Op-Ed: China on Path to Genocide with Persecution of Uyghur Minority Group
By Fiona Burton '23
Imagine you are forced to leave your home. Your family. Your friends. Forced to leave everything that is most important to you. You are moved to a building where you are treated as though you are stupid and need re-educating, as though you don’t know how to live. People you know are disappearing by the day. There are stories circulating about torture and murder. Will you be the next to go? You haven’t done anything wrong; in fact, you’re completely innocent. That doesn’t matter to the government, though. To them the only thing that matters is that you’re different. To them you are not human.
This is what it means to be a Uyghur Muslim in China.
Who are the Uyghurs?
The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group living mainly in Xinjiang, China. Other Uyghur populations can be found in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Australia. The majority of the Uyghur population speaks Uyghur - a language derived from a dialect spoken in Russia in the early 20th century. The Xinjiang region is located in northwestern China and is largely known for its agriculture and trade - certain towns in Xinjiang benefited from the Silk Road. It is also known for having the largest production of natural gas in China. Xinjiang was formerly known as East Turkestan. Over the past few years, up to a million Uyghurs have been detained by the Chinese government in hundreds of internment camps (the existence of these camps was denied by the government until footage was leaked clearly showing the camps. Since then, the Chinese government has claimed that the camps are essential for non-violent societies implying that the Uyghur population was bringing harm upon China). This is on top of China’s continuing oppression and denial of the Uyghur population’s human rights.
Image Credit: CNN
Timeline of Xinjiang and Uyghur Persecution
1864: East Turkestan gains independence from Manchu China
1876: Manchus invade East Turkestan and engage in an eight year long war
1884: Manchus annex East Turkestan and rename it Xinjiang
1911: Manchu Empire overthrown by Chinese Nationalists
1933-1949: Under the rule of Chinese warlords, the Uyghur population succeeded in forming two short lived governments - the First and Second East Turkestan Republics
1949: People’s Liberation Army (Communist Party of China) takes over East Turkestan and renames it the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
2008: Uyghurs protest before the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics using the international presence in China to shed light on the government’s oppression of ethnic minority groups - this was followed by further oppression
2013: A Uyghur drives a car through the crowded Tiananmen square under orders from the Turkistan Islamic Party - this is later used as justification for “re-educating” Uyghurs
2014:
A group of members of a Uyghur separatists group (according to the Chinese government) orchestrated a knife attack in a train station killing 29 people and wounding more than 100 - this event is used as justification for “re-educating” Uyghurs
Students at a university in Xinjiang are banned from fasting for the holy month of Ramadan - similar events have happened where the government has also banned going to mosques
2017:
Concern arises over China’s construction of 85 internment camps in Xinjiang, but government denies existence of camps
Government prohibits homeschooling, women from wearing veils, and men from growing beards
Mosques are destroyed
Extreme surveillance crackdown takes place in Xinjiang - GPS trackers are required in Uyghur cars, checkpoints for IDs, and facial recognition devices
Officials state that surveillance is necessary for the prevention of violence
2018:
Gay McDougall of the UN Human Rights Committee states that the Chinese government has “turned the Uighur autonomous region into something that resembles a massive internment camp”
2019:
22 countries, not including the United States, send a letter to UN Human Rights Council with concern about China’s violation of human rights
One day later, 37 countries, including some of Muslim majority, send letter to UN Human Rights Council praising China for its management of human rights
2020:
More footage of camps is leaked and 400 internment camps are identified complete with barbed wire fences and watch towers
Reports of torture, murder, forced sterilizations and abortions, sexual assaults, and rape, among other offenses, circulate
Donald Trump tells Chinese president Xi Jinping to “go ahead with building the camps," and that the camps were "exactly the right thing to do."
Chinese government claims that the camps are “re-education camps”
Disney is criticized for filming ‘Mulan’ in Xinjiang
Major brands are discovered to be using forced Uyghur labor including Adidas, Nike, and Calvin Klein
So does this mass persecution in China qualify as genocide? Genocide is the mass deliberate murder of a group of people on the basis of the group’s race, religion, ethnicity, or another defining characteristic. When a person/country commits genocide their goal is to completely destroy an entire group.
Ten Stages of Genocide
There are 10 stages of genocide:
Classification - groups in societies are classified by race, ethnicity, religion etc. Society becomes a distinction of “us and them.” For example, during the Holocaust, Germany was divided into “Germans” and “Jews.”
Symbolization - Names are given to the groups in societies often with some sort of symbol to distinguish them. In the Holocaust this was calling Jewish peope “Jews” and forcing them to wear yellow stars.
Discrimination - Rights are taken away from a group in society. These rights may include, but are not limited to, denying members of a group citizenship, voting rights and civic rights. In the Holocaust, the Nuremberg Laws denied citizenship and governmental employment to Jewish people.
Dehumanization - The perpetrators “deny the humanity” of the victimized group. Hate messages will be broadcasted on TV, social media platforms, and, in some cases, school textbooks. When a nation/society reaches this stage, serious preventative measures must be taken. A nation/society in this stage is gearing up for genocide.
Organization - Plans are made to commit genocide. Militias and other groups meant to murder and torture the victimized group are created. In the Holocaust, this stage included the creation of the Nazi party, specifically designed to persecute Jewish populations.
Polarization - Violence breaks out and extremist groups drive society apart. Laws are passed that establish the victimized group entirely under the persectors’ rule. Laws may also be passed that prohibit intermarriage between the polarized groups.
Preparation - The perpetrators prepare to exterminate the victimized group by gathering troops, militia, and other forms of deadly technology. At this point, the perpetrators usually justify their actions by claiming that the only “solution” to “counterterrorism,” or “ethnic cleansing” is to exterminate the victimized group.
Persecution - Unjustified murders, torture, and separation into ghettos and concentration camps begin. Children are taken away from parents, massacres take place, and persecutors force sterilizations and abortions. At this stage, the United Nations Genocide Convention can categorize the actions of the perpetrators as genocide.
Extermination - Mass murder, torture, and assault against the victimized group takes place. Plans for complete extermination are carried out.
Denial - This stage follows every genocide even for decades after. The nation/society that committed the genocide attempts to cover up evidence of the mass extermination and denies that the genocide happened in the first place.
Genocide Watch has currently placed China in stage 7, preparation. This means that the Chinese government is preparing to exterminate the Uyghur population.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Why You Should Care
It may be difficult to think about international issues right now with so much happening in the United States. However, this is something you should care about. It is up to the international community to make sure that more than a million, innocent people do not get murdered. Imagine you are in the place of the Uyghurs. How do you feel? No one in the world should have to feel like that.
How to Help
Take a look at this list of companies. Do you use any of them? Some of these companies have already been called out , but you can ensure that they do not use forced Uyghur labor by continuing to bring attention to them on social media, or by boycotting their brands.
Contact CT senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and tell them how important it is that the Senate condemn China on their extreme human rights violations and genocide agaisnt the Uyghurs. You can find the contact information of the CT senators here.
The 2022 Winter Olympics are set to take place in Bejing amidst the genocide and mass human rights violations against the Uyghurs. Letting the Chinese government know that the genocide being comitted is not supported by the international community is important. Click here for the petition and for more information.
More resources:
More background information (BBC): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037
Tension between Uyghurs and the Chinese government (PBS Newshour): https://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/uighurs/
Trump’s Response to the crisis (NY Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/us/politics/trump-uighurs-china-trade.html
Response to the genocide (National Review): https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2020/09/21/the-uyghur-genocide/
Chinese government and the United Nations (Human Rights Watch): https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/11/01/chinese-diplomats-try-using-un-shield-xinjiang-crimes
The president of China’s denial of the genocide (Human Rights Watch): https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/01/who-happy-xinjiang
