Silk Mirage

An investigative journalist take us inside one of the the worlds most secretive countries, at the heart of Central Asia and the new Silk Road. An investigative journalist take us inside one of the the worlds most secretive countries, at the heart of Central Asia and the new Silk Road.

Silk Mirage is a compelling portrait of Uzbekistan, a country at the heart of the ancient silk road and now the centre of a secret power struggle in Central Asia. In 2016, the long-ruling dictator Islam Karimov - one of the last Soviet strongmen - died, sparking what was called by his successor the ''Uzbek Spring''. But, as investigative journalist Joanna Lillis shows, spring has struggled to break through in one of the world''s most repressive and totalitarian states. As one of the few western journalists with access to Uzbekistan, Lillis travels deep into the heart of the Karimov regime, portraying in vivid prose all the excesses and atrocities that made it such a brutal dictatorship. Featuring 12 chapters based on extraordinary interviews, Lillis explores Uzbekistan''s politics, economics, history, arts and culture - and asks where Uzbekistan stands five years after the death of its dictator, and 500 years since it''s ancient capital Samarkand was the centre of the world''s trade network. We travel across the country from the water crisis of Andijan in the Fergana Valley, the centre of climate change; to Samarkand and the ruins of the great silk road, where a new open-minded generation competes with Stalin''s enduring legacy of cronyism, gangsterism and corruption. Lillis weaves in the stories of ordinary people and struggling places, from ancient Jewish minorities and LGBTQ activists trying to fight for the right to live and love, to the tale of the collapsed dam in the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains. Traversing salt deserts and the foothills of the border with China, taking in glittering cities and dystopian industrial landscapes, Silk Mirage conjures up Uzbekistan as place full of life and loss - the ancient heart of eastern civilization that shows us worrying signs of things to come.

Autorentext
Joanna Lillis is a Kazakhstan-based journalist and author writing about Central Asia who has lived and worked in the region since 2001, in Uzbekistan (2001-2005) and Kazakhstan (since 2005). Her reporting has featured in outlets including The Economist, the Guardian, the Independent, the Eurasianet website and Foreign Policy and POLITICO magazines. Prior to moving to Central Asia, she lived in Russia and worked for BBC Monitoring, the BBC World Service's global media tracking service. While completing a BA in Modern Languages at the University of Leeds, she studied Russian in the Soviet republics of Belorussia and Ukraine before the collapse of the USSR, and she has an MA in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Bradford. She is the author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan (2019).

Klappentext

Silk Mirage is a compelling portrait of Uzbekistan, a country at the heart of the ancient Silk Road and now the centre of a power struggle between reformers and reactionaries for the soul of this strategic land in Central Asia.

In 2016, the long-ruling dictator Islam Karimov - one of the last Soviet-era strongmen - died, sparking a period of transformation under his successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, which became known as the 'Uzbek Spring'. But, as investigative journalist Joanna Lillis shows, spring has struggled to break through in one of the world's most repressive and totalitarian states. As one of the few western journalists with access to Uzbekistan and with over two decades of experience covering the country, Lillis travels deep into the heart of the Karimov regime, portraying all the excesses and atrocities that made it such a brutal dictatorship. She also penetrates the system that replaced it, exploring how life has changed for Uzbeks under Mirziyoyev's rule - and how it has not. A tale of both reform and repression, this book illustrates the challenges of dragging a country out of dictatorship.

Lillis explores Uzbekistan's politics, economics, history, arts and culture - and asks where the country stands nearly a decade after the death of its dictator, and 600 years since its ancient capital Samarkand was the centre of the world's trade network. Lillis weaves in the extraordinary stories of ordinary people: from politicians to former political prisoners, from journalists to human rights crusaders, from entrepreneurs to environmentalists, from artists to architects, from silk makers to carpet weavers.

Conjuring up Uzbekistan as a place full of life and loss, Silk Mirage tells the stories of courageous people who probe to find the cracks in an authoritarian regime through which the light gets in.

Inhalt

Introduction

Part One: Tyranny and Transformation
Chapter 1. A Country on the Cusp
Chapter 2. The Trajectory of a Tyrant
Chapter 3. The Rise of a Reformer
Chapter 4. Mafia State
Chapter 5. White Gold

Part Two: Repression and Reform
Chapter 6. Uprising in the Valley
Chapter 7. Crime and Punishment
Chapter 8. Life in Exile
Chapter 9. Truth and Reconciliation
Chapter 10. Dissidents and Spies

Part Three: Power and Politics
Chapter 11. Potemkin Politics
Chapter 12. Rebellion in the Desert
Chapter 13. Red Lines
Chapter 14. Power to the People
Chapter 15. A Place of Pilgrimage

Part Four: History and Heritage
Chapter 16. Bukhara's Brave New World
Chapter 17. Tashkent Transformed
Chapter 18. Avant-Garde Oasis
Chapter 19. Artistic Licence
Chapter 20. The Dream Weavers

Select Bibliography
Index