I have written about western “anti-imperialist/colonialist” social media influencers who have been quick to condemn western imperialism and colonialism, and rightfully so, yet parrot the Chinese government’s propaganda when “debunking” what’s going on in East Turkistan (Xinjiang). Unfortunately, these social media influencers have led to a large amount of self-identified leftists in western countries to be skeptical, or outright deny, the human rights violations Uyghurs are suffering from. As previously discussed, it’s logical to not believe everything pushed out by the U.S. war machine and its media. Western media downplays and even sometimes outright denies the genocide of Palestinians committed by the Zionist state, who has been occupying Palestine since the 1940s. However, to be against oppression and colonialism from one perpetrator, but not another, is inconsistent and contradictive. Furthermore, the evidence of oppression in East Turkistan is overwhelming. We’ve been given testimonies, arrest records, police reports, police notes, maps, photos, videos, interviews, tours, and phone records, but unfortunately that is still not enough for the skeptics. Since it is apparently not enough, let us focus on the evidence given to us by China of crimes against humanity perpetuated against Uyghurs.
Let us start with China’s reasoning for their actions. After 9/11, China decided to strengthen its anti-terrorism efforts in East Turkistan and did this with the United States’ blessing. The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) was one of the Uyghur separatist movements that was allegedly affiliated with the al Qaeda (no evidence), and the U.S. government mimicked China by designating the ETIM as a terrorist organization in 2003 and had even placed 22 Uyghur separatists in Guantanamo Bay in 2002. Over the years, there was a string of terrorist attacks in East Turkistan by Uyghurs (many of which were state-orchestrated). To this day, China still defends its actions as counterterrorism efforts, but their efforts have become ethically concerning at the very least. The mass detention for “re-education” purposes based on their ethnicity and “potential” to do something sounds very similar to one of the many dark moments in U.S. history, Japanese internment camps during World War II. The mass detention of Japanese Americans to “curb potential Japanese espionage”, a measure taken that should have never happened. Daniel Dumbrill, a western social media influencer living in China that “debunks” the human rights violations in East Turkistan, has even admitted himself that he believes these camps are not voluntary and that there have been detainees in these camps that “probably shouldn’t have been there”. His defense for China’s actions were “Based on what they were facing in Xinjiang, what else were they supposed to do?” Contrary to what the Chinese government believes, the actions and beliefs of a few do not represent an entire ethnicity. Collective punishment is never the answer when you are violating the rights of innocent people.
To show the world that there is “nothing wrong” going on in these camps, China has allowed multiple media outlets to tour their “vocational training centers.” It is hard to believe that something advertised as voluntary is not forced when China has shown us pervasive surveillance cameras all around East Turkistan and armed guards standing outside high barbed wire walls/fences around these facilities. We have even seen pictures of the detainees in handcuffs that are required to wear uniforms. From the videos of these tours, we see very grim conditions where the attendees are required to sleep. Bunk beds with zero privacy, with up to 10 people in a small room sharing one toilet. Reminder, a vast majority of these people have committed no crime and did not have a trial. When interviewed by the BBC, Zhang Zhiseng (who was representing the Xinjiang Foreign Affairs Office) said they can determine who is going to commit a crime before they do it based off signs shown, then asked, “Should we wait for them to commit the crime?” So, Chinese officials tell us themselves they are sending people to the camps that have not committed acts of terrorism, but as what can be deemed as potential terrorists.
Lastly, one talking point used by those who deny the human rights violations is the population growth data of Uyghur in East Turkistan over the years presented by China, but the authenticity of the data has been questioned by many. What China attempts to cover up when presenting the alleged increase from 2010 to 2020 is the massive drop off in Uyghur population from 2017 to 2020. Another important fact that propagandists coincidentally leave out is during China’s One Child Policy, the policy did not apply to ethnic minorities. As previously noted, we are presented with overwhelming evidence of human rights violations that Uyghur are experiencing under the orders of the Communist Party of China. Is defending forced re-education camps, with the evidence of mass detainment of people who have committed no crime, really the hill that Western leftists are willing to die on?
Sources:
Inside China's 'thought transformation' camps - BBC News (youtube.com)
How China hijacked the war on terror - POLITICO
10 Little Known Facts About China's One-Child Policy - WorldAtlas