MODERNITY (1991 - 2025). SHARAF RASHIDOV – THE SON OF HIS TIME
SHARAF RASHIDOV WAS NOT JUST A SON OF HIS TIME – HE WAS ONE OF ITS BEST SONS. HIS HISTORICAL IMAGE EMBODIED ALL THE CONTRADICTIONS OF THAT PERIOD, ITS STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES. HE WAS ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOVIET COHORT OF POST-WAR POLITICIANS. HIS LIFE WAS FILLED TO THE LIMIT WITH WORK FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS PEOPLE.
The authority of Sharaf Rashidov was not the kind typical of high officials, but was based on his inherent benevolence, on the constantly shown care about people and their concerns and problems, and on his sense of justice rooted in national laws and the customs of his people.
IN AN ARTICLE DEDICATED TO HIS FAVOURITE POET ALISHER NAVOI, SHARAF RASHIDOV WROTE: "FAITHFULLY SERVING TRUE POETRY, THE TRUTH, THE PEOPLE, THE MOTHERLAND, NAVOI WAS CONFIDENT IN HIS RIGHTNESS AND THE JUSTICE OF HIS THOUGHTS AND GOALS, BUT IN FULFILLING THEM, HE CONSTANTLY RAN INTO STUBBORN RESISTANCE FROM A STAGNANT ENVIRONMENT, EXPERIENCED THE TORMENTS OF DEFEATS, WHILE THEIR TRUE REASONS, AS WAS ALREADY MENTIONED, WERE HIDDEN FROM HIM; THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE IN HIS TIME, THE EXCEPTIONAL DIFFICULTIES OF THAT PERIOD MADE IT HARD TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND THOSE REASONS..."
In this excerpt, we can see the consonance with the times of Sharaf Rashidov. He happened to live in a difficult era – stormy and sometimes cruel, destructive and creative at the same time. Despite the differences that still exist in his assessments as a person and a politician, most still agree that Sharaf Rashidov, in Goethe's words, was a productive person. According to Goethe, a productive man and a man of genius are almost synonymous.
"IN OUR FIRM OPINION, OUR FATHER AND GRANDFATHER SHARAF RASHIDOV BELONGED TO THAT RARE TYPE OF PEOPLE WHO WERE PRODUCTIVE BOTH IN ART AND IN PRACTICAL POLITICAL ACTIONS. YES, CERTAINLY, HE MADE SOME MISTAKES, BUT WE HAVE GOOD REASONS TO SAY THAT ALL HIS LONG-TERM POLITICAL ACTIVITY WAS FRUITFUL AND WAS AIMED AT THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE, AND THEREFORE HIS NAME LIVES ON AND, WE HOPE, WILL FOREVER REMAIN IN THE PEOPLE'S MEMORY." THOSE ARE THE WORDS THAT CLOSE THE BOOK SHARAF RASHIDOV: PORTRAIT OF A PERSON IN AN ERA AND AN ERA IN A PERSON.
