Second City

                Hello everyone. My name is Khursand Marodbekov and welcome to my podcast. Today I would like to talk about something which I believe is familiar to all of you. It’s about the city that we all live in or maybe live not too far from it. The city called Chicago. I would like to touch base the history of the city right from the moment it was established up to this date, where it has become one of the greatest city not just in America but around the entire world.

                As we all know before the Europeans moved to North America, Indian Americans were the permanent inhabitant of this great land. They lived all around the country and so did in Chicago. The word Chicago originated from a Native American word “Shikaakwa”, translated as “wild onion” or “wild garlic”. The actual wild garlic grew abundantly in the area.  Around 1780 the first non-indigenous settler, Jean Baptiste Point de Sable, arrived in the area. He was of African and European (French) descent. Few years after following the Northwest Indian War some area of Chicago turned to United States military and eventually around 1833 all the Indian tribes were forcibly removed from their land. That year the population of the city was only 200. Within several years the numbers turned to 4000. The City if Chicago was incorporated in March 4, 1837. This is the actual birthday of the city. Chicago was also one of the fastest growing cities in the entire nation for many decades.

                Like many other cities Chicago has its own flag and seal. The flag consist of two blue horizontal stripes on a white field. Between the two stripes there are four red stars. Each star has a historical meaning which is symbolized with the city. I won’t go through all the stars but will mention only one, which commemorate the Great Chicago Fire. The fire started around 9PM of central time of October 8 of 1871. People of that time believed that the fire started by a cow kicking over a lantern in the barn owned by Patrick O’Leary. The fire spread through the entire city. The city which buildings predominant material was wood, the sidewalks and many roads were also made of wood. Basically more than 2/3 of the city structure was made of wood. That night the wind was so strong that it would spread the flame in the matter of seconds. The fire was so instance that it lasted almost for two days. Once it ended almost the entire city was destroyed. Among the ruined area was 73 miles of road, 120 miles of sidewalk, and 100,000 people were left homeless, 120 bodies were recovered but the death toll might have been much higher. The fire basically cost the city over 222 million dollars, which was at the time 1/3 of the city valuation. The donation was pouring through the entire nation, as well as the whole world.

                Fast forward to the modern day, Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. It used to be the second biggest before Los Angeles took over its title. However, Chicago is still called the second city. Chicago is also known for its skylines. We have one of the tallest buildings in the world. Back in 60s some of the very fine architectures realized that skyscraper represent a new form of architecture and started designing buildings that emphasized their vertical nature. This new form of architecture was spread through other major cities around the US and it was called Commercial Style or Chicago School. Willis Tower, which was initially build as a Sears Tower, was one of the tallest building in the world from 1974 to 1998, before the Petronas Towers were built in Malaysia. It remained the tallest building in the United States until last year, but New York One Point Tower is apparently taller than Willis Tower.

Alright everyone, this was my brief podcast about our beloved, at least mine, city of Chicago. Thank you for listening and good buy now.

Tajikistan Civil War

 

Hello everyone. My name is Khursand Marodbekov and welcome to my podcast. My today’s topic will be somewhat sad but true story of my people. I would like to talk about civil war that Tajikistan has faced after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

At first I would like to give you glimpse info about Tajikistan. It is located in eastern hemisphere of the globe, to be precise in Central Asia. Tajikistan borders with China, Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan, and Afghanistan.  Our country is in peaceful relationship with all its neighbors. It is land locked country and we don’t have any costs or whatsoever, but we are very rich of water. There are many small lakes and rivers in the country. The country is also known for its mountains, Pamir Mountains.  

Alright, now let’s go back to the topic that I wanted to talk about. Civil War. Tajikistan was part of the Soviet Union. It was one of the fifteen republics. Right after the Soviet collapsed all the countries gained their independence. Unfortunately Tajikistan did not go through a peaceful transition. There were mainly two groups who wanted to rule the country. In one hand the opposition which included democratic liberal reformist and Islamist, on the other hand, the so called government, which was mainly dominated by the people from the north, which had also made up most of the ruling elite during the Soviet. Tensions began right after the presidential election. Rahmon Nabiev,  who was from the north, elected as the first president of Tajikistan. He was also supported by the people of Khatlon, who later gained the control of the entire government and elected  a new president from the same region. Opposition members took it to the street and that’s how the war broke.

While the killing was going on and brothers were slaughtering each other, the neighbor countries including Russia had their own interest on the outcome of the war. Russians and Uzbeks were aiding the government and Afghanistan was supplying the opposition with weapons. The war was going on for years. The casualties were from 100,000 to 200,000. Over 1.2 million people were displaced. Some crossed the borders to Afghanistan others to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Many others fled to Russia and never returned home.  Eventually the government forces gained control of the capital city and almost the entire country. Basically the opposition lost the war. For some times the government forces were cracking down on the opposition members.  Many people were killed not because they were part of the war but because they were from the same region that the opposing were.

In June 27 1997 a UN sponsored armistice finally ended the war. This was in part fostered by the Inter Tajik Dialogue, the initiative in which the main players were brought together by international actors, namely the United State and Russia. The peace agreement signed in Moscow, Russia between the opposition and the government. The peace agreement completely eliminated the people from north, who were the supreme rulers of the country at one point. The opposition also did not gain any major seats in the government. Emomali Rahmon became president and been ruling the country ever since.

This was my todays podcast story. It was a bitter story about my country but unfortunately this is the history and it will remain with its people forever.

Thank for listening . This is Khursand Marodbekov and this is my podcast for today.