Uyghyur athletes lighting the torch (insider.com)
On February 4th, Zhao Jiawen and Dinigeer Yilamujian, an Uyghur athlete, set aflame the cauldron that initiated the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. As Children danced with lighted doves, the national flag circulated around the performers showing the unity of the 56 ethnic groups of China, and fireworks illuminated the night sky. About two thousand miles away from this scene of celebration and unity prevails the silent genocide of the Uyghurs—a mostly Muslim Turkic ethnic group living in East Turkistan.
The Chinese government has detained over one million Uyghurs into what they call “re-education camps.” In these “ re-education camps,” Uyghurs are subject to religious repression, forced labor, political indoctrination, sterilization, and physical and psychological abuse. This persecution roots from ignorance, as Chinese officials perceive Islam as a “mental illness” and believe that the internment camps are necessary to cease terrorism, religious extremism, and separatism. Uyghurs are thus forced to renounce Islam and pledge loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. With the use of high-tech surveillance, Uyghurs can be quickly detained for doing something as simple, but significant, such as fasting during the holy month of Ramadan or sending texts with Quranic verses. Along with limiting their religious duties in fear of being detained, Uyghur families fear the probability of being separated from one another. Uyghur parents who live outside of China are often on the horns of a dilemma; they must choose to either return home to their children and risk being detained or stay abroad and lose all contact with their children again. The children of detained parents have no choice but to stay in state-run orphanages, denying them their own culture, history, and religion due to assimilationist policies. Implementations like these risk wiping out an ethnoreligious group by targeting the new generation of indoctrinated Uyghurs, that will soon be shaped by the state.
For an opening ceremony that contained layers of community and oneness, it’s paradoxical to see the lengths that the Chinese government has gone to in order to separate families and “other” minority groups. To use the image of an Uyghur woman lighting the torch for the Olympics is intended to make a mockery of the atrocities committed to Uyghurs and assert political dominance over the ongoing genocide. Specifically, it was a ploy of propaganda to convince the world that by the government allowing an Uyghur woman to light the torch and compete as an athlete, China does not discriminate against Uyghur. Yet, the only message this performance broadcasts is that China refuses to take accountability for its “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses,” as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says. China's desperate rebuttal against countries that have denounced China for its human rights violations depicts a strong sense of guilt and lack of empathy. Allowing China to host the Olympics in the first place means giving legitimacy to a state committing genocide and enables them to fabricate a twisted narrative to conceal their crimes.
Some countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia declared a diplomatic boycott against the Olympics in which they sent athletes but not ministers or officials. France, however, is against the diplomatic boycott of the Olympics. President Macron declares, “I don’t think we should politicize these topics, especially if it is to take steps that are insignificant and symbolic.” It comes as no surprise that France, with its push to implement the
hijab ban into law and its increasing Islamaphobic sentiment, sides with a country holding similar prejudiced ideologies.
Uyghur textbooks are disappearing. People are disappearing. Not only are mosques and traditional burial grounds being eradicated, but also the Uyghur language and thought. It is crucial to learn about the Uyghurs not only as people who are subjugated and oppressed, but as people of a rich cultural heritage consisting of a unique language, art, food, and other traditions that ought not to be erased. We must listen to and amplify Uyghur voices who are working hard to preserve and promote their identity.
The Olympics is supposed to represent unity and humanity, but it has evolved into something that prioritizes profit over people and has been used as a propaganda tool, like the Berlin Olympics of 1936 that eerily echoes the Beijing Olympics of 2022. The spectacle that was the 2022 Winter Olympics cannot obscure the persecution of the Uyghurs. We cannot let flashy entertainment and figments of unity stray us from the horrors of reality. We often look back at past atrocities and wonder how we would have acted had we been alive at that time. Would we remain complicit by staying silent, allowing genocide to unfold in real-time? Or would we take the steps to learn and share the truth, use our voices loudly, and resist oppression to keep a culture alive?
Take Action
Donate Here:
Uyghyur Human Rights Project
Campaign for Uyghyur
Go Fund me (Victim database)
Sign a Petition:
Petition to stop Hilton from profiting off the Uyghyur Genocide
Petition to bring the issue to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention
Boycott the sponsors of the 2022 Winter Olympics
Airbnb
Alibaba
Allianz
Atos
Bridgestone
Coca-Cola
Intel
Omega
Panasonic
P&G
Samsung
Toyota
Visa
Social Media accounts to follow through with updates and action items
Ours! (@phhr_hunter)
@freeuyghyrnow
@uyghurproject
@uyghyurcongress
@uyghur_victims
@humanrightswatch
Sources (blog)
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/09/china-internment-camps-uighur-muslim-children/569062/ https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1073793823/china-uyghur-children-xinjiang-boarding-school https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/10/chinas-war-on-uighur-culture/616513/ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/dec/10/this-is-our-voice-the-uyghur-traditions-being-erased-by-chinas-cultural-crackdown
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