Walk & Talk

I've been reading al-Farabi again, badly and slowly, and there's an argument in there. He wrote that a person doesn't reach their full self alone. He meant it the way you'd say a plant needs light. Something in you stays unfinished if there's no one around who's also trying. Ibn Sina taught the same way he thought, which was on his feet, with students following him and interrupting. Navoi put the whole thing in two lines that every schoolchild in this country has had to memorize: odami ersang demagil odami, onikim yo'q xalq g'amidin g'ami. If you're going to call yourself human, don't hand that word to someone who feels nothing about anyone else's trouble. There's an old habit here called gap / gashtak. A fixed circle of friends who meet once a month, always the same people, always at somebody's house, and the turn to host goes round. Whoever's turn it is feeds everyone. Then it moves on. Plenty of these circles start when the members are in their twenties and run until the funerals begin, and nobody in one would ever call it community-building. It's just their gap / gashtak. Confucius opens the Analects with a line about the pleasure of a friend travelling a long way to see you. it is like a gap when you gather after long time. Walk & Talk is the gap that walks. / ENJOY EVERY STEP Sundays. Show up. Register / I'm coming.

Dilfuza Kurolova on Walk & Talk 🚶‍♀️

Khayotullo Ismailov on Walk & Talk 🚶‍♀️

🚶‍♀️ Vibe of Sit & Talk fresh from today

Walk & Talk. Khayotullo Ismailov joins us tomorrow. He studied International Relations in Tashkent, at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy. Then came a joint Master's in Parliamentary Procedures and Legislative Drafting, split across LUISS in Rome, Complutense in Madrid, and the University of London. His early career took him through UNDP, WHO, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Then OSCE/ODIHR, where he sat in on negotiations between governments, embassies, and international bodies. Today he's Public Diplomacy Officer at the Embassy of Switzerland in Uzbekistan. He organized Swiss Days in Tashkent. He helped launch a UN joint programme with UNICEF and UNDP on child- and youth-inclusive local governance. He's a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum. Davos picked him as a delegate in January 2024. Outside of work he runs an educational blog under @hayotalks, and does stand-up in English on the Sahna stage. Sunday. Come talk to him. Register / I'm coming.

🚶‍♀️ Walk & Talk. Dilfuza Kurolova is joining us this Sunday. You've might have seen her at TEDxTSUL, talking about why social justice matters, or heard her name at events on Uzbekistan's civil society and human rights matters for her active engagement in discussing these matters. She's a human rights defender and professional mediator, trained at TSUL, then Politics and Security at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. She was OSCE Youth Ambassador for Uzbekistan in 2015, and active member of CAYN network since 2010, and served as CAYN country director for Uzbekistan in 2016. Professionally, she worked at various institutions, including government organizations and international institutions such as E-governance center, the Swiss Embassy in Tashkent, ILO and UNICEF. She was a focal point representing the International Commission of Jurists in Uzbekistan during 2018-2024. In parallel, she worked on protection of rights from child and forced labor and promoted citizen’s engagement as part of the World Bank's Social Development Team. Now, she is a Social Development Specialist at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank based in Beijing and safeguarding social aspects in investment projects. As volunteer, she was a speaker curator at TEDxMustaqilliqSquare in 2016-2017, the 1st TEDx event in Uzbekistan; founded the Global Shapers Tashkent Hub in 2020, part of the World Economic Forum's youth network; and represented CIS at Global Shapers’ the first COVID Steering Committee. In 2022, she joined the Senate working group on protecting women and children which adopted the long waited law criminalizing domestic violence in the country. See you Sunday. Register / I'm coming.

Oybek Eraliev, a Ph.D. researcher and Applied AI/ML engineer, on Walk & Talk 🚶‍♀️

@linguabarno on Sit & Talk 🚶‍♀️

🚶‍♀️ We're looking for sponsors for Walk & Talk. Every Sunday we get a group together in Tashkent to walk and have real conversations. We want to make the walks better with better routes, better food after, small things for the people who show up. That costs money. If you have a brand, café, product, or business that deserves the attention of smart, curious people, let’s work together. We’ll figure out something people won’t ignore. A mention, your product in people’s hands, something at the event, or another idea that actually makes sense. We're picky about who we work with, but we're open. Send dm @umarworks. — Walk & Talk