By: Elina Mahmood
“I thought I would rather die than go through the torture and begged for them to kill me,” said concentration camp survivor, Mihrigul Tursun, in her testimony to the United States on how China detained her and her now-murdered child. Since 2017, China has detained more than one million Uighur Muslims in concentration camps in the Xinjiang province. Men, women, and children are being stripped of their heritage, culture, and religion and are facing ridicule for being a Muslim. The Uighur Muslims face barbarous treatment in the camps, and the world has turned their backs on them for far too long.
"They are subjected to human rights abuse, such as brainwashing, organ-harvesting, drinking wine, eating pork, stabbing, poisoning, electrocution, drowning, torture, forced sterilization, forced marriages, rape/gang rape/sexual assault, being forced to renounce the Muslim faith, and so much more. According to The Atlantic, “China is treating Islam like a mental illness.” Professor James Millward at Georgetown University says that China is calling their re-education camps “hospitals”, believing that Islam will be removed from their minds and change the Uighurs’ ways of thinking. Milward states: “It’s like an inoculation, a search-and-destroy medical procedure that they want to apply to the whole Uighur population, to kill the germs of extremism. But it’s not just giving someone a shot—it’s locking them up for months in bad conditions.”
Merdan Ghappar, a Uighur fashion model before being detained and chained to the side of his bed, made a video about the conditions of the camps and how everyone was treated. According to a text message from Ghappar, “[he] heard a man screaming from morning until evening." China has feared the establishment of the Uighurs’ own national homeland in Xinjian (East Turkestan). The racism against the Uighurs is similar to that of the racism here in America because in 2009, some radical Uighurs carried out terrorist attacks, and Chinese officials said that they needed to exterminate the extremism of the Uighurs. So, like in America and 9/11, China views all Muslims as terrorists instead of realizing that not all of them are terrorists. It is the way certain people are brought up in their life, and unfortunately, some people are taught the radicalized version of Islam instead of the original, truer, and peaceful version; not all Muslims go around bombing and terrorizing countries.
The same could be said about anybody. It is the way we are raised: anybody can be taught a radicalized version of any religion. One should not group a certain ethnicity, race, religion, culture, or heritage to one stereotype; for example, all white people are racist, all black people are dangerous, all Latinos are rapists, all Asians are smart, etc. This is wrong for so many reasons, and the world needs to change and re-educate itself in order to make a better society. The treatment of the Uighur Muslims got at least a week of media hype on social media but then was disregarded immediately after and focused on China’s great fashionwear. The US has imposed sanctions on China, and the UK government covered the topic about these abuses; however, the world is doing the absolute bare minimum of helping the Muslims out, including countries with a huge Muslim population. In fact, according to VOX, “Iran is finalizing a $400 billion economic and security deal with China.” This video shows the "changed" Muslims,and it looks like the type of thing you see in a horror or cult movie.
How can we help the Uighur Muslims?
Sign Petitions:
STAND UP FOR THE UIGHUR MUSLIMS IN CHINA - NO RIGHTS. NO GAMES. - PETITION FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF PROFESSOR RAHILE
DAWUT AND OTHERS UYGHUR SCHOLARS - FREE UYGHURS FROM FORCED LABOR IN CHINA
Pressure your Representatives:
Check https://whoismyrepresentative.com/ to email or call them to pass “Uyghur
Forced Labor Prevention Act”
Donate:
*DO NOT DONATE TO CHINA. DONATE TO TRUSTED RELIEF FUNDS/ORGANIZATIONS*
Tarim Network - Darman Foundation - The Uyghur American Association - Campaign for Uyghur - Uyghur Human Rights Project
Know Which Labor Brands Profit Off Uyghur Labor:
@freeuyghurnow (Instagram Handle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsd1NkCKaNg
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/china-pathologizing-uighur-muslims- mental-illness/568525/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53809345
https://www.vox.com/2020/7/24/21337172/china-detaining-uighur-muslims-worldly-podcast
More Resources:
Uyghur Carrd.co - Email Templates For Companies - Learning About the Crisis
Advocacy groups on Instagram:
@freeuyghurnow @uyghurprojectig @saveuighurusa @uyghurcongress @campaignforuyghurs
Remember: China may have great streetwear, but let’s not forget that they are participating in a mass genocide right now.
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