Forced Labour Paves Over the Cracks
Forced Labour Paves Over the Cracks
Despite the low efficiency of compulsory labour, the authorities in Uzbekistan continue to make people take part in nationwide communal work-days that perpetuate communist traditions.
According to official figures, around 10 million people helped to clean up their villages and towns on a communal work-day held in early June.
Given that the total population of the country is 27 million, that means almost every adult takes part in such events, which are called “hashar”, after the Uzbek tradition of unpaid voluntary labour given as a form of mutual aid.
This June’s community work day was largely organised by Ecosan, an ecology and health organisation founded by the government in 1992.
A university staff member who took part in the event explains that as a state organisation, Ecosan forced people into taking part and they really had no choice.
“It had nothing to do with voluntary participation. But there was an alternative – one could transfer one’s salary for the day to the subbotnik fund,” he said. The Russian word “subbotnik” dates from the “voluntary” extra work days of Soviet times.
All public sector workers were instructed to leave their offices and go onto the streets with shovels and brooms, he says.
Doctors, teachers and officials also have to sweep the streets, meaning that those who need their services won’t be seen to until the government says their public work day has ended.
Private businesses also have to get involved, so every shop, office and workshop has to clean up its own area of pavement, while the local authorities can make larger companies responsible for cleaning up a wider area.
The head of one Tashkent-based environmental NGO says that relying on “voluntary” labour is not an efficient system, and the government would not need to hold such days if the housing and communal services sector were properly managed.
Other commentators note that the “voluntary” clean-up operation achieves the results it does only because as many people as possible are forced to take part.
By refusing to take part in the hashar, public sector workers stand to lose their job, entrepreneurs might receive a visit from the tax inspectorate or the prosecution service, and farmers can be stripped of their land, says an NBCentralAsia observer based in Tashkent.
“The state cannot force the workers [employed for this] to clean the streets for 50 dollars a month. There’s no money in the budget to contract out to organisations that perform this kind of service. So we’re left with what we have,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
According to official figures, around 10 million people helped to clean up their villages and towns on a communal work-day held in early June.
Given that the total population of the country is 27 million, that means almost every adult takes part in such events, which are called “hashar”, after the Uzbek tradition of unpaid voluntary labour given as a form of mutual aid.
This June’s community work day was largely organised by Ecosan, an ecology and health organisation founded by the government in 1992.
A university staff member who took part in the event explains that as a state organisation, Ecosan forced people into taking part and they really had no choice.
“It had nothing to do with voluntary participation. But there was an alternative – one could transfer one’s salary for the day to the subbotnik fund,” he said. The Russian word “subbotnik” dates from the “voluntary” extra work days of Soviet times.
All public sector workers were instructed to leave their offices and go onto the streets with shovels and brooms, he says.
Doctors, teachers and officials also have to sweep the streets, meaning that those who need their services won’t be seen to until the government says their public work day has ended.
Private businesses also have to get involved, so every shop, office and workshop has to clean up its own area of pavement, while the local authorities can make larger companies responsible for cleaning up a wider area.
The head of one Tashkent-based environmental NGO says that relying on “voluntary” labour is not an efficient system, and the government would not need to hold such days if the housing and communal services sector were properly managed.
Other commentators note that the “voluntary” clean-up operation achieves the results it does only because as many people as possible are forced to take part.
By refusing to take part in the hashar, public sector workers stand to lose their job, entrepreneurs might receive a visit from the tax inspectorate or the prosecution service, and farmers can be stripped of their land, says an NBCentralAsia observer based in Tashkent.
“The state cannot force the workers [employed for this] to clean the streets for 50 dollars a month. There’s no money in the budget to contract out to organisations that perform this kind of service. So we’re left with what we have,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
