional clan groups and the passivity of the intelligentsia, the old regional and religious frictions are renewed. This led to the disintegration and to centrifugal processes within the intelligentsia and became a cause of the gradual limiting of freedom and pluralism in our society. Freedom turned into anarchy and freedom of speech became a threatening weapon in the hands of dilettantes and adventurists. The sunset of democratic methods of conducting political discussion began and in it wake, forceful methods and the use of weapons began. Tajik society could not understand that democracy was not just a pluralism of view in which every opinion has a right to exist. It is not anarchy and it is not complete permissiveness. Democracy is a system of managing society within a framework of laws. The goal of democracy is to effectively rule the government with the condition of maximum satisfaction of all social demands. The force that receives popular support gains access to the management of government. In conditions where democratic institutes are not strong enough, the process of democratization of society takes a relatively long time during the transition period. The great power vacuum that occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union devalued the political power of the republic. The lack of trust in President resulted in a lack of trust in government and to the lack of trust in any political leader. It is known that in a transition period, the views and character of leaders carries a big role in history. In the quickly changing process in the atomization of society there was not time nor necessary conditions for such a leader to influence events in Tajikistan. The path to freedom is a transition from a closed totalitarian society to an open one, which in turn is the mechanism for finding and selecting alternative paths. Tajik society tried to transition smoothly from one social and economic system to another. The changes were supposed to encompass all sides of social life, However, there was not enough time. Certain leaders did not wait for the maturation of objective conditions, but tried using revolutionary methods to change the situation in one hour. This led unavoidable to the sharpening of ideological arguments. To the head-on collision regional clan interests of various social strata and representatives of regions, which became one of the reasons for the civil war. The American researcher, P Luong said that regionalism is one of the reasons for the civil war in Tajikistan, from the article "The Future of Central Asian Statehood, Central Asian Monitor N0 1.
It is important to note the important aspects of the position of the Tajik intelligentsia to always connect with Russia. Tajikistan was one of the last former republics of the Soviet Union which was forcibly thrown into the path of sovereignty. The vast majority of the Tajik intelligentsia in the early 1990s was pro-Russian. We cannot agree with the opinion that, Due to the negative social processes the social consciousness of Tajiks especially amid the intelligentsia came to the conclusion that only a break with Russia could create the conditions for a rebirth of Tajikistan. (Bushkov, Mikulsky, Tajik Revolution and Civil War, Moscow, 1995). Similar judgements reflect the fact that supporters of these views did not clarify the specific ideological arguments amidst the Tajik intelligentsia of that time or that these supporters were only superficially familiar with those. The Tajik intelligentsia, then as now always was and is a powerful factor pushing our government to retain ties with Russia. The majority of the Tajik intelligentsia received their education in Russian University and dissertations are defended in Russia. Tajikistan is one of the few countries of the FSU where the VAK of Russia confirms scientific degrees of our faculty and the scientific teaching intelligentsia is against the creation of a national VAK. The creative intelligentsia in modern Tajik culture is closely tied to Russian and supports close ties with her. After the first armed conflicts, the Tajik intelligentsia experienced a powerful social and political shock from which it has not recovered to this day. Consequently, of the non-thinking actions of a small politicized faction, society pushed the intelligentsia into isolation and alienation. A sharp transformation in the consciousness of the Tajik intelligentsia a new stage in its actions began. In the second stage a psychology of quick adaptation to changing conditions and the instinct of self-preservation became paramount for the sake of satisfying individual requirements. This took place through the act of refusing to be involved and refusing to be aware of its historical responsibilities. A new kind of member of the intelligentsia appeared that was indifferent to social events, which concerned questions of national state building. Such a person was closed off in an impenetrable shell and expressed a Kantian view of being oneself. They do not want to delve into the essence of the problem. A new process of extinction and the slow destruction of the Tajik intelligentsia began as a result of developing new system of relations. The intelligentsia as a component of society was denied the elementary conditions for existence. "Thus, the activity of function which the intelligentsia fulfilled in the period of calm makes her extremely unreliable and dangerous ally to the official elite… The stabilizing function of the intelligentsia can transform into a destructive one. Deviation from reality becomes the new reality." (Karilenko and Shevtsov, Philosophy, Moscow 1999). The Tajik intelligentsia, which acts as a uniting national idea and the expression of genuine interests of the people, as well as the spiritual avant-garde of society recognized by all is nonetheless in debt to society and the people.
The historical responsibility of the Tajik intelligentsia consists in the fact that it woke up with the nation a huge destructive force and instead of walking with the nation through the process, the intelligentsia became alienated, and instead of helping all society organically enter into the new system of social relations forming in Tajikistan as well as working with the government the T. intelligentsia isolated itself.
[Paragraph skipped.]
What is the role and is the Tajik intelligentsia responsible for the tragedy that took place? As mentioned in the critical moments of tragedy, the T. intelligentsia split into two parts. The majority of the intelligentsia withdrew into itself and a second smaller part became active. In the end of the 1980s and 1990s, a radical Tajik intelligentsia formed with a revolutionary maximalistic orientation. In order to clarify the religious political atmosphere of Tajik society in those years, necessary to analyze the ideas and manner of life in the context of the political history of Tajikistan. However, the discussion amid the Tajik intelligentsia about its problems with power and government continues and is active until this day. The idea of the intelligentsia can be determined not as an educated class, which in Tajikistan was always present, therefore it is very important for political parties and movements to attract members of the intelligentsia d into its ranks. Consequently in our study the intelligentsia is regarded as a political category which possesses a specific mission fore the political development of the nation, or has mentioned by the famous Russian thinker, P. V. Struv, "The historical meaning of the intelligentsia is defined by its attitude to government concerning the idea of the government and its embodiment." The problem of the ideological alienation of the intelligentsia from the government is important for understanding the crisis which the whole nation fond itself in the beginning of the 1990s. Only in the events of 1989 to 1992 the intelligentsia’s thought touched the people, which was the first time in Tajik history that such took place in that form. Having merged with popular thought, the intelligentsia was unable to resist the reactive and radical political slogans, and after facing resistance, the Tajik intelligentsia became more alienated from public. The modern Tajik intelligentsia at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st Century as a special political and cultural category exists from the interaction of western socialism with the special conditions of our cultural, economic and political development. But with the new tendency of economic reform, the Tajik intelligentsia on the one hand become bourgeois in nature, "That is in view of the process of social adaptation to reconcile with the government and organically, become a part of the existing social structure, distributing itself among the various classes of society. On the other hand, traditionalistic members of the intelligentsia are emerging with the reinforcement of traditional forms of social living. The Tajik intelligentsia ought to help the nation overcome negative attitudes toward the government, considering the government as an evil destructive factor and not as positive force in the fight against regionalism and should not try to destroy the nations national self-awareness. The ideological basis for regionalism is closely connected with the problems of the alienation of the intelligentsia from the people and the government. A the present time, according to the opinion of the author, the majority of the intelligentsia acts as the basic spiritual force of Tajikistan, which to a certain degree directs politicians and the political process towards supporting regionalism in the country.
The task of the intelligentsia is to educate people regarding politics, introducing truth into popular awareness. Politics is a means of social progress and a part of spiritual life. The idea of the political education of the social person assumes the education of training of a feeling of political responsibility, which is based on an understanding of social evolution. Political education can be considered as understanding the political process as compromise. The development of democracy in Tajikistan and the resolution of inter-Tajik conflict prove that politics is a chain of compromises. There is no idea of education that can justify violence. So the national beginning is closely connected with the governmental beginning. Unification of the governmental and national roots one can find the answer towards the puzzle of possible prosperity and renaissance of the nation. The nation is above all else a cultural individuality and the government is the most important actor in the formation of the nation as it is a cultural force. The basis for the nation consists of its cultural integrity in the past, present and future. The value and strength of a nation is the value and strength of its culture. Every nation seeks to create for itself a governmental body, but the idea and life of the nation is always wider richer and freer than the life of the government. It is possible to hates one’s government, but it is impossible to hate one’s nation. For the Tajik intelligentsia it is important to cultivate the idea of nation and government in social awareness. It is important to study the internal and external factors of Tajikistan in the new times, as well as criteria of a new political and cultural awareness on the basis of an all national idea, strong government, through the rebirth of a national statehood in Tajikistan. The politics of society determined by the same spirit which is carried in its attitude toward the government. The call to the re-education of Tajiks in the spirit of statehood is the condition needed for the country to solve its spiritual crisis. Patriotism is the nucleus of national self-awareness. When ideas of government and nation are united a person has feelings and shows patriotism. Politics of national accord and civil peace policy is the most important condition for the creation of a government ruled by law. Intelligentsia ought to help politicians find compromises and concessions and the reconciliation of both sides, incremental reform and the striving a political consensus. The building of a government based on law is unthinkable without a policy of national accord and the consolidation of all political forces of a nation who are aware of the historical responsibility. Realizing that resistance exists between various political forces in the country, the author considers that unification on the basis of an all-national and all governmental idea of Tajikistan. This is the basic principle of a policy of national accord and reconciliation where the role of the intelligentsia is very great.
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