This is a copy of a Threadreader page about the Uighur oppression and concentration camps by @thecoleslaws, from 2021. Sadly, some links disappeared, some graphics are no longer available. @Sandra@idiomdrottning.org posted it on fedi and said that she had been looking for it for a while. Better make a backup…
Threadreader page about the Uighur oppression and concentration camps
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Thread of sources on Uyghurs oppression and concentration camps that cannot, by any sane person at least, be called western propaganda:
This continues to be an important piece considering it comes out of a large Marxist-Leninist party in the colonized world and challenges Marxist Leninists to actually be materialists here: cpiml.net/liberation/202…
A powerful piece by Chinese communists on Uyghur oppression including discussion of the capitalist and settler colonial economic basis of the “People’s war on terror” chuangcn.org/journal/two/sp…
Connected to that last piece this book is helpful to understand the capitalist developmental logics of empire going back at least to the 16th century: sup.org/books/title/?i…
From a historian of modern China and shared by decolonial leftists in Hong Kong analyzing the connections between the the Uyghur camps and global imperial and capitalist systems: lausan.hk/2020/camps-in-…
Shared by Chuang this is a powerful piece by @dtbyler framing what apologists use to justify the camps as a reaction to and turning point in an ongoing colonial process using the perspectives of Uyghur, Han, and Kazakh people who were there: chuangcn.org/2019/07/requie…
Now I will share pieces that share the chinese states own language and reports on the subject or witch complicate the narrative of who is benefiting from these camps (and talking about them) as presented by apologists.
Here is a chinese state official favorably comparing their policies to Trump’s Muslim ban: aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/12…
Leaked data on detentions (which the Chinese state has not challenged the legitimacy of) which used “ordinary activities such as praying, attending a mosque, or even growing a long beard” as cause for detention: apnews.com/article/890b79…
Although “re-education” is frequently used by apologists if you actually read what the state says about it it is chilling (also includes discussion of the “strike hard against terror” campaign of the Chinese state): reuters.com/article/us-chi…
Here is an incredibly eugenicist graph from the Chinese state tracking The birthdate in Xinjiang compared to “voluntary” IUDs
Here is the chinese state celebrating the drop in birthrate in not even slightly vague eugenics: Tweet no longer available
On the involvement of Blackwater and Erik Prince (a private military contractor closely associated with the CIA and US war on terror) in the Xinjiang camps: reuters.com/article/us-chi…
From the first link in the thread but worth specifically highlighting. Despite the recent backlash against western brands for making statements against forced labor, those brands are in fact profiting from it:
The White Paper refers repeatedly to “transfer employment”
as a job policy for the Xinjiang region: it speaks of
“implementing the plan of transfer employment for 100,000
laborers in southern Xinjiang in three years (2018-2020)”;
“having realized the transfer employment of 75,000 people”;
and “transferring 8.305 million surplus rural labourers for
employment in Xinjiang from 2016 to 2018.” What exactly
does “transfer employment” mean? Do the labourers have
any choice in the matter of where they choose to work, and
whether or not they would like to “transfer”? There have been
reports of China relocating thousands of Uyghurs from
Xinjiang in western China to factories across the country
where they work “under conditions that strongly suggest
forced labour,” producing for a variety of global brands
including Apple, Nike, Amazon, Samsung, Zara, H&M,
Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, and Uniqlo.
Is this policy of “transfer employment” forced labour? This
question can only be decided by the Uighur workers
themselves, if they could answer in an environment free of
fear of loss of liberty. All we can say, based on the official
documents and statements of the Chinese State, is that such
an environment certainly does not exist.
Here is an analysis of Chine State population data in Xinjiang that shows not only an incredibly stark drop in birth rate but a literal decline of minority populations along with an increase in the Han population:
I hadn't realized that the 2020 Chinese government's statistical yearbook is out. The new data makes the case for extreme sterilization even stronger.
The birth rate in Xinjiang was 15.88% in 2017, 10.69% in 2018, and only 8.14% in 2019. This is a nearly 50% drop in two years.
– @arachno_commie
Source for that data, very notably there was consistent population growth at a high rate until the year the camps are formed.
stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2020… [data no longer available] here's the one for the 2019 data. Go to 2-8 and 25-17 for the data I refer to in this thread. Replace 2020 in the url with whatever year you want for different year's data (2019 for 2018's data, 2018 for 2017's data, so on)
– @arachno_commie
Now this data is important because recently a tankie doctor on here convinced people it disproves genocide, but let’s look at it. It shows consistent increase until the data cuts off (around when camps start), minority pop (which includes other groups) then shrinks in that time: [images are no longer available]
This data also comes from the chinese state’s Xinjiang Statistical Yearbook’s chinayearbooks.com/tags/xinjiang-…
chinayearbooks.com/tags/xinjiang-…
An interview with Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in which he mentions that they detain people only suspected of minor criminal offenses but may exempt them from punishment in favor of labor (remember for whom) xinhuanet.com/english/2018-1…
In practice, when dealing with those who have been instigated, coerced, or lured into terrorist or extremist activities, or people
who only committed minor offenses when involved in terrorist and extremist activities, Xinjiang combines punishment with
leniency and gives prominence to their rehabilitation and redemption in accordance with the Criminal Law, the Criminal
Procedure Law, the Anti-Terrorism Law and other relevant laws and regulations. *As for most people who are influenced by
terrorism and extremism, those suspected of minor criminal offenses but do not have to be subject to penalties or can be
exempted from criminal punishment, Xinjiang has provided them with free vocational training through vocational education*
institutions to improve their ability in commanding the country's common language, acquiring legal knowledge and vocational
skills, among others. In that way, Xinjiang can better guard against the infiltration of terrorism and extremism. The detailed
procedures include, on the premise that training goals, methods, program completion standards and testing methods are
clearly identified, that vocational training institutions sign an agreement with the trainees. The institutions will then conduct the
free programs through various forms such as collective courses, boarding schools and hands-on training. The trainees will be
issued certificates of completion after they meet the required standards.
This is one of the best critiques of the movement in which denialism circulates in the west (examples for Canada but certainly just as applicable south of the border) written by Vincent Wong of Lausan briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/…
briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/…
Here is an article summarizing a book about the chinese state encouraging the US to classify a Uyghur group that didn’t even really exist a terrorist organization in exchange for supporting the war on terror: foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/10/why…
foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/10/why…
Another article published by Lausan focusing on the ways chinese policy in Xinjiang relates to, draws on, and builds on US, British, and Israeli counter insurgency strategy and technology: lausan.hk/2020/chinas-xi…
An article by a Kashmiri poet and academic living in diaspora reflecting on the similarities of Indian oppression of Kashmiris with Chinese oppression of Uyghurs. She explicitly argues against using colonial histories to justify colonial policy: madeinchinajournal.com/2020/10/05/chi…
madeinchinajournal.com/2020/10/05/chi…
Published by @newbloommag which published radical perspectives on Taiwan and the broader Asia pacific by @brianhioe on China’s use of the American war on terror to justify its Uyghur policy: newbloommag.net/2017/03/14/chi…
newbloommag.net/2017/03/14/chi…
Another good piece from the same author again comparing US and Chinese policy this time the similarity in terms of involuntary sterilization in ICE camps and the Chinese actions in Xinjiang newbloommag.net/2020/10/30/ice…
newbloommag.net/2020/10/30/ice…
Collection of video testimonials of Uyghurs who were detained or otherwise victimized read by volunteers: youtube.com/channel/UCxtHB…
And the Xinjiang Victims Database @shahitbiz has compiled a primary evidence report based on eyewitness testimony: shahit.biz/primrep.php
Here is another source on Uyghur’s discussing their own oppression this time in a clubhouse group which until it was shutdown had thousands of members and was moderated by Uyghurs themselves. It’s been closed by the state but the record remains: supchina.com/2021/03/03/tru…
Feels worth adding although the focus is somewhat different. The US state has no actual interest in solidarity with Uyghurs and treats Uyghur refugees as badly as any other group of refugees (with the added surveillance all Muslims here face): prospect.org/world/after-ui…
According to the Palestinian center for Policy and survey research in September 2020 “83% of the public believe that Palestinians should be in solidarity with the Uighur
Muslims against the Chinese government” pcpsr.org/sites/default/…
Here is a source that uses google earth image to track mosque destruction in Xinjiang (includes pictures). The research is by a Uyghur man who’s father was detained in the camps and hosted on a site run by a Uyghur in diaspora uyghurism.com/culturalgenoci…
Uyghurs Autonomous Region. China demolished Mosques and built the
camps at the same time. My estimation is, about 30% of Mosques
(about 5000, same as RFA's estimation) were copmletely demolished.
80% of domes and towers were demolished/removed from Mosques and
other architecture in XUAR.
#China #Uyghurs
