This article is obviously a qualified piece of fictional literature. After all, articles that can be made up from the first sentence to the end are really rare. The Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim Turkic group ？Come on，The Turkic genes of the Uighurs account for only 4.5%. It’s not so much blood related to the Turks, but the descendants of the Huns.Xinjiang has incorporated into the territory of the Qing Dynasty-China hundreds of years ago. Only some Europeans who have no knowledge of Chinese history will always believe this.
7
Thank you for this well-written and heartbreaking story.
1
Ms Topol: Just getting around to thank you for a superbly written and very illuminating and moving article. With it you have painted a vivid picture of what's it's like right now to live in China within the Uighur community.
The international community should be doing more to shame and discourage China's leaders from continuing this shameful practice.
3
What about the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- didn't China endorse that by joining the UN? It includes: 1. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status ....1 . In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin.... 1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.
2
Thank you for this moving story.
5
It is difficult to continue to love the Chinese when one sees with one's own eyes the oppression in Xinjiang.
5
thank you for giving flesh and voice to such a harrowing constellation of experiences.
12
Please translate this into Chinese so I can share it with Chinese friends. Thanks.
29
Looks like there is a bit of name confusion here:
"But Humar’s mother, Zohre Talip, was a member of the Communist Party, and in their stridently loyal family, the topic of Uighur independence never came up.
Zohre [should be Zumret?] and Humar’s father, Isaq Peyzul, worked at the Hami city newspaper. When Zohre took her daughter to the office [Do both Zohre and Isaq work for the paper?], Humar watched Uighur staff carefully typeset the Uighur alphabet, a modified Arabic script, to produce the Uighur edition, which carried mostly translations of articles written by Han journalists. It was the mid-1990s, and while the Han edition’s office had computers, the Uighurs still used a printing press. Zohre corrected the proofs by hand with a red pencil. At the time, Humar didn’t quite grasp the inequality represented by the clanky, nifty machine. ... "
@Typos Zohre and Zumret are two different persons, Zohre being the mother of Humar and Zumret, Zumret being the younger one.
6
I will not just look away.
7
What a thorough and illuminating article, depicting the latest Chinese totalitarian horror so compellingly through the experiences of one Uighur family. Let us not forget that even before Emperor Xi imposed his ultimate tyranny, realizing Orwell's worst fears, and exemplified by his treatment of Uighurs and many Kazakhs, the Chinese government had effectively extinguished the peaceable Falun Gong community commencing in late 1999: imprisoning hundreds of thousands of practitioners, judicially and extra-judicially murdering thousands, and, on good report, using tens of thousands of Falun Gong "convicts" for organ harvesting. The world's response: a shrug.
This is a dark time when Chinese and Russian (and, too often, American) presence on the Security Council means that little will be done, everyone has something parochial to worry about, and our fearless leader identifies with the most thuggish of the world's despots.
25
We must confront our own cruelty under the Trump regime. Detention camps for toddlers are being run in the name of the American people. The children were forcibly removed from their families and interned there because they are not Euro-Caucasians. Trump's transparent admiration of Xi and Putin are disturbingly reminiscent of Mussolini's admiration of Hitler.
33
@Nigeala Nigrath I'm reading Victor Klemperer's Diary "I Will Bear Witness." It begins in the early 1930s in Germany, when Hitler was embarking on policies that Trump's now busily imitating.
The parallels with China are striking. Klemperer frequently remarks that his country, his nationality, his history as a German--it was all being torn from his arms and heart. The Fascists had decided that only Aryans counted... Just as Trumpists believe only white Christians count... just as so many Chinese believe only the Hans count.
What humans inflict on one another is appalling. Under Obama, my faith in America was renewed, and I even had hope for many other nations. I veer between rejoicing that I'm elderly and worrying about my grandchildren. Everyone's grandchildren.
7
Can China’s brutal actions be rationalized by calling this “re-education”? Doubtful. Call China’s actions what it is — that is, numbing subjugation of an ethnic or religious minority, no different than Russia’s gulag internment camps or Germany’s concentration camps. Is this the progress of tolerance we should expect from a 21st century China? Definitely not. China is the epitome of 1984 and all the trappings of oppression and cruelty.
21
@Martina - You are correct that China's treatment of the Uighurs and other minorities is an appalling "subjugation of an ethnic or religious minority-", however it cannot be compared to the plight of Jews under Nazi rule, and any attempt to do so is both inaccurate and morally deficient. While the Chinese clearly want to "Han-ize" minorities and are more than willing to imprison and kill to do so, they have not committed to physically extinguishing every Uighur on earth.
Nazis would never have let the parents or anyone else leave the camp, much less restore them (however battered) to their former status; they would have been gassed to death shortly after arrival. Almost no Jew survived being taken by the Nazis; the only reason any Jews survived at all was because the war ended before the Germans had the chance to murder us all. Appalling treatment and the attempt to wipe out or minimize Uighur culture, bad as it is, has no comparison to state-sanctioned genocide. That shouldn't be difficult for people, especially educated people, to understand.
5
Being victims to racial persecution is not a competition.
Uighurs are being locked up, tortured and raped and killed in millions specifically for no other reasons than race. The idea that only when people are being gassed in bulk can it be compared to the dark history of Jewish genocide is not only childishly ridiculous, but also a direct rejection of Never Again.
5
A powerful heartbreaking story. Thanks to the writer for telling it and to the young Humar for letting it be told.
27
The Chinese government has obliterated Tibetan culture, will soon send in the army to kill thousands and crush Hong Kong once and for all, and is working to commit genocide on its Uighur population. Then Taiwan will be next.
As in the 1930s, a brutal dictatorship uses threats, force and mass murder to threaten its citizens and neighbors as the world stands by and hopes it will stop of its own accord. It won't.
18
Articles like this is why real solid journalism is so very important in our world. The Chinese officially deny what is happening. Our lover of dictators POTUS thinks he is great friends with Xi Jinping whose government plans and maintains such repression and abuse.
Sadly, there is not a lot ordinary citizens of the free world can practically do about the fate of the Uighur. What we can do, though, is tell their story. We can also continue to be aware that such things really do happen over and over in our world and speak against the tribalism an, indeed, some breeds of nationalism, which often under gird abuse and oppression of minority populations whether ethnic, racial or religious.
28
Kudos to the author for the extraneous reference to US treatment of "undocumented" immigration as being similar to the Chinese treatment of its citizens, demonstrating that the spirit of "1984" is alive and well in the NYT.
5
Cruelty is cruelty. And the cruel and immoral actions we have allowed at our border are shameful for our nation and for ourselves. The analogy was apt. Wake
26
This report is sad, thoughtful and, after all, so important. A reminder when politicians abuse their power and can do it with impunity as their party fails in control.
13
And how is different than being a black in Alabama in the Jim Crow era.
13
1984
It's not science fiction.
13
"... he did translating and editing for the Mandarin version of The New York Times."
FYI: Mandarin is the name of a spoken-only language and Chinese is the name of a written-only language. If you are referring to a written work and not a spoken work then the language would be Chinese. There is no such thing as writing in Mandarin or speaking in Chinese.
4
@Polaris Well that's the really important thing to take away from this article, isn't it?
5
@Polaris There is however a difference between the written Chinese of the PRC (the mainland) and the written Chinese of Taiwan. At some point in recent history the mainland adopted a "simplified" system. The more elaborate characters still used in Taiwan are referred to, by the Taiwanese people I know, as "traditional." Perhaps the author - or maybe the NYT itself - used the word Mandarin to draw that distinction.
2
@Polaris I think it might be more accurate to call standard formal written language "standard written Chinese". In informal contexts, people can and do write using Cantonese word order (as opposed to Mandarin word order) and certain characters special to Cantonese; they could be said to be using "vernacular written Cantonese". In some sense, standard written Chinese is actually written Mandarin; when Cantonese speakers write in standard Chinese they are writing in Mandarin rather than in Cantonese.
1
With the coronavirus spreading throughout China, I would be especially worried about all the people in these detention camps. They are treated in such a way that their disease resistance is low; their immune systems are weak. And of course, the Han Chinese in charge would give them last priority in receiving treatment.
Many of my Asian friends tell me that as far as racism is concerned, many people in Asian Countries are more racist than whites in America. Racist sentiments make it easier to sell what you are doing to your own population.
18
Shame on the Chinese Communists for their oppression and persecution of the Uyghurs, as well as the Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Christians and dissidents. Freedom for Tibet and Xinjiang.
18
Politicians in the US and elsewhere need to stop beating about the bush when it comes to China. China has perfected the police state and its treatment of its citizens deserves world condemnation. What Xi and his Communist Party are doing is no secret despite their attempts to hide their actions. China also uses its trade power to force other nations to do their bidding, such as using Huawei 5G equipment. And liberals in the US condemn Trump for his actions in the Ukraine? Compared to Xi, Trump is above reproach.
8
Not above reproach, children in cages?
13
Trump is directly comparable to Xi Jinping. They both pursue reversals of progressive movement and genocidal policies. They both foment and amplify cultural cowardice. They're both busy creating harmful and degrading situations. Trump is worse than reproachable - just like Xi.
11
@Mike F.
Huh?
I worked with a young Uighur immigrant about 10 years ago. I had never even heard of the Uighur people until then. She taught me a lot about their plight and her parents’ struggle to immigrate to the U.S. Her story was touching and heartbreaking and made me feel incredibly blessed to have been born in the U.S. We certainly aren’t a perfect country, but this level of oppression is horrific.
12
Well, Wu'er Kaixi, one of the most prominent and outspoken students activists during the 1989 protests, was Uighur. So of course the Han Chinese-dominated Communist Party was going to blame his ancestry for his activism, thereby condemning an entire ethnic group.
25
@steve Wu'er Kaixi was also a paid agent of the United States, as post-1989 events demonstrated.
4
It's surprising that her parents are so controlling her life in this modern age. They are so xenophobic. Why cannot they accept a non-muslin? Does a marriage mean less, unless a wedding ceremony is held in a specific religious setting? Such narrow mindedness is the root cause of many problem the world faces.
20
@smith hmmmmmmm, is it possible you're missing the real point of this story? Theirs is a culture in utter destruction and I'm sure it's easy to judge from the outside. We all have to deal with generational bias and her experience with her parents sounds a bit universal. What an eye opening piece of journalism and what a brave woman to fight against such a brutal machine. I'm sending so much hope for your family to be safely reunited someday. I wish I could help.
127
@smith
Mr. Smith,
By the way, It is not "non-muslin", IT IS "Non-Muslim".
If you have the means, go to Kumul and ask their parents why they did not Han Chinese as "Son-in-law"...they may have their own reasons.
Look at how Non-Hubei Chinese are treating virus inflicted innocent Hubei people.
26
You missed the point entirely. How sad. Clearly you have never lived with oppression trying to maintain your culture. Mothers want the best for their daughters. It can take a lifetime to understand that. Please open your mind and read the entire story again. It is the most tragic love story I have ever read.
68
Hui is a minority group mostly located in the western China. Its population size is close to the Uighur's. Like the Uighur, the Hui people are predominantly Sunni Muslims. There is no evidence that Chinese government is against Sunni Muslim or minority per se, as it has never imposed any security measures on the Hui. What makes it treat the Uighur differently? Of course, I do agree that nothing can justify mass internment, if true.
17
@smith
Mr. Smith,
Please read this. Vera Zhou is a Hui Muslim..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/chinas-camps-now-have-survivors-and-their-ordeals-arent-over/2020/01/23/400886d8-3e24-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html
Uyghurs are not asking your government treat them differently, asking your government treat them equally.
32
@smith You may consider the huge natural wealth in oil, minerals, and other resources found in the Taklamakan. The Han want to control those vast resources and want to make sure the Uighurs get nothing in return. If the "East Turkistan" independence movement was realized, all that natural wealth would go to the Uighurs and not to the Han. Of course the Han want to keep the Uighurs oppressed.
59
The Hui are Chinese converts to Islam going back centuries. They did rebel against the Manchu dynasty in the 19th century, and were mercilessly surpressed. The Hui do not have a separate language, or very distinct culture other than religion. They are largely integrated into, and reside in the heart of China. The Uyghur are a separate people, culture, language, religion and history. They have never been part of China historically. Xinjiang province is also the source of nearly all of the petroleum, and much of rare earth minerals. The CCP views this as a vital turf. It has carried out a massive colonization policy, like in Tibet, for decades, with the aim of eventually making the Uyghur people disappear.
86
"Their daughters would have to adapt to life’s injustices, however large or small."
This is how to be successful in life. Not whine about micro aggressions and other's privileges to explain away one's failure to launch.
2
@Mark it's depressing this was your takeaway.
22
Mark, you clearly don't understand the difference between racist microaggressions and acts characteristic of genocide, or that both are evidence of deep cultural sicknesses.
Healthy cultures and communities will always identify both as such, and will maintain or develop practices (such as the journalism practiced by the New York Times here) to expose and end them.
Freedom of the press is good. It's antiauthoritarian. I'm happy to read of the courage, creativity and backbone these young women applied to the possible genocide that is being forced onto their family and culture. It's inspiring and healthy that they stood up and pushed back, and that the Times is amplifying their courage and love.
We can do hard and generative things - together, and out loud - in the face of authoritarian or Fascist movement, especially in America. And this article both illustrates, and is itself an example, of that.
13
A well written documentation about yet another political system and its personally unaccountable violators- leadership. At many levels. Creating,strengthening and fostering a toxic WE-THEY culture. Enabled by millions of daily. collaborators.
The complacents.
The complicits.
The semantic surrealitists and their "re-education camps."
Less than a century after "Arbeit macht frei."
Silence about Australian island-"camps," distant from democratic Australia.
"Integration" becoming transmuted into TRANSGRESSIONs.
Of human rights! By fellow human "wrongsters."
By personal unaccoutables.
Thank you, Ms. Toplol, for all of your work.
For documenting what should not be. ANYWHERE.
Then.
Now.
Tomorrow?
8
There is no question that the Chinese government is practicing ethnic cleansing. This is a first-hand account of it. Coupled with the same behaviors some other autocratic-minded leaders are displaying (migrant children separated from their parents and in cages in America, for example), it’s impossible to look away. Keep the stories coming. Keep shining a light into the darkness.
What can we do to help??
33
@Be true to thyself We can do nothing. The Uighurs are doomed unless there's a drastic change in leadership in China, which is unlikely anytime soon.
6
Keep identifying symptoms of bigotry, xenophobia etc, that cause anyone in any of your communities to feel small, frightened, less welcome or less free. Point them out (out loud) when you see them, making it clear that cowardice and bullying are not normal community values.
If you belong to town-hall style social media groups for your community, you may see lowkey or highkey cowardice and bullying. Name it as such, and name it as abnormal; this makes cowards or bullies understand that they are marginalizing themselves, rather than being allowed to build social status on the backs of people they are trying to bully.
If you feel shy or uncertain about what to say or do, talk about both your shyness or uncertainty and about your desire to stop the Fascist or bullying vibe you see with others who also care. You could read a bit about Fascism, the definition of dehumanization, or the definition of bigotry. Then when you see those things, say "[X] speech or [Y] behavior can lead to [dehumanization, more fear, less strength in diversity, etc] and we don't want that in our [community, city, school, etc.]."
The strength that builds immunity to Fascism or authoritarianism is built in everyday ways, patiently and consistently, in small acts that end up cohering into a mycelial net that protects the whole community "organism". It's like building up strength at the gym. You can start small.
This strength will cross borders when it needs to. You're building something of global value!
7
The oppression of people around the world has nothing to do with their customs or religion and everything to do with the corporate state's craven greed and desire to take control of natural resources. The victims are, however, cultures and languages and, ultimately, individuals. I am grateful for this reporting and hope that Americans notice what unrestrained executive power—yes, I'm making that comparison—looks like in the lives of real people.
21
Thank you for sharing this story. It's good to hear it on a personal level, not just seeing raw numbers of people in the "re-education" camps
7
Much too reminiscent of what happened to Jewish Isaacs, and a member of my own family during the Holocaust. Being awarded one of Germany’s highest military honors for service during World War I did nothing to save him from the tortures and annihilation of the Nazi death camps in World War II about 20 years later.
Chinese government’s idea of “Harmony” sometimes sound much more like “Horror”
54
May Xi Jinping get a virulent case of the coronavirus.
24
Tragic and utterly terrifying.
21
Our economies are intertwined, which means China needs us as much as we need them. A real trade-based pressure campaign against the Chinese regime could make a difference. It might hurt us in the short run, but frankly we need to unlatch our nation from the Chinese economic teat.
25
This is a top reason I will leave China at the end of my contract. Chinese students are going to Xinjiang during their holidays to teach English. I cannot be in a country like this, and the added horror, while the US has not come to quite such, this is the same energy from Stephen Miller and Trump’s party. I need to come home and stop the US escalation of hate and human rights violations.
78
Thank you. Sometimes Americans go there and actually end up sprouting Maoist propaganda - true story.
7
As horrible as this story is, it seems it will get much worse should the coronavirus arrive at those camps. How terrible for these people and their families.
A lot of Chinese practices certainly don't seem to have changed despite all their economic progress.
31
This is what happened to Jewish citizens in Germany in the 1930’s
61
@WJ This is what happened to Jewish citizens in Islamic countries. Ever wonder why Islamic countries that once had 200,000 Jews now have 3?
17
I'm guessing you did not read this article. Surely you're not excusing mass internment and daily torture of hundreds of thousands of people, simply because they're secular Muslims?
21
@Lisa R Yesterday the Jews, today the Uighurs , and who next tomorrow? There is no excuse and saying "Muslims did it too" is a pretty poor excuse for Germans and Poles and all the rest. Us vs Them is a losing proposition however you slice it.
27
A tragedy happening before our eyes. Thank you for putting a human face on this horrendous situation. Can people not see the beginnings here in the US? All it would take is a rumor. The old USA would be on China's doorstep, championing human rights of the Uighur. Now we just look away.
77
@Eileen Would you mean the "old USA" that sent back boatloads of refugees to Europe during WWII? The same USA that has declined to help tens of thousands of victims of political turmoil and environmental disaster today.
8
Very gripping account that highlights the plight of Uighurs in China. I knew there was repression, but this takes us into the heart of it all.
I was with it until the very end when the author slips in a sentence about Muslims in India losing citizenship. If only she had done some research! The amendment to the Indian citizenship act that she is talking about, only applies to immigrant asylum seekers in India who have been there illegally since at least 2014. These refugees are allowed a fast track citizenship if they are fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh. It does not affect any existing Indian Muslim citizens. Nobody is losing their citizenship. For those who aren't aware, India has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia.
16
@SR Seeking asylum may seem a simple choice from the outside, but it is not a decision many people can take lightly. In the case of Uighur people abroad, there is the fear that their families will be persecuted if they declare asylum from China. Those in the US tend to feel unsafe even simply communicating about the issue, so declaring that your home country is dangerous in some way would be taken as an outright attack. Obtaining permanent residence through asylum in the US would also further complicate the ability to return to China to visit family (if tensions ever settle enough to do so).
I know this doesn't address your comment about Muslims in India, but I felt compelled to share this. It's a perspective I would not have known to consider. Obviously situations are different elsewhere, and life-and-death circumstances would of course make the choice more obvious. I wish no one would have to face this decision.
7
I've been following for a couple of years now the nightmare dystopia that the Uighurs are experiencing in Xinjiang. I'm relieved this is finally getting attention in publications like the nyt. For anyone interested in regular dispatches on Xinjiang from various sources, you can follow Uyghur Human Rights Project either at their link by that name or on twitter and facebook.
47
Mencius said something to the effect of even a beggar will not accept rice when offered with insult. He speaks of honor, of respect, of propriety, of righteousness.
We are taught from an early age to submit to authority, and generally, when that authority is protecting us from harm, keeping order, etc., then obeyance is the proper thing to do. But when authority dehumanizes, starves, or otherwise causes injury, the question that arises is whether one's life is more important than righteousness, honor, and self-respect.
The choice should be obvious, difficult as it may be.
And that is what all oppressors fear: the People.
27
When membership in a group determines one's fate, rather than one's actions, not only that group but the society as a whole is in trouble. The lesson applies to all countries, including the United States.
47
Dear Sisters Humar, Zumret:
How many times I shed my tears while I was reading this, and what kind of thoughts run through my minds, I can not tell.
Thanks to the Author for highlighting the current fate of Uyghurs by telling vividly this two Uyghur sisters' story.
Humar, Zumret:
Thanks for standing up for the freedom of your parents, Thanks for growing up and come to love your own culture, people and crying for their pain, laughing for their happiness! I am sure you don't stop until Uyghurs recover their right to live as Uyghurs, as proud member of Uyghurs. We don't need to hate, we don't need to debase ourselves like others by hating the weak. We need to be strong by loving overselves, righteous deeds, preserving our own culture, holding on our uniqueness....
THIS TOO SHALL PASS! and Oppressors will be deprived of their power and tools of dictatorship one day because "the Arch of Justice although curved, it will bent toward justice eventually!"
73
A tragedy for all involved, many thanks for sharing your painful experiences in order inform people facts of the ongoing trauma the vulnerable suffer through religion and ethnicity in China. Your parents have raised beautifu souls, loving daughters something the government can never take from them. So very sad they have been robbed of their dignity and voices.
29
It is irresponsible for the opinion writer to carelessly state, "In India, Muslims were effectively losing their citizenship" as if it were the truth. Actually far from it. A lot of state governments in India have passed resolution that they will not implement CAA. Those words in quote are like stating that all Hispanics are losing their citizenship in the US because Trump came to power. I agree that people feel different and are made to feel different under different presidents, when they are not the majority. It is the same whether you live in the US, Germany, Britain or in Australia. The racial segregation is a curse to the mankind, but biases are inbuilt. I have eternal hope that when mankind, when faced with a common enemy like Climate Change, would act in unison.
12
@Ram Nagar Please cite statistics, from reputable sources, that "a lot of" state governments have passed these statutes - otherwise you're just being a biased Ram. And I'm a Hindu (a so-called "Brahmin", at that, if we're going to get specific, though I don't believe in caste). No, there was nothing "irresponsible" about calling Modi's illegal actions out.
22
@Wodehouse :
What is illegal in CAA ? It has been passed in both the houses and Supreme Court has not stopped it from implementation. It is 1000% percent legal and morally justified.
To me you sound more like a Chamaar then a Brahmin. Those who hide behind psuedonames like PG Wodehouse are more likely to be SC or ST.
Stop suppressing these people and help preserve their culture. They're just people!
15
A few small riots were enough to cause Xi and the Chinese Communist Party to imprison millions? They must be very afraid of the future.
42
@Sam They were thousands of murders, and only the murderers were imprisoned.
That was the conclusion of the World Muslim Council's inspectors who visited Xinjiang last year–along with 1,000 journalists and others.
The US has been funding the East Turkestan terrorist movement for 70 years.
1
Boycott, Divest from and Sanction China for these illegal settlements in occupied East Turkestan.
29
Tragic
14
China's dictatorship is ugly to no measure. Can't chairman Xi see how stupid all this intolerance is? And the huge loss of human potential by not recognizing, and honoring, the richness in our differences? All this sounds so Trumpian, when even the most constructive criticism is punished.
28
This story will absolutely be shared with my high school English students. In education, we discuss the importance of emphasizing plurality in society; a story like this one demonstrates just how necessary it is that we not just teach it, but live it.
50
@Danny M.
Thank you for who you are and the important work you do everyday. Teachers like you are our unsung heroes, and you give me some desperately needed hope for our own troubled country.
4
This is the reality of the new freedoms that the much vaunted information technology and communication technology affords big government. And yet sold as empowering the young an aspiration. How easy is real freedom surrendered.
21
wonderfully written .Like a mystery novel.And very sad.
23
What an incredible story. Thank you NYT for this important reporting and thank you Humar for sharing your story.
70
This was an amazing article.
I was moved by the story of this family, and it pains me to know that there are so many families still separated.
49
The vicious campaign against the Uighur people is both to surpress them, but also to serve to distract the majority of "Han" from the brutal exploitation and inequities of capitalism in China. Whipping up xenophobia and jingoism serves to prevent protests by promoting 'national unity' much the same way anti-semitism has been used by the wealthy to misdirect the poor against the oppressed, rather than against the oppressors. I was in Xinjiang in 2007 and witnessed first hand the discrimination, shocking racism of the Han and the simmering justified anger of the Uighur people. I was asked how 14 million Uighur could fight their oppression by a billion Han. I pointed out that the vast majority of those billion people were exploited by the same billionaires who oppress the Uighur. The working people of China are the direct victims of the mafia enforcers known as the Communist Party of China. They are potentially the natural allies of the Uighur and Tibetans and other oppressed people.
92
@AR Hmm. The capital class using racism and xenophobia to distract the masses during a period of unprecedented wealth redistribution to the top.
I guess China and the US aren't so different, after all.
21
Let this be a lesson to all those who think " I have nothing to hide, I've done nothing wrong, so I have nothing to fear from an unaccountable authoritarian state. If people are arrested they must have done something. "
There is everything to fear, especially of you are any kind of minority.
158
@Friday And even if you are not.
Women are over 50% of the US population, and this administration has done pretty much everything it can to role back our rights. (As well as the rights of the over 50% of the population that disagrees with the policies of this administration.)
17
@Friday Having two daughters that are abroad and can write for NYT while working for the government, that is enough. They did not control their offspring well.
So awful.
So sad
So tragic
So invisible to most of the world
45
Fantastic reporting; the Times as always, never fails to fully educate.
30
Beware big government
It always end in power and more power and then eroding of human rights. It always ends in suffering. China. Venezuela. Russia. Cuba. Uggh. So sad.
14
This made me cry.
17
This story really brings home the reality of what is happening there. How is this not headline news? Why is Xi so afraid of the Uighur? This really makes one realize how bad his rule is. Why do humans behave this way the world over?
I knew a Turkish guy who's last name was Uyghur. I assume they are ethically related to the Chinese Uighur? Sweetest, smartest not to mention handsome guy.
21
@SP
If his last name is Uyghur, then he surely related to Uyghurs.
9
“If you want a picture of the future [or present day China], imagine a boot stamping on a human [or animal] face—for ever.” — George Orwell
39
This is why I pay for the NYTimes.
I just regret that this story won't be blasted over the 24-hour cable television news the way Trump's next tweet will.
Please know, Humar, that many of us descendants of survivors (for me, Holocaust) do take "never again" seriously, even if we've failed to achieve it, because we know it is only a matter of time that we will be the ones targeted.
126
@JL
Thanks to you! Thanks to our Jewish brothers, sisters for standing up for Uyghurs and supporting voiceless, helpless and victimized Uyghurs.
Your support for Uyghurs is your strong display of love for life and for mankind!
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I have been connected with the Uighurs for over 30 years - both in NW China, Kazakhstan, and now in the West. I speak the language and have many friends who have deeply impacted by the current situation. I currently run a nonprofit focusing on this crisis - silkroadpeace.org Your article is a masterpiece - hitting the big picture events and developments while also telling an intensely personal story. Thank you. From now on, I will be using this article in my efforts to help the world better understand what is really happening. Very well written.
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I greatly enjoyed this nuanced reading of the situation, of the family's struggle as a minority culture in China and the history of the daughters finding their place in the world. They are incredibly brave and I feel heartbroken for their terrifying experience. No, they have not yet won, but I hope they do- that they are able to extract their parents from the situation and bring more light to what is really happening at these camps.
One correction: the article states that "The government claimed Uighurs were traveling to fight with ISIS, though it provided no proof of this assertion..."- however, at some point in reading about Guantanamo, I did read that the US held a group of Uighur detainees in Guantanamo. This, of course, does not excuse any internment of innocent people in Xinjiang, I just wonder why make this point at all.
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The Uighur detainees who were unjustly imprisoned at the U.S. gulag otherwise known as Gitmo were freed and released during the Obama administration and accepted by the country of Uruguay.
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@SY I worked for the lawyer who represented those Uighur and successfully litigated their innocence case. Being imprisoned at Guantanamo has no bearing on whether or not an individual committed a crime. No correction is warranted.
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Your comment about a few Uyghur being captured in Afghanistan and unjustly imprisoned in the Guantanamo hell hole, inverts the actual dynamic. It is the oppression of the Uyghur people by the Chinese that drove an infintessimal minority into jihadi politics. It is the Chinese surpression of Islam, the Uyghur language and culture that naturally drove some towards greater religiosity as an expression of resistance. The Chinese dictatorship has sought to destroy every aspect of Uyghur culture, even destroying their compound homes and forcing them to live in surveiled apartment buildings. I was in Kashgar's historic ancient city in 2007 watching Chinese bulldozers destroy a millenarian city. The rage and impotence of the Uyghur people was palpable. It is akin to the American cultural genocide of the Native American people, after their physical annhilaition.
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It is stories like this that make me proud to be a New York Times subscriber. Thank you.
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'In a later tweet, she tagged an editor at Foreign Policy whom she admired.'
James Palmer.
Just say James Palmer.
It's ok to name/ link to others working in journalism.
Anyways, great read.
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Riveting story. If it was a short work of fiction I could put the book down after I finished reading it and forget about it but these characters and events are not fiction making it a real life work of horror. What a tragedy that an entire culture and people is being persecuted and destroyed. It is a massive crime against humanity.
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Very important reporting, and a moving story. Thank you. More please.
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