Walking on me: No justice for those who are suffering

Pirakasini Chandrasegar | September 25th, 2020

As time passes on, you would think that humankind has learned from the mistakes we have made, but time and time again, we stand corrected. Humans, as we claim, have the urge to evolve, progress and develop into smarter beings, yet somehow we always end up making the same mistakes; no matter how innovative we get, or how much our technology has evolved, we always repeat our mistakes as attested by our deeply grieved history. In this perpetual cycle, generation after generation and decade after decade, we think we are learning from our mistakes, but really, we have this tendency to repeat them— a dangerous habit that we cannot seem to break. With the burgeoning dilemmas transpiring around the world, from the pandemic to the rising unease between various countries, unbearable tensions are tediously developing, but as they do, countries like China appear to be hiding other heinous acts.

Since the start of the pandemic, China has been under fire, making every headline story. Nonetheless, instead of stepping up to take responsibility, they have stepped back to make more odious decisions. Inherently, the pandemic was just the beginning. As months passed by, China would be delineated in regards to the genocide and persecution of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz Muslims (1). It is no secret the world is in a fragile state, where anything can happen at any given moment. Though this stands to be valid, it is not quite relevant to those attempting to flee persecution. 3 million innocent children (2), women and men are being forced into internment camps, which currently are being documented as the largest mass internment camp since World War II (3). Documented from 2009, China and the Uyghurs have had many issues in regards to national security; through China’s accusation of Uyghurs partaking in propaganda against China— claiming the country to be a threat— it became apparently evident to China that Uyghurs were targeting them, thus claiming it to be a “national security dilemma”(4). It was because of this national security dilemma that China proposed “reeducation” for Uyghurs. However, what they had in store was far beyond any sort of “reeducation”(5). Please note that no excuse can concur for hurting innocent people; Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz Muslims are facing brutality because of their religion. Like I stated at the start of this article, we humans would think that we are progressing, that we are evolving, but how much could we have evolved if we are still causing harm to people because of religion, race, gender or ethnicity? How much did we actually learn from the past?

First and foremost, this national security dilemma only concerned those who were part of an extremist group, however, China targeted everyone part of this ethnic population. If you take a group of people, not everyone is guilty, and thus through targeting this entire population, you are hurting innocent civilians — souls who had nothing to do with anything. They say it is “reeducation,” but no one has the right to take away one’s religion (6), which is a human right violation, according to Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (7). We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe in, and no one, can take that right away from us, but in these “reeducation camps” Uyghurs are being treated not only with hostility (8) but are also being tortured into forgetting their religion. They are essentially tortured to hate it (9). With about 85 identified camps (10), Uyghurs are treated ghastly, wherein innocent children are ripped out of their parents’ arms and put into complete strangers' homes, women are being forced to intake birth control pills, and men are beaten senseless for days on end (11). Through mass sterilization, including forced abortion and birth control, psychological indoctrination programs (this pretty much includes all forms of torture) (12), organ harvesting and forced labour, Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz Muslims are essentially being stripped of their basic human rights on molecular levels (13).

Ironically, China refutes these violent claims calling them to be “outright nonsense” and stated that these facilities were indeed just “vocational/voluntary education schools”(14), where Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz Muslims are being “re-educated”(15). If this was even remotely true, then why is there barbed wire surrounding the facility? What purposes do the guarded towers and large cement walls serve? If this was voluntary, why in the world are Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz Muslims being forced to stay, why are they being treated like prisoners? When placed in a stranger's home, children are beaten up brutally; these individuals burn cigarettes onto the children’s fragile skin, abuse them in every way possible, and starve them of both food and water (16). Through this violence, children are forced to not only forget their religion but inadvertently hate their parents, families and friends. One article, also claims that China pressures children as young as 13 to “repent and surrender”(17). This would initiate their separation from their parents and religion to then possibly put them into an orphanage or a stranger’s home (18). Quite frankly, at this point it is blatantly obvious, Uyghurs are not being “reeducated” but rather are being interned (19). They are being displaced, killed and tortured, they aren’t being “reeducated” as China claims to be doing (20).

If you don’t feel anything at this point, I want you to read this paragraph carefully. You and your family are sitting together, as you usually do, having family dinner. You all are joking around about your day, laughing and gleaming together about how much fun you had with your friends. Your parents look at you, and perhaps, your siblings and smile with tears of joy. Your parents love to see you all smiling, it makes everything they do for you so much more worth it. From sports to extracurriculars to the new TV they bought for you, everything they did, even working a 9 to 5 job seemed like a payoff when they saw you smile. Now think of your parents, you and perhaps even your siblings, ripped apart and displaced around the country, because of facts like religion, gender, race or ethnicity. You are now alone, and people start to tell you horrible things about your parents, siblings, and religion, attempting to brainwash you about who you are and what you believe in.

That feeling inside of you, that nostalgic feeling in your gut, right now, after reading that paragraph, is magnified for Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz Muslims as this is their reality. Despite the years of brutality they faced, innocent individuals are able to survive because of their families and friends. Though ripping them apart and killing, torturing, abusing and detaining them for no particular charge, is not justice, but rather genocide (21). Furthermore, most of these individuals do not even know if their families are still alive (22). A matter of national security does not give anyone the justification or the right to displace, kill or torture people. No state or country should ever have an excuse for doing such atrocities as it is vile and inhuman. These people are someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, grandfather, and grandmother yet they treat them as if they are from another planet, as if their religion determines everything they are and will be.

Just as we did on several occasions throughout our history, the world watches quietly as innocent people continue to suffer. We have no control over what religion we are born into; we have no control over our race, and we have no control over our ethnicity, but the least we can do for each other is learn to accept one another. The saddest part is, as Uyghurs endure countless atrocities, some people claim this isn’t genocide; some people try to justify what China is doing and some people believe innocent people deserve this even if they had nothing to do with the national security dilemma. This is exactly what happened in the Holocaust. People didn’t believe Germany was committing genocide until it was too late (23). In every single event that has transpired throughout history, people find a way to diminish it, they find a way to destroy another individual’s lived experience, and they find a way to believe that the people suffering are the monsters. This is exactly what China has been doing with every single statement they released concerning Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz Muslims. This isn’t justice, this isn’t fair, and this isn’t equality, but rather a one sided-story.

At this point, we are not progressing, but rather are replaying a story that happened so many times, a story that has so many perspectives, so many voices and is in so many forms — a story that runs in circles and never stops to look outside the box. Evolution is a joke if, in the 21st century, we are still killing people over religion, ethnicity, race and gender; shame on us.

Endnotes

1. PBS News Hour, "What is Happening with the Uighurs in China?" PBS NewsHour. Last modified October 7, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/uighurs/.

2. Jen Kirby, "Concentration Camps and Forced Labor: China’s Repression of the Uighurs, Explained." Vox. Last modified July 28, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang.

3. Kirby, “Concentration Camps and Forced Labor…”

4. Hope, Joseph. "Returning Uighur Fighters and China's National Security Dilemma." Jamestown. Last modified July 25, 2018. https://jamestown.org/program/returning-uighur-fighters-and-chinas-national-security-dilemma/.

5. Kirby, Jen. "Concentration Camps and Forced Labor: China’s Repression of the Uighurs, Explained." Vox. Last modified July 28, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang.

6. The United Nations. "Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Welcome to the United Nations. Last modified June 1, 2020. https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.

7. The United Nations, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

8. Kirby, Jen. "Concentration Camps and Forced Labor: China’s Repression of the Uighurs, Explained." Vox. Last modified July 28, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang.

9. Kirby, “Concentration Camps and Forced Labour…”

10. PBS News Hour. "What is Happening with the Uighurs in China?" PBS NewsHour. Last modified October 7, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/uighurs/.

11. Kirby, Jen. "Concentration Camps and Forced Labor: China’s Repression of the Uighurs, Explained." Vox. Last modified July 28, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang.

12. Health Europa. "Forced Organ Harvesting: “One of the Worst Mass Atrocities of This Century”." Health Europa. Last modified January 29, 2020. https://www.healtheuropa.eu/forced-organ-harvesting-one-of-the-worst-mass-atrocities-of-this-century/97035/.

13. Seytoff, Alim. "US House Passes Bill Banning Imports From China Made With Uyghur Forced Labor." Genocidewatch. Last modified September 22, 2020. https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/2020/09/22/US-House-Passes-Bill-Banning-Imports-From-China-Made-With-Uyghur-Forced-Labor.

14. "New evidence of China’s concentration camps shows its hardening resolve to wipe out the Uighurs." The Washington Post. Last modified September 3, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/new-evidence-of-chinas-concentration-camps-shows-its-hardening-resolve-to-wipe-out-the-uighurs/2020/09/03/aeeb71b4-ebb2-11ea-99a1-71343d03bc29_story.html.

15. Kirby, Jen. "Concentration Camps and Forced Labor: China’s Repression of the Uighurs, Explained." Vox. Last modified July 28, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang.

16. "Torture of Uighur Muslim Children by Chinese." Anti-Racism & Anti-Defamation Alliance. Last modified July 26, 2015. https://arada.org/torture-of-uighur-muslim-children-by-chinese/.

17. Sudworth, John. "Uighur Model Sends Rare Video from Chinese Detention." BBC News. Last modified August 4, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53650246.

18. Samuel, Sigal. "China's Jaw-Dropping Family Separation Policy." The Atlantic. Last modified September 4, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/09/china-internment-camps-uighur-muslim-children/569062/.

19. Kirby, Jen. "Concentration Camps and Forced Labor: China’s Repression of the Uighurs, Explained." Vox. Last modified July 28, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang.

20. Kirby, “Concentration Camps and Forced Labour…”

21. Genocide Watch. "Genocide Watch- Countries at Risk." Genocidewatch. Accessed September 23, 2020. https://www.genocidewatch.com/countries-at-risk.

22. Watson, Ivan, and Ben Westcott. "'Cultural Genocide': How China is Tearing Uyghur Families Apart in Xinjiang." CNN. Last modified November 15, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/asia/uyghur-china-xinjiang-interview-intl/index.html.

23. Kushner, Tony. "Too Little, Too Late? Reflections on Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Day." Last modified 2004. https://journals-scholarsportal-info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/13531042/v23i0001/116_tltlrobhmd.xml.