You can listen to the audio about protest in Tajikistan here - https://youtu.be/btTLRf7JVhA.
You can find the transcript here:
The protest in the Gorno-Badakhshan region is an example of brutality and governmental abuse. In May 2022, people took to the streets to protest against suppression from the central government in Tajikistan. Here's a little background: Gorno-Badakhshan is a part of Tajikistan but is an autonomous region populated by people who are ethnically, culturally, and religiously different from Tajik people. Over the years, there has been suppression of identity and control in the region. People were very patient with it, but the final straw was the death of one of the leaders of Gorno-Badakhshan, who was brutally killed, with the reasons connected to the central governmental authority.
What I witnessed on social media, particularly Instagram, shocked me. The dead body of the leader lay in the center while the mother cried at the top of her lungs, asking why they did this to her son, why they killed an innocent person. Many people joined her in the protest. Even in Russia, where many people from Gorno-Badakhshan were living, there were protests as well. You can't believe what the consequences were. Surely, there was no local media portraying this event in the local newspapers and news outlets; however, social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Telegram channels were representing the violence that took place in May 2022.
This protest had huge consequences afterward. People who wrote anything against the governmental leader were automatically arrested. Many journalists and leaders of Gorno-Badakhshan were imprisoned for several years.
This surely does not stand alongside the types of protests happening in Europe and the US. The difference lies in the regime – in the US and Europe, people are holding power, whereas in our case, the governmental authority is holding it. Therefore, the media is shaped accordingly. You can't see narratives opposing the governmental authority in local news outlets. The country is showcasing only the positive events while completely ignoring any social and identity issues within the state
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