Recent events in Xinjiang have generated a great deal of analysis and commentary. In particular, reports of violence have opened up the region to the attention of activists, journalists, academics and officials not familiar with the constituent people of Xinjiang.
A series of violent incidents in their homeland have intermittently propelled the Uyghurs into recent international consciousness.
Writing on the Uyghur people has not been lacking in recent months. An uptick of violence since 2013 in Xinjiang has seen an increase in analysis that sometimes reveals more about the author than the issue.
In a 10 month period, China destroyed 80% of the Uyghur Internet in a massive digital book burning.
The situation of the Uyghur minority in north-west China became even more precarious in 2013, says Henryk Szadziewski.
China will continue defending its record on protecting human rights of ethnic minorities.
Two recent incidents in northwest China have called to attention the dire situation among Uyghurs and the need for a far-reaching review of policies for Chinese officials.
Late in 2012, in an undisclosed location and over cups of sweet tea, I sat down with a former Imam to talk about Uyghur religious freedom in China.
It is Ramadan. The Chinese government has mandated all restaurants remain open for business during fasting hours.
Restrictions placed on religion in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have rightly been well documented among groups such as Chinese Christians and Tibetan Buddhists.
Bibliography of select news reports & academic works
Compiled by Professor Magnus Fiskesjö
Persecution of teachers, scholars and artists constitutes an attempt to erase Uyghur culture. 338 Uyghur intellectuals interned, imprisoned or forcibly disappeared since April 2017, including 21 staff mebers of Xinjiang University. International scholarly exchange with China cannot be justified until they are released.
The Chinese government has been demolishing Uyghur neighborhoods across East Turkestan, for more than a decade. This has resulted in the loss of physical structures, including Uyghur homes, shops, and religious sites. Uyghurs have been forcibly relocated to heavily monitored apartment blocks.
The massive scale and sudden establishment of the concentration camp system in East Turkestan is unprecedented. According to US government estimates, there are a minimum of 800,000 and possibly over 2 million people currently detained. This is up to 20 percent of the Uyghur population.
Religious expression is one of the primary reasons the government is sending people to the expanding network of internment camps across East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang). There are reports of people being sent to the camps for having attended a wedding or funeral where a religious passage was read.
Chinese government officials have emphasized Mandarin language ability as a marker of modernity and, more recently, a necessity in the fight against “terrorism.”
The Chinese Communist Party poses a fundamental threat to civilized values and a rules-based international order. The Party’s massive crackdown in 2018 is breathtaking, encompassing independent intellectuals, civil society, and religious believers of all kinds, including Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan Buddhists, Chinese Buddhists, and Hui and Turkic Muslims across the length and breadth of China.