#China Uyghur crackdown

[phoenixyfriend]

Calls for Action, Call Your Reps: 2/13/24

This is USA-specific, as that is the place I live and know.

Find your elected officials.

Today, much of my information is coming from Democracy Now!, which I generally listen to as a podcast (functionally, it is a radio news broadcast, like NPR or BBC), and I am quoting from the text versions on their website.

The Senate passed a $95 billion military funding package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in the pre-dawn hours this morning. But the bill’s fate remains unclear after House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the measure over its failure to include hard-line immigration restrictions. This comes after Johnson and other Republicans rejected an earlier version of the bill which did contain the border crackdown they had demanded. Johnson has told Republican congressmembers he will call a House vote on a stand-alone funding bill for Israel.

From the same page, we are hearing that President Biden is urging Israel to refrain from invading Rafah, where a million or so Palestinians are currently sheltering, but is not actually threatening any kind of repercussions for said invasion. Reports from both official sources (e.g. the Hamas-run health ministry) and less official (e.g. American doctors returning from relief services in Palestine) indicate that over half of the deaths in Palestine are children.

I am not going to pretend that I know what is going through Biden's head.

Both House and Senate:

Reinstate funding for UNRWA. While the claims made by Israel that employees of the relief agency were involved in Oct. 7th are troubling, THEY are not well supported, and western officials did not do their duty in investigating the claims before cutting funding. This arm of the UN is currently providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to the 2.3 million displaced peoples of Gaza. It is especially disturbing and concerning that the many children of Gaza, who are already suffering due to this conflict, are now having this support revoked. Many sources are also claiming that the evidence is flimsy at best.

Urge both Senate and House to refrain from funding Israel, or to at least put some strings on it. The IDF cannot be given funding without some regulations on what they can do with it. They have proven that they are unwilling to take steps to protect civilians.

FOR THE SENATE: Urge your senator to put their support behind Bernie Sanders and his motion to restrict funding to Israel until a humanitarian review of the IDF’s actions in Gaza has been completed. Cite it as Senate Resolution 504 if your Senator is right-wing enough to react negatively to the mention of Sanders by name. NOTE: This resolution was TABLED by the Senate on 1/16, but it is being brought back in as conditions continue to escalate.

FOR THE HOUSE: Urge your representative to put their support behind Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s petition for the US government to recognize the IDF’s actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and put a stop to it. ALTERNATELY: recommend that they support House Resolution 786, introduced by Rep. Cori Bush, Calling for an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.

On the House Floor this week, to call your rep about:

H.Res. 994: Married persons tax break. Vote nay. Loses billions in tax revenue and explicitly targets green energy.

H.R. 2766 and H.R. 4039: Condemnation of China's actions against the Uyghurs. Can't tell you which way to talk on this. Seems good on the surface, but given who's presenting it, I worry there's something worse tucked into the text. Hopefully someone can provide a better take.

H.R. 3016: IGO Anti-Boycott Act. Vote Nay. This appears to be intended to force US companies to do business with US allies instead of participating in boycotts. This appears, to me, to be an attack on movements like BDS. To Dem Reps, argue that this refuses the right of peaceful protest to US citizens. To Republican Reps, argue that this is a dangerous government overreach and that it is not the right of the government to force US citizens to purchase products and materials from specific foreign partners.

H.Res. 966: Condemnation of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7. Vote Nay. We know sexual violence is bad. Hamas has already been condemned for their actions. This is, at best, lip service. It is a waste of time. There are much bigger, more impactful things to work on, and this is going to waste time and resources in the Senate if it passes.

If you wish to support my political blogging, I am accepting donations on ko-fi.

[newsfrom-theworld]

Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide.

Human rights groups believe China has detained more than one million Uyghurs against their will over the past few years in a large network of what the state calls "re-education camps", and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms.

A series of police files obtained by the BBC in 2022 has revealed details of China's use of these camps and described the routine use of armed officers and the existence of a shoot-to-kill policy for those trying to escape.

China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The Chinese government - speaking after details of the Xinjiang Police Files were published - said the peace and prosperity brought to Xinjiang as a result of its anti-terrorism measures were the best response to "all sorts of lies".

Satellite images show rapid construction of camps in Xinjiang, like this one near Dabancheng

Who are the Uyghurs?

There are about 12 million Uyghurs, mostly Muslim, living in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

The Uyghurs speak their own language, which is similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations. They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.

Recent decades have seen a mass migration of Han Chinese (China's ethnic majority) into Xinjiang, allegedly orchestrated by the state to dilute the minority population there.

China has also been accused of targeting Muslim religious figures and banning religious practices in the region, as well as destroying mosques and tombs.

Uyghur activists say they fear that the group's culture is under threat of erasure.

Where is Xinjiang?

Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country's largest region.

Xinjiang is a mostly desert region and produces about a fifth of the world's cotton.

Human rights groups have voiced concerns that much of that cotton export is picked by forced labour, and in 2021 some Western brands removed Xinjiang cotton from their supply chains, leading to a backlash against the brands from Chinese celebrities and netizens.

What are the allegations against China?

Several countries, including the US, UK, Canada and the Netherlands, have accused China of committing genocide - defined by international convention as the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".

The declarations follow reports that, as well as interning Uyghurs in camps, China has been forcibly mass sterilising Uyghur women to suppress the population, separating children from their families, and attempting to break the cultural traditions of the group.

People who have managed to escape the camps have reported physical, mental and sexual torture.

Women have spoken of mass rape and sexual abuse.

What does China say?

China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. In response to the Xinjiang Police Files, China's foreign ministry spokesman told the BBC that the documents were "the latest example of anti-China voices trying to smear China". 

China says the crackdown in Xinjiang is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism.

Source

[beardedmrbean]

Rights campaigners have for years accused Beijing of a crackdown against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, including through forced labour and detention camps.

Beijing denies allegations of abuse and insists its actions in Xinjiang have helped to combat extremism and enhance development.

Germany's Handelsblatt financial daily reported this week that forced labour may have been used to build a test track for VW in Turpan, Xinjiang in 2019.

VW said Wednesday it had seen no evidence of human rights violations in connection with the project but vowed to investigate any new information that came to light.

In a statement sent to AFP, Beijing's foreign ministry said allegations of abuses in the region were "entirely a lie concocted... with the aim of destabilising Xinjiang".

It urged firms to "respect the facts, distinguish right from wrong, and not be blinded by lies".

In an apparent sign of the growing pressure on VW over its presence in the region, the company said this week that it was in talks with its Chinese joint-venture partner SAIC "about the future direction of business activities in Xinjiang".

"Various scenarios are currently being intensively examined," VW said in a statement.

Beijing said Thursday that "the human rights of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are protected to the maximum extent".

Claims of rights abuses in the northwestern region, it added, were aimed at "discrediting and suppressing China".

"Xinjiang currently enjoys social stability, economic development, ethnic unity, and religious harmony," the foreign ministry said.

Rights concerns

Beijing stands accused of incarcerating over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across Xinjiang.

Campaigners and Uyghurs overseas have said an array of abuses take place inside the facilities, including torture, forced labour, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.

A UN report in 2022 detailed "credible" evidence of torture, forced medical treatment and sexual or gender-based violence -- as well as forced labour -- in the region.

But it stopped short of labelling Beijing's actions a "genocide", as the United States and some Western lawmakers have done.

Calls have grown louder for VW to reconsider its business activities in Xinjiang after German chemicals giant BASF announced last week that it would accelerate its exit from two joint ventures there.

Xinjiang is home to numerous factories that supply multinational companies, including big-name Western brands.

VW has long come under scrutiny over its factory in the city of Urumqi, which opened in 2013 and in which it has a stake via its partner SAIC.

An external audit commissioned by VW last year found no evidence of forced labour among the plant's 197 employees.

But the consultancy that wrote the report acknowledged "the challenges in collecting data" for audits in China.

The Turpan test track was not part of the audit.

[theyknowthatweknow]

China: Human Rights Watch accuses Beijing of closing and destroying mosques - BBC News

"The Chinese government's closure, destruction and repurposing of mosques is part of a systemic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China," said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch.

The report follows mounting evidence of systematic human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in China's north-western Xinjiang region. Beijing denies the accusations of abuse.

Most of China's Muslims live in the country's north-west, which includes Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia.

[mariacallous]

Ekpar Asat, founder of one of the most popular Uyghur-language websites, started his career as many tech entrepreneurs do: In 2007, he turned his college project into a successful news site and forum called Bagdax.

On the wall of his office were pictures of his role models: Mark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama, and Jack Ma. As a minor celebrity in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, Asat, also known as Mr. Bagdax, was invited to provincial government events and to the offices of China’s tech giants. Even if the platform had to adhere to China’s strict censorship rules—at one point, four police officers were tasked with monitoring it—its base quickly grew to over 100,000 users.

In early 2016, however, Asat was swept up in a mass detention campaign, alongside a reported 1 million members of Uyghur and other Turkic minorities, after returning from an entrepreneur leadership program organized by the US State Department.

Within a year, Bagdax and other popular Uyghur websites—such as Misranim, Bozqir, and Ana Tuprak—permanently stopped updating. And they weren’t the only ones. As Beijing’s crackdown in the Xinjiang region unfolded, the vast majority of independent Uyghur-run websites ceased to exist, according to local tech industry insiders and academics tracking the online Uyghur-language sphere.

“It’s like erasing the life work of thousands and thousands of people to build something—a future for their own society,” says Darren Byler, assistant professor of international studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and an author of several books on China’s treatment of Uyghurs. Many of the people behind the websites have also disappeared into China’s detention camp system. Developers, computer scientists, and IT experts—especially those working on Uyghur-language products—have been detained, according to members of the minority living abroad. The detentions are a part of China’s crackdown on the majority Muslim region, which has been rocked by several terrorist attacks in the past two decades. Human rights groups have accused the Chinese government of mass surveillance, forced labor, and wiping out the ethnic minority’s culture. Beijing claims that the camps are reeducation centers for vocational job training and countering extremism. 

Ekpar Asat’s sister Rayhan Asat says that the shutdown can be seen as an attack against Uyghur language and culture and that the Chinese government’s repression has often targeted the region’s best and brightest. “Why would an eminent tech entrepreneur need to be reeducated? What kind of skills does he need?” she says. The Public Security Bureau of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, did not respond to phone calls.

A major Central Asian Silk Road outpost in the past, Urumqi is no Silicon Valley. Still, by 2014 a small cluster of tech companies was beginning to form just south of its Grand Bazaar. But the blossoming was short-lived, and in 2016 repression was in full swing. “Our region literally became a prison without walls,”  says Abdurrahim Devlet, founder of Bilkan, the company behind 30 apps, a line of hardware, and the first online Uyghur bookstore. Devlet decided to leave Xinjiang after a wave of arrests targeting individuals, including Bilkan’s manager, who was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. After shuttering his company, Devlet is now living in Turkey and working on a doctorate in history. 

Making a living as a programmer also became hard, says a former Bilkan developer, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for his family’s safety. In 2016, the government started requiring that websites establish Communist Party branches or be supervised by a party member, making it difficult to avoid blacklisting. 

Authorities have also expanded the list of blocked websites from Google and other Western social media platforms to GitHub and Stack Overflow, popular developer tool platforms that remain available to coders in the rest of China. Targeting of the Uyghur IT sector, especially website owners, keeps happening because these individuals are influential in society, says Abduweli Ayup, a language activist who has been keeping a tally of Xinjiang intellectuals who have disappeared into the camp system, a list containing names of over a dozen people working in the technology sector. “They are the leading force in the economy—and after that leading force disappears, people become poor,”  Ayup says. 

Xinjiang’s digital erasure is only the most recent blow to its online sphere. In 2009, after riots exploded in Urumqi, China hit back with an internet shutdown and a wave of arrests of bloggers and webmasters. Advocacy organization Uyghur Human Rights Project estimates that over 80 percent of Uyghur websites did not return after the shutdown.  But even though the region was plagued by small-scale periodic internet blackouts, the Uyghur internet had grown vibrant. And for the Uyghur community, those websites were a place for both rediscovering Islamic religious practices and having conversations about hot-button issues such as homophobia, trans issues, and sexism. More importantly, the internet helped Uyghurs create an image of themselves different from the one offered by Chinese state media, says Rebecca Clothey, associate professor at Philadelphia’s Drexel University. “An online space in which they can talk about issues that are relevant to them gives them the ability to have a way of thinking about themselves as a unified mass,”  she says. “Without that, they’re scattered.” 

Uyghurs in Xinjiang now use domestic platforms and apps made by China’s tech giants. Although WeChat still hosts Uyghur-language accounts, the platform is known for its censorship system.

Some Uyghurs, however, have found tiny cracks in the wall through which they communicate and express themselves. People hold up signs with messages during video calls, out of fear that their conversations may be monitored. Young people are switching their conversations to gaming apps.

On China’s version of TikTok, ByteDance-owned Douyin, Uyghurs have been stealthily filming scenes from Xinjiang that differ from state propaganda videos showing smiling dancers in traditional robes. Some have filmed themselves crying over pictures of their loved ones. Others have captured orphanages with children of detained Uyghurs or people being loaded onto buses, a possible reference to forced labor. The clips are stripped of information, leaving conclusions to the viewers.

Recently, Chinese authorities have been rolling back some controls over the Uyghur language, says Byler. In late 2019, Beijing announced that people held in vocational training centers in China had all “graduated,” while scaling back some of the more visible signs of its high-tech police state. 

Uyghurs abroad, however, say that many of their friends and relatives are still in camps or have received arbitrary prison sentences. Ekpar Asat was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and discrimination. And although some parts of the Uyghur internet are archived for future digital archaeology, much of it has simply vanished forever. “That’s just been eliminated overnight, and there’s not much of a way of recovering that information,” says Byler.

This article was originally published in the May/June 2022 issue of WIRED UK magazine.

[shirotakaishida]

‘Eliticide’ as China jails Uyghur intellectuals to erase culture — Radio Free Asia

[partisan-by-default]

In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained at least hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups. Many haven't been heard from in years, and others are still desperately searching for their families. Western governments have called this crackdown a cultural genocide and a possible crime against humanity.

NPR Correspondent Emily Feng has been reporting on Uyghurs inside and outside of China for years. In this episode, she profiles two Uyghur men who have found themselves sometimes unwilling actors within the Chinese state's systems of control over Uyghurs. As they work to silence others, they sometimes find themselves silenced as well.

[yasminbashirovasan]

Human Rights Under Siege: Examining Global Challenges and Resilience

In a world that has made significant strides in technological, economic, and social advancements, the struggle for fundamental human rights remains a crucial and often contentious issue. Despite the universal acknowledgment of these rights, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, violations continue to occur on a massive scale, affecting millions of people worldwide. This article explores the current landscape of human rights issues globally, highlighting the challenges faced by different populations, the underlying causes of these violations, and the efforts being made to protect and promote these essential rights.

The Global State of Human Rights

Human rights encompass a wide range of protections and freedoms, from the right to life and liberty to the right to work, education, and equality before the law. However, the extent to which these rights are upheld varies significantly across countries and regions. In many parts of the world, individuals and communities face severe repression, discrimination, and violence, often at the hands of their governments.

Repression and Authoritarianism

One of the most prominent issues in the realm of human rights is the rise of authoritarian regimes that suppress dissent and curtail freedoms. In countries like China, Russia, and Myanmar, the state exerts considerable control over its citizens, often resorting to harsh measures to silence opposition. China's treatment of ethnic minorities, particularly the Uyghurs, has garnered international attention, with reports of mass detentions, forced labor, and cultural erasure. The Chinese government's tight grip on information and strict censorship further exacerbate the situation, making it difficult for the outside world to grasp the extent of the abuses fully.

In Russia, political opposition has been systematically dismantled, with prominent figures like Alexei Navalny facing imprisonment and alleged poisoning. The government's crackdown on freedom of expression, assembly, and the press has created an environment where dissent is met with severe consequences. Similarly, in Myanmar, the military's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya, has led to widespread condemnation and calls for international intervention.

War and Conflict: A Breeding Ground for Human Rights Abuses

War and conflict zones are hotbeds for some of the most egregious human rights violations. Syria, Yemen, and Ethiopia's Tigray region are just a few examples where prolonged conflict has led to devastating human rights abuses. In Syria, the decade-long civil war has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions. Both the Assad regime and various rebel groups have been accused of committing war crimes, including the use of chemical weapons, torture, and targeting of civilians.

Yemen's ongoing conflict, often described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, has led to widespread famine, disease, and displacement. The Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels have both been implicated in war crimes, including airstrikes on civilian targets and the use of child soldiers. In Ethiopia's Tigray region, reports of mass killings, sexual violence, and starvation have emerged as the conflict between government forces and Tigrayan fighters escalates, drawing international concern and calls for accountability.

Economic Disparities and Social Inequality

Economic inequality and social injustice are deeply intertwined with human rights. In many parts of the world, poverty, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare services severely limit individuals' ability to exercise their rights. Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia, and Latin America face significant challenges in this regard, with large segments of the population living in extreme poverty.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed and exacerbated these inequalities. The economic fallout from the pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable populations, pushing millions into poverty and deepening existing disparities. Women, children, and marginalized communities have been particularly hard-hit, facing increased risks of domestic violence, exploitation, and deprivation of necessities.

Discrimination and Identity-Based Violence

Discrimination based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other aspects of identity remains a pervasive issue globally. In the United States and Europe, the resurgence of far-right movements and the rise of populism have contributed to increased racial and religious discrimination. The global Black Lives Matter movement has brought attention to systemic racism, particularly in law enforcement, and has sparked widespread calls for reform and accountability.

Gender-based violence is another significant concern, with women and girls worldwide facing various forms of abuse, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. In many societies, deeply entrenched patriarchal norms continue to limit women's rights and opportunities, contributing to widespread inequality and injustice. The LGBTQ+ community also faces severe discrimination and violence, particularly in countries where same-sex relationships are criminalized or where social stigma remains strong.

The Role of International Institutions and Civil Society

International organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society play critical roles in advocating for human rights and holding violators accountable. The United Nations, through its various bodies and mechanisms, works to promote and protect human rights globally. However, the effectiveness of these efforts is often hampered by political considerations, lack of enforcement mechanisms, and the principle of state sovereignty.

NGOs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and local human rights organizations are instrumental in documenting abuses, raising awareness, and providing support to victims. These organizations often operate in challenging and dangerous environments, facing threats from governments and non-state actors alike. Despite these obstacles, their work is essential in shining a light on human rights violations and mobilizing global action.

Moving Forward: Challenges and Opportunities

Addressing human rights issues requires a multifaceted approach that involves strengthening legal frameworks, improving accountability mechanisms, and fostering a global culture of respect for human dignity. Governments, international institutions, and civil society must work together to address the root causes of human rights abuses, such as poverty, inequality, and discrimination.

Education and awareness are also crucial in promoting human rights. By fostering a deeper understanding of human rights principles and the importance of protecting them, societies can build stronger, more resilient communities that are better equipped to resist oppression and injustice.

Human rights are under siege in many parts of the world, with millions of people suffering from repression, violence, and discrimination. However, the global community has the tools and the moral obligation to address these issues and work towards a future where all individuals can live with dignity and freedom. By standing in solidarity with those whose rights are violated and advocating for justice and equality, we can help to create a world where human rights are truly universal.

[novumtimes]

U.S. Bans Imports From 3 Chinese Companies Over Ties to Forced Labor

The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday added three Chinese companies to a list of firms whose products can no longer be exported to the United States, as part of what it described as an escalating crackdown on companies that aid in forced labor programs in Xinjiang. The companies include a seafood processor, Shandong Meijia Group, that an investigation by the Outlaw Ocean Project identified as a business employing laborers brought to eastern China from Xinjiang — a far-western region of China where the government has detained and surveilled large numbers of minorities, including Uyghurs. Another firm, Xinjiang Shenhuo Coal and Electricity, is an aluminum processor whose metal can be found in cars, consumer electronics and other products, a U.S. official said. The third, Dongguan Oasis Shoes, brought Uyghurs and people from other persecuted groups to its footwear factory in Guangdong, the U.S. government said. With those additions, 68 companies now appear on the so-called entity list of firms that the U.S. government says participate in forced labor programs, nearly double the number at the beginning of the year. Robert Silvers, an under secretary at the Department of Homeland Security who is chair of a committee overseeing the list, said that the government was accelerating the pace of additions to the list, and that the public should expect that to continue. “We are going to hold companies to account if they engage in forced labor practices,” he said. Industries using cotton and tomatoes were among the first to reckon with links in their supply chains to fields in Xinjiang. But in more recent years, companies making solar panels, flooring, cars, electronics, seafood and other goods have discovered that they, too, use components that were made in Xinjiang. The United States put the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into effect two years ago to ban imports made wholly or partly in Xinjiang. The Chinese government runs programs in the region to transfer groups of local people to factories, fields and mines around Xinjiang and in other parts of China. The authorities say these programs are aimed at alleviating poverty, but human rights experts say they are often coercive. The two-year-old law also created the entity list, a list of companies that U.S. officials have tied to forced labor programs. The government initially did not add many companies to the list despite the reported scope of Xinjiang’s labor programs. Mr. Silvers said the list “absolutely required a ramp-up period.” “We had no procedures, no staff, no rules of the road for doing this work,” he said. He added that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act came with no new funding for the department. “So we have dug deep and pulled resources away from other areas to surge toward this priority area,” he said. Last month, the department announced that 26 companies linked to the apparel and textile industry had been added to the list. It will announce further additions on a rolling basis, as soon as it has evidence that a designation is warranted, Mr. Silvers said. Last month, major automakers saw their products halted at U.S. ports after they were found to be importing a part made by a company tied to forced labor in Xinjiang. Source link via The Novum Times

[mikeo56]

“I am here today to ask the world to witness the situation in Okinawa,” Tamaki told a session of the world body’s Human Rights Council, arguing that the concentration of the military bases there threatens peace.

Tamaki, the first Okinawa governor in eight years to address the council, said, “The reclamation work proceeds despite the fact that it was clearly opposed by Okinawan voters in a democratically held referendum."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silicon Valley, the mass media and the British government seem to be doing everything they can to delegitimize the very serious allegations against Russell Brand by making it abundantly clear to everyone that what they actually care about is his online content, not his accusers. The Google-owned platform YouTube has demonetized Brand’s account, empire propagandists like James Ball of “The only barrier to Julian Assange leaving Ecuador’s embassy is pride” fame are writing screeds attacking Brand’s content, and a British MP with ties to the British army’s psychological warfare division has been writing letters to other social media platforms demanding that Brand be demonetized.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It should be more widely understood that denying the “Uyghur genocide” propaganda narrative is not the same as denying that there was an authoritarian crackdown in Xinjiang. Empire apologists tend to conflate these two points in a motte-and-bailey fallacy wherein the much harder claim to defend (Uyghur genocide) is misrepresented as one and the same as a much easier claim to defend (authoritarian actions in Xinjiang).

That Beijing began implementing a giant police action in Xinjiang in 2014 involving large-scale detention of certain Uyghurs in reeducation camps is not seriously debated, and is not denied by Beijing. What’s denied is that any of this was done with the intention — or the effect of — eliminating or diminishing the Uyghur people or their culture. There is simply no basis for that claim, and mountains of evidence to the contrary.

These reeducation camps have been spun by western propagandists as concentration camps and extermination camps in a ham-fisted effort to frame Xi Jinping as another Adolf Hitler, when in reality they really were re-education camps in the literal sense of the term. They were facilities designed to indoctrinate/de-indoctrinate Uyghurs believed to have become radicalized into an ideology that had plunged Xinjiang into violence and chaos and threatened to tear apart the PRC. By all accounts — including by the western press — these facilities were decommissioned around 2019–2020.

This was all covered in a recent report by two prominent German sinologists which didn’t get enough attention. Were there abuses in Xinjiang? It’s hard to imagine how there wouldn’t have been in a sweeping police action involving large-scale involuntary detainment. You can criticize Beijing for those abuses all you want, but what you can’t do is legitimately call it anything like genocide.

When Uyghur separatist groups began inflicting acts of terror with the goal of driving the Chinese government out of Xinjiang and creating their own state, Beijing had essentially three choices:

To engage in a US-style campaign of mass military slaughter against these groups until they were defeated,

To allow a violent uprising of what would inevitably become western-backed jihadists as they had just seen happen in Libya and Syria carve away a massive and geostrategically crucial part of China to be exploited by the US and its allies, or

To find some alternative to 1 and 2.

Beijing went with option number three, and the alternative it found was the aggressive deradicalization campaign it ended up implementing and the re-education facilities it has been so widely criticized for.

[blogynews]

"The Unveiling of a Mysterious Destiny: Inside Rahile Dawut's Shocking Journey from Uyghur Intellectual to Life Imprisonment in China"

Prominent Uyghur academic Rahile Dawut, who disappeared seven years ago during the Chinese government’s crackdown in Xinjiang, has been sentenced to life in prison, according to a statement from California-based human rights group Dui Hua. The group reported on Thursday that Dawut, who is now 57 years old, lost an appeal of her 2018 conviction on charges of endangering state security by promoting…

[blogynewz]

"The Unveiling of a Mysterious Destiny: Inside Rahile Dawut's Shocking Journey from Uyghur Intellectual to Life Imprisonment in China"

Prominent Uyghur academic Rahile Dawut, who disappeared seven years ago during the Chinese government’s crackdown in Xinjiang, has been sentenced to life in prison, according to a statement from California-based human rights group Dui Hua. The group reported on Thursday that Dawut, who is now 57 years old, lost an appeal of her 2018 conviction on charges of endangering state security by promoting…

[beardedmrbean]

The Belgian far-right party Vlaams Belang on Friday expelled former senator Frank Creyelman over accusations he was recruited by China to spy on Europe.

Tom Van Grieken, the party’s chair, announced Creyelman’s immediate expulsion on X saying: “His actions go against the purpose and essence, even the name, of our party.” He added: “The only loyalty for nationalists can only be to their own nation.”

The move follows an explosive investigation published by the Financial Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde detailing how China’s spy agency allegedly used Creyelman over the course of three years to influence discussions in Europe on issues ranging from China’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong to its persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

“I take that very seriously,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told journalists when asked about the report as he arrived at a European Council summit in Brussels. “That would actually mean that some people are sabotaging our prosperity, our security, our democracy from within, from a party that sits in our country’s parliament, in the senate … A senator from Vlaams Belang being on the front page of the Financial Times — the whole world has seen that.”

De Croo added: “It shows that the extreme right is quite dangerous for our society.”

The allegations against Creyelman include documented text messages he exchanged with a Chinese spy agency officer, Daniel Woo, between 2019 and 2022. In one example, the reports detail that in late 2022, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was about to visit China, Woo asked Creyelman to convince two right-wing members of the European Parliament to push the idea that the U.S. and U.K. were undermining European energy security. Woo allegedly told Creyelman in a text message: “Our purpose is to divide the US-European relationship.”

The former Vlaams Belang party member served in the Flemish parliament until 2014. Before that he was a member of the Belgian senate.

Creyelman did not provide comment to the publications regarding the allegations.

[blogynewsz]

"The Unveiling of a Mysterious Destiny: Inside Rahile Dawut's Shocking Journey from Uyghur Intellectual to Life Imprisonment in China"

Prominent Uyghur academic Rahile Dawut, who disappeared seven years ago during the Chinese government’s crackdown in Xinjiang, has been sentenced to life in prison, according to a statement from California-based human rights group Dui Hua. The group reported on Thursday that Dawut, who is now 57 years old, lost an appeal of her 2018 conviction on charges of endangering state security by promoting…

[garudabluffs]

Memoir tells of author's personal experience of the repression of China's Uyghurs February 23, 2023

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Uyghur-American author Gulchehra Hoja about her memoir of Uyghur exile, hope and survival. It's titled: A Stone Is Most Precious Where It Belongs.

7-Minute Listen READ MORE Transcript https://www.npr.org/2023/02/23/1158935146/memoir-tells-of-authors-personal-experience-of-the-repression-of-chinas-uyghurs

A Stone Is Most Precious Where It Belongs by Gulchehra Hoja review – a powerful testament of Uyghur persecution

Once the glamorous face of her people on Chinese state TV, the author now lives in the shadow of a superpower’s revenge

Uighur journalist Gulchehra Hoja: 'I have my own sad story to tell ...

READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/08/a-stone-is-most-precious-where-it-belongs-by-gulchehra-hoja-review-a-powerful-testament-of-uyghur-persecution

How a kids’ TV star ended up on China’s most wanted list

Released On: 23 Feb 2023 Available for over a year

"In the 1990s Gulchehra Hoja was a popular face on Chinese TV, the star of the country’s first Uyghur-language kids' show. But as the Chinese authorities began a crackdown on Uyghur culture, Gulchehra had to toe the party line. She felt her TV show was being used to promote government policies that were making life hard for her people. Gulchehra found a way out – moving to the US and becoming a journalist. But it would mean saying goodbye to her family, possibly forever. And it would make her an enemy of the Chinese state. Gulchehra has written a book called "A Stone is Most Precious Where it Belongs."

LISTEN 44:00 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct34xd