Stop Somonizing Tajikistan! · Global Voices
Mahina Shodizoda

As authorities in Tajikistan continue their rush to replace Soviet-era Lenin statues with ones of national icon Ismail Somoni, blogger Tomiris provides [ru] a powerful argument against monument monoculture:
It is a pity that instead of the ‘Leninization’ of the monument space we now have its ‘Somonization’. Every town erects a Somoni statue. How much more can we take? Why do we need so many identical monuments? Somoni might have been a heroic figure (which is impossible to ascertain now because the country's history is excessively ideological and politicized), but we should not turn him into a new Lenin, a ‘father’ or ‘grandfather’ of the nation.