#but also something i've noticed by virtue of just going to different congresses

[al-mayriti]

i just finished writing this paper and i went to the email they sent me with the instructions to see the word limit and adjust mine, and it said it's 8k. i have 9k BUT if i don't count footnotes it goes down to 7,5K !!!!!

i have no idea if the 8k includes notes or not but i'm gonna submit it like it is lmao

[thisblackwitch]

I've been noticing a couple tumblrs that don't cross-pollinate and are very different basically both say some version of "Uighurs aren't suffering, these are lies to make China look bad. China is an awesome nation, you just love the West too much to see it." In really short time of one another. One even said it wasn't documented or if it is documented, it's from groups they paint as problematic or "why listen to them? They support [whatever you don't like]". And good ol' "I can talk to them on RedNote/Douyin/[random app from China du jour]! They're fine" (I have a good feeling they weren't talking in Uighur and, bro, it's on apps where you can't post a candle emoji on June 4 - even if it is someone's birthday - so you might need to think about that.) So, a catch-22, in other words.

One, you can like a country and that country can still do horrible stuff. Lots of you guys idolize and/or like nations like the UK, the US, and Japan. The world is complex, deal with it.

Two, the issues around Uighurs is fairly well documented - by Uighurs themselves, such as the Uighur Human Rights Project (uhrp.org) and World Uyghur Congress (UyghurCongress.org). Even Holocaust museums (inb4 you go "Boo Israel", I'm discussing the German holocaust. Regardless how you feel about Israel, learn to unyoke messed up governments from incidents persecuting marginalized people - also, more than Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust. The disabled were the first victims - to test if anyone will make a noise about it, they didn't - and so were queer people, Black people (I'm a Black disabled queer person, hi!), etc etc.), even those museums have invited on Uighur people to discuss what is going on and their experiences

Three, marginalized people are not going to run PR packages. Part of why some of you see pro Palestine stuff is purely driven by anti-semetic hate since it's an awesome coat rack argument. Because, whoo, a good chunk of you were quiet af in years prior. Palestine has been under siege since 1948 (actually, it wasn't all candy and chocolate before that but you get my drift) and it all reminds me of 2014 but more garrish and louder this time and a bit more "f#ck Judaism" (despite the fact Palestinians can be Jewish - or any religion, including "lackthereof") undertone in it this time. It rings very "Palestine as a fandom"/performative activism. Also, at one point, the exact same "Palestinians aren't suffering, where is the footage? Do you really want me to believe that Israel would harm another nation and their people? Don't you know what they've been through!?" was said and oh look. I'm Black, just because I can post and talk to others doesn't mean anti-Black racism doesn't exist in my country (or your country, or in any country). Just because I'm not wall to wall wailing about whatever bomb reel you think I need to include to make my experience feel authentic, doesn't make it real. People from Sudan and Congo aren't getting a PR blitz but they're going through the wringer also. Same with Uighurs. And they're based in a country where just protesting with a blank sheet of paper or a plain bridge protest is met with major force from the government. Heck, a good lot of you guys think Black people lie when we talk about our issues and only "care" (performatively, not realistically) when one of us is brutally murdered in 4k and that murder still has to go viral before someone will say "whatever, I'll post a black square or something" and then go pretend they care about the plight of Black folks for virtue signaling reasons. You shouldn't need a pr package to believe a group of marginalized people and yes, a country can easily hurt its own citizens systemically - or worse. Even the nations that you like.

TL;DR:

Propaganda is a great song by Muse but it is a really bad thing to fall into. Use your sense and learn media critique/media literacy. Or just play a simple thought game with yourself called "consider the source"