Youtubers, influencers and creative activists are the new vanguard in Central Asia

Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Photo: (CC) https://pixabay.com/photos/uzbekistan-tashkent-capital-4580836/

If the EU hopes to build a meaningful presence in its neighbourhood beyond the Eastern Partnership in the future, it would do well to heed the rapid changes sweeping Central Asia and adjust its strategy towards the region accordingly. For this, the EU must put civil society, especially the youth and women, at the fore and be bold in addressing sensitive issues other players are shying away from.

Allies in reform

Central Asia is undergoing momentous social and political change. While poverty and corruption remain endemic, massive population growth, ever younger and more restless societies and important political shifts make the region more volatile than ever. Also, more than the Eastern Partnership region, Central Asian states are engrossed in complex nation-building processes and exposed to intense outside pressure, with a rising number of international actors pulling society in all directions. The failure of the region’s kleptocratic governments to provide basic services such as clean water, healthcare and opportunities for their increasingly young populations is resulting in a legitimacy crisis. Civil society, led by a new generation of activists, social entrepreneurs and creatives, is increasingly pushing back to demand change. While regimes systematically marginalise, isolate and criminalise civil society, civic groups are becoming more connected, vibrant and vocal than ever.

The EU should side with this emerging landscape of civic activists to further reform and develop the region. Amid this tumult, the five Central Asian countries could benefit immensely from a deepened relationship with the EU. Civic activists, women and the youth will be indispensable partners in building this relationship which will have to deliver what Central Asians really want: an end to endemic corruption, independent media, educational opportunities provided also in local languages, and socially-minded businesses that boost economies on the ground while caring for local communities and the environment.

At the same time, EU policy-makers should consistently encourage Central Asian governments to view civic groups not as enemies, but as allies for progress and reform. The EU’s aim must be to foster an enabling environment for civil society to operate in, taking a clear stance towards regimes that systematically restrict civic space in their countries. In a region with traditionally weak governance, the EU should position itself as a key actor to promote healthier relations between the state and its citizens.

On the ground, the EU should aim to empower civil society and to build its capacity to connect, communicate and campaign effectively. The new magic formula should be to link civic activism to creativity, IT competence and artistic talent in the wider society. The EU is ideally suited to support new forms of “fusion activism”, merging civic groups with tech experts, designers, artists and others. With new forms of campaigning, advocacy and storytelling, civil society groups can reach new audiences and draw attention to real problems such as corruption, air pollution, health, and socially stigmatised groups.

Getting the youth on board will be crucial. With the median age just under 27, and nearly a third of the region’s population under 15, the EU must act fast to counter the threat of a “lost” generation in Central Asia. Thirty years after independence, a critical mass of the population has grown up without a shared Soviet identity. This vacuum is providing a fertile recruiting ground for radical Islam, but also for China’s model of prosperous authoritarianism. At the same time, an exciting new generation of activists are using new tools and formats such as Telegram, Instagram, podcasts and YouTube to reach millions, mostly completely new audiences. The EU should cultivate strong relations with young Central Asians who will look to it as a model – socially, economically and politically.

Pioneering steps

Ensuring that women and girls participate in EU projects will also be key. Women drive everyday life in Central Asia and are emerging as a new social vanguard. With many men away as labour migrants, women are responsible for budgeting and day-to-day decision-making in their households. EU programmes for social entrepreneurship and socially-minded businesses should see them as ideal target audiences. Increasingly, women are also challenging societal norms and assuming prominent roles in grassroots activism, art, culture and independent media. Kyrgyz singer Zere Asylbek, with her 2018 hit feminist hymn “Girl”, is one example. Others include popular Kyrgyz Youtuber Eldana “Foureyes”, Kazakh film director Katerina Suvorova, or the women behind a popular satirical Tajik YouTube channel. Also in Tajikistan, a new format on the online platform “Asia Plus” highlighting professional females underlines the trend toward women’s empowerment.

Supporting social entrepreneurship and socially-minded businesses is one of the best ways to build the skill set of young people in the region. The sector is still young, but includes innovative start-ups and portals offering young Central Asians co-working spaces, language training and other opportunities in education, employment and entrepreneurship. Quite often, such initiatives also have a social component, supporting vulnerable groups in local communities. The EU is ideally suited to help develop this emerging trend across the region. As an added bonus, running such programmes would also enhance the EU’s unique profile in the region.

Another area for pioneering steps by the EU is language. Like other western donors, it should understand that the influence of the Russian language is on the decline in Central Asia and adjust its programmes to reflect this reality. In Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the majority of the population speaks Uzbek and Tajik as their first languages. Kazakhstan is progressively moving towards a bilingual society. In Kyrgyzstan Russian is only spoken by Bishkek elites, while the majority speaks only Kyrgyz. Youth culture is increasingly local language-centric as Russian is rejected in favour of national languages. In Kazakhstan, for example, popular K-pop group Ninety-One sing only in Kazakh. Kyrgyz feminist pop star Zere Asylbek switched to Kyrgyz to reach her audience. In Uzbekistan, independent media Kun.uz reaches more than eight million readers each month and has over 850,000 Telegram subscribers, all in Uzbek. While Russian remains indispensable for communicating with governments and urban elites, the EU also needs to embrace innovative local language formats to work with civil society, culture and media. In parallel, English language must be promoted across the region, as it offers both a tool for engagement with the wider world and a means for the EU to communicate its messages.

The challenge goes beyond language. Thirty years after independence, Central Asian societies are still grappling with their cultural and national identity. This fluid sense of identity creates fertile ground for ideas, ideologies and concepts to take root, and there are both positive and negative seeds being spread. The EU’s “Strategy for Central Asia” rightly identifies radical Islam and violent extremism as a region-wide threat. In addition to this, growing right-wing nationalism is finding traction, particularly in Kyrgyzstan where groups such as Kyrk Choro are exploiting the failure of the state to provide basic services and the lack of strong Kyrgyz national identity to recruit discontented youth. More positively, there is space and demand to cultivate healthy national identities. Self-confident feelings of national distinctiveness will be important for countries in the region to resist the pressures of big state neighbours. The EU should capitalise on this demand and, using its own experience as a melting pot of identities, work with governments, civil society, and independent media to promote healthy, positive expressions of national identity and challenge the seemingly easy answers offered by populism and radical religious interpretation.

Role of the media

In this volatile environment, strong independent media is indispensable and the EU must support it as a priority. Indeed, non-state media is under sustained assault throughout Central Asia. Even in Kyrgyzstan, the least repressive country in the region, independent outlets face an increasingly hostile environment. The EU is best positioned to build a robust, region-wide programme to support attractive alternative, non-state voices which can work hand-in-hand and reinforce civic activism. It is also a tool through which to spread positive views of the EU and challenge the predominantly anti-western programming of state media. In doing so, the EU should avoid the trap of funding trainings and short-term projects. Long-term core support to existing proven independent media is the only way for outlets to become firmly rooted in increasingly repressive environments.

To reach wider populations, the EU faces a double challenge: it must increase support for quality local language journalism to challenge the dominance of state media outside the capitals. And it should be more flexible in its definition of independent media. Throughout the region, bloggers, vloggers, influencers and social media stars are reaching new, massive audiences: the Kazakh Find Your B podcast reaches tens of thousands of young Kazakhs discussing taboo topics; the Uzbek Troll.uz Telegram and Instagram channels attract a combined total of 200,000 subscribers with humorous formats lampooning state ineffectiveness, while popular Tajik YouTuber, Rafael Gulov, has 39,000 subscribers, to name but a few. Selective engagement with successful YouTubers could be a specially interesting and innovative format for the EU.

Finally, the EU must openly confront the endemic corruption in the region. State-initiated anti-corruption campaigns are often politically motivated and have little impact. Corruption has the potential to undermine all the areas outlined in the EU Strategy. Civil society and independent media will be key partners for the EU to ensure the transparency, visibility and effectiveness of its programmes, vital to underline its credibility as a donor. Even in Kyrgyzstan, where civil society and independent media generate outrage over corruption, there has been little success in achieving real change or concrete results.

Again, independent media can be a catalyst for society to demand change. In 2019, for instance, a joint investigation between the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), RFE/RL’s Radio Azattyk and the Bishkek-based independent news outlet, Kloop, exposed money laundering to the tune of 700 million US dollars involving former senior officials and sparking protests in the capital. With journalists regularly facing the risk of threats, fines and trumped up charges or worse, EU representatives must also publicly support the exposure of corruption cases by investigative journalism. Using influencers, local successes, stories of effective anti-corruption campaigns and positive storytelling from Europe and elsewhere, the EU can develop attractive formats to change the mindset that corruption is something people have to live with. Similarly, the EU should spread success stories of reform in other former Soviet countries. From the Baltic states, now EU members, to the deep and meaningful transformation taking place in some Eastern Partnership countries like Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia – the EU has a toolkit of credible solutions and proven reform experience pertinent to Central Asia.

The EU, more than anyone, has a state of the art offer rooted in connectivity, prosperity and values that are genuinely attractive to Central Asians. But any meaningful change in the region will require the civil society’s active participation. Co-operation with change makers will be essential to meet all the complex challenges facing the region, from promoting human rights, the rule of law and security, to tackling urgent environmental issues, fostering innovation, developing competitive economies and offering perspectives for a youth hungry for opportunities. The EU should rely on the unique soft-power experience it brings to the region. Anchored at the heart of the EU’s blueprint for Central Asia, it will be an offer that people in the region will not only understand, but also want to embrace.

Barbara von Ow-Freytag is a Berlin-based journalist, political scientist and advisor to the Prague Civil Society Centre, an international NGO supporting and empowering civil society in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Central Asia, civil society, EU policy, Youth