Lately, the Uzbek government has been taking really severe, critical approach to blogs. The proof to my point is the recent blockade of the blog Khorezm by the Uzbek censorship. It is strange though. Khorezm does not really have anything against the current regime or government individuals. All it has is reporting on ordinary life going on in Uzbekistan, especially in Khorezm region. Nothing about opposition. Sometimes, Khorezm even showed its sympathy to the Uzbek government. We can see this, for example, in the post about the plan of the movement “Birdamlik” (RUS) to call people of Urgench city on March 8, Women’s Day, to go out and join protests and demand the government to free the human rights activists next to the building of National Security Service . In this post Khorezm mainly criticizes forces who mainly work for the western world, and who are trying to provoke citizens against the government.

Khorezm comments on its blockade.

There was not anything in the blog that could generate accusations towards the authors for being against the government regime or offensive towards the political figures, or etc. There is the view on the situation, information that you cannot find in “serious” sites…. With the development of internet, the censorship is becoming less affective and cannot stop people, who have different viewpoint on the development.

I agree that now more and more people in Uzbekistan are becoming informed about different proxy servers and websites that help anonymously surf the internet, but still it is too early to tell that the censorship is becoming less affective. It is not only keeping the access to information from people, but keeping people from speaking, arguing, discussing - exchange of ideas.

Khorezm writes that it may be blocked because of the post on the energy relationship of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the topic that should be looked at only from one angle – government’s. Though, the Khorezm is very optimistic. It hopes for the best, but ready for the worst.

The last thing I want to say is “Welcome aboard, Khorezm. You are in the club”.