UzA news agency reports that Ijtimoii Fikr or Center for Public Opinion Studies conducted a traditional opinion poll in Uzbekistan on the eve of the Constitution Day celebrated on December 8.

Organizers of the poll claim to have approached "city dwellers and residents of rural areas, of both sexes and age groups, of different marital, educational, and social status, and of various faiths." Nothing is said, however, on exactly what the procedure was, how many respondents participated, or whether or not they were required to identify themselves. These nuances are quite important. Dissent in Uzbekistan is not tolerated. Aware of that, people in Uzbekistan keep their opinions to themselves and give the "safe" official ones.

Neither can information on the poll procedures be found on Ijtimoii Fikr official web site. It merely states that the Center itself was established with support and help from the government of Uzbekistan. No need to say anything else. No matter how anonymous and objective the opinion poll may be, what will be presented as its results is a foregone conclusion. And the results in question are as follows.

"Peace and stability, ethnic and civil harmony are the highest values obtained through independence for the absolute majority of the population or 94.3%."

"The population takes a negative view of religious extremism and terrorism, considering them absolutely unacceptable, and approves of the state policy in this respect," Ijtimoii Fikr stated. Flat refusal to put up with the deaths of the innocents (which is the essence of any terrorist act) is in the meantime natural for any society, but the "approval" of the state policy in this respect reported by sociologists is someone questionable. Whoever entertains any doubts concerning that should take a walk down a Tashkent bazaar, spend some time in a chaikhana (tea house) in Ferghana, or catch a ride in a minivan in Samarkand - i.e. visit any location where people do speak their mind every now and then. It may be added as well that the charges of extremism and terrorism are not restricted to members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or Al-Qaeda alone. The Uzbek authorities frequently press them against their political adversaries.

"Citizens of Uzbekistan are convinced that the Constitution answers the standards of democracy, social justice, tolerance, and national interests," Ijtimoii Fikr reported.

Perhaps it does, but only on paper and never in real life. What democracy are we talking about when legal opposition in Uzbekistan is not permitted, when alternative sources of information are closed down, or when the president is probably the only politician known to the country?

Another conclusion implies that "92.8% of the respondents are firmly convinced that everyone in this country regardless of his or her well-being or social standing, faith, and ethnic origin is equal in the eyes of the law, that everyone's rights and freedoms are equally observed." Actually, this is not something to tell ordinary Uzbeks off the record.

Had everything been the way Ijtimoii Fikr reports it to be, Uzbeks wouldn't have been seeking menial jobs abroad. Teachers would not have been afraid to protest against bona fide extortion when they are expected to pay officials if they want to get their salaries or whenever they are supposed to throw a welcoming party for another visiting commission. Small businesses would have been prospering, free of the necessity to bribe the powers-that-be. Young Uzbeks would have been convinced that colleges and universities are not open for the wealthy alone.

In short, life in Uzbekistan would have been different. The assumption that 89.9% of the respondents give a positive answer to the question "Are you content?" wouldn't have been such a laugh.

As things stand, we may only make guesses on who Ijtimoii Fikr's respondents were - representatives of the Uzbek elite or someone else like that. Or if the answers were just fabricated. Or, another possibility, if perhaps there exists another Uzbekistan somewhere, a country where everything is as fine and dandy as Ijtimoii Fikr reports. Even the location of this country is known - it can be found in Uzbeks' dreams. Unfortunately, the powers-that-be are trying to present these dreams as a reality.