A.C.

The American Corner in Khujand has had to become a seperate registered NGO due to issues of corruption unrelated to any of the A.C.'s staff, members, or the U.S. Embassy. In this process the A.C.'s initial application to become an officially registered NGO was denied by the local government. In order to become an official NGO the A.C. feels like it is necessay to change it's name to "Our World" and to remove many of the references to the U.S. in its own description. The local government apparently feels like the A.C. is a place for pro-western/U.S. propaganda. They are afraid that we could start a revolution like the "orange" one in the Ukraine or the "rose" one in Georgia, or the "tulip" one in Kyrgyzstan. It's too bad they think this because it couldn't be farther from the truth. A revolution wouldn't be a bad idea but we aren't trying to start one; we are just trying to educate. 

The people here are afraid of the government and the government is slighty afraid of the people.