I think it’s natural to dissociate ourselves from issues that aren’t straight in our backyards. We’re not feeling the problem, we’re not seeing the problem, so why should we care about the problem? When tragic news and stories (more specifically human rights issues) are far away, it’s easy to view it in terms of numbers and statistics. It’s easy to view it as simply another tragedy in the world, another example of a bad government, another example of a poor country; it’s easy to tell ourselves to forget about the issue because it does not concern us. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the scale of the suffering.
I know that it’s easy because I do it all the time. “It’s just another issue in the world.” “XXXXX number of people died; damn, that’s sad.” “What could I possibly do that could help? I’m just a high schooler.” It’s not that I don’t care about these issues; I have just become desensitized to them.
Despite the risk of being desensitized, I still think that human global rights issues are necessary topics to learn about. And so, when I was given the opportunity to create a long-term project for myself in Journalism, I thought about creating a series about various human rights issues. Right around that time, I was exposed to the ongoing genocide of the Uighur people.
After doing some initial research, I interviewed Dr. Gerald Blaney of the History Department (Model UN, Pacific Perspectives, Economics) who presented me with a lot of background information. Most importantly, he connected me with Ms. Zubayra Shamseden, a Uighur/Uyghur who is currently living through the harsh reality of the genocide of her people.
I originally thought I would write a normal article with lots of concrete facts and information with a few quotes thrown in here and there. But, as I interviewed Ms. Shamseden, I was struck with an overwhelming amount of emotions. I felt irritated with myself for thinking of her life and the lives of other Uighurs as simply a way of fulfilling an assignment. I felt heartbroken to hear about the hardships of her people. I felt determined to present her story in a way where the reader can experience all the emotions I did.
And the only way for the reader to go through a similar experience is for them to be exposed to Ms. Shamseden the way I was. This article is an attempt at a “transcript” of my interview with Ms. Shamseden. I changed the order and grammar of a few sentences, but did not tamper with any of the speech. Although you may be unable to ask her your own questions or share your exclamations, I hope you are able to genuinely understand the perspective and narrative of Ms. Shamseden as she resists the Uighur genocide.
“I am Zubayra Shamseden, I am a Uighur/Uyghur, and my duty is to be a voice for all the
voiceless people in my country.”
“I myself am a native Uighur. I grew up in East Turkestan and that’s how all the Uighurs refer to our land. China’s government changed the name of our homeland of East Turkistan to Xinjiang but many Uighurs prefer to call it East Turkestan. From my childhood, I always knew that we Uighurs were different. We Uighurs grow up in an authoritarian regime, a regime with policies that target our people. Knowing this, it’s difficult to have a normal childhood and life. How can you comfortably live somewhere where you are actively being suppressed? All of this is what made me leave my own country. And after I left, I knew that I couldn’t be silent about the injustices and prejudices my people are facing. Since I have become involved in this work, I did many different positions in different organizations and worked in different sectors. Wherever I go, whatever I do, I always try to educate people about the Uighur issue, about my homeland.”
“Uighurs are the native and indigenous people of East Turkestan. The main crackdown, or you can call it suppression, of the Uighur people by the Chinese government started in 1949. The second East Turkestan Republic was established in 1944 but it didn’t last for long. Their independence was taken away when the Russian Communist Party helped the Chinese Communist Party take over East Turkestan in 1949. That is how the Uighurs got colonized by China and how East Turkistan became known as Xinjiang.
“The Chinese government promised the Uighurs that East Turkestan would remain an autonomous region. If you look it up online, you can see that Xinjiang/East Turkistan is called a Chinese autonomous region. But this “autonomy” is only on paper. The Chinese government constitutionally offers autonomy to the Uighur people but that autonomy has never been implemented. The Uighurs were not given any political power, any military power, or anything. There is no autonomy. Everything is controlled by the Chinese authoritative government and people.
“Since 1949, the Chinese government has treated the Uighurs as second-class citizens in their own homeland. They are very intolerant towards differences and more importantly, they view the Uighurs as a security threat to the Chinese state. One of the biggest things they did was migrate millions of Han Chinese into the East Turkistan area, changing the demographic of the region. They incentivized the Han Chinese people by offering them great benefits and job opportunities. Keep in mind that many of these jobs were initially done by Uighurs. On top of that, they started to assimilate the Uighurs into Chinese culture. It started off with no longer using our language for the mainstream educational system. They implemented this bilingual education system. When you first think about it, it sounds absolutely fantastic. Of course knowing two languages is a great skill to have. But it wasn’t an actual bilingual program; it enforced every Uighur to only use Mandarin Chinese. Under the perception of the bilingual program, they completely destroyed the Uighur language. Everything mainstream, most importantly the schooling for our children, was completely changed to [Mandarin] Chinese. At first the Uighurs started to protest the changes being implemented by the Chinese government. However, every time a protest occurred, it was always met with extreme violence and an immediate shutdown. We could not fight against the power of the Chinese government.”
“So it started with an attack on our language. But then it shifted to an attack on our religion and this is when things started to become really intense. It started off with restricting little things, such as instituting policies that restricted Muslim practices. For instance, if a Uighur person is less than 18 years old, they are not allowed to learn anything about Islam. They are not allowed to go to mosques, they are not allowed to fast during Ramadan. There have been reports that many students have been expelled and punished by their schools simply because they fasted. The authorities tested the Uighur students during the month of Ramadan by forcing them to eat. If any of the students refused, they were instantly suspected of fasting and therefore breaking the rules. They were then punished, all because they practiced the customs of their religion.
“Now, in East Turkistan, all the basic practices of Islam are condemned. Islam is a very peaceful religion but now, all activities related to Islam are seen as illegal. For instance, reading the Quran or trying to do your daily prayer is seen as an illegal activity. If you’re a woman, you are no longer allowed to wear a headscarf. Even doing the Muslim greeting of ‘As-salamu alaikum’ has been the reason why many Uighurs were sent to the re-education camps. You can’t even name your newborn with a Muslim name. These types of simple things are all prohibited.
“I think attacking and punishing the Uighurs for practicing Islam is the harshest thing the Chinese government can do. Being Muslim is an extremely important part of any Uighur. Taking away Islam is taking away the Uighur identity.”
“The worst attack on Islam has been the so-called ‘re-education camps.’ Over three million Uighur people have been detained illegally and China’s government has kept everything a secret. Once people, mainly the international community, started to take notice of the action, the government started to deny everything. At first they denied the existence of re-education camps. But then when there were more questions raised by the international community, the government said ‘they’re just re-education centers, we want to re-educate people who don’t have basic Chinese knowledge and skills.’ The government started talking about how they wanted to educate the Uighurs in order to properly integrate them into society and give them great opportunities and jobs. This is what they said at the beginning.
“However, the witnesses and survivors of the camps reveal a different truth. [There are very few witness reports because many people are unwilling or too scared to share their stories.] They have started to testify against what the Chinese government is doing in those re-education centers. And many survivors have revealed that the government captures the Uighurs, tortures them and brainwashes them, and they force the Uighur people to give up their religion and identity.”
“I personally have talked to a few survivors. I helped with a few translations for the woman who recently did the article for BBC. According to them, those camps are not about ‘education’ at all. The Uighurs are completely treated like prisoners, like they have no worth. From the many survivors I’ve talked to, I’ve learned that 15 to 20 women stay in one room. The room is extremely small and crowded. There aren’t many places to shower and the toilet is in their small and cramped room. The hygiene is terrible and doesn’t allow the women to properly take care of themselves.
“Part of the re-education is teaching them the Chinese language. They are told to only speak in Chinese and often get punished if they are unable to do so. If anyone is unable to speak in Chinese, they are deprived of food. The survivors have also commented that the food is not very good and more often than not, it includes pork. They are always hungry. They also inject unknown medicines and substances into the bodies of the captured Uighurs.
“Many of the women were forcibly given IUDs as a way to prohibit Uighur repopulation. During the nights, some of the women and young girls randomly get taken away and raped again and again by the officers of the camp. I think the rape is used as a strong tool to break the humanity and identity of the Uighur women to make them obey everything the guards tell them to do. It’s difficult to talk about what actually goes on inside these camps. The stories I’ve heard from the survivors are so horrific, it’s traumatizing simply listening to it.”
“When China gets questioned by the international community, they simply use one argument: Western conspiracy. Okay, let’s say it is Western conspiracy. Then what’s the problem with having people go to East Turkistan and give reports? Why are there so many restrictions? Why are people not allowed to visit these re-education centers? China has been refuting all claims of genocide. But if that truly isn’t the case, then why not simply let people go and observe for themselves? Why not let people find the proof to eradicate all allegations of genocide? Let the people check. Allow people to go in and debunk the Western ‘conspiracy theories.’
“Currently, I have many relatives living near the East Turkistan area and I am not allowed to talk to them. Why are you restricting communication between the residents of East Turkistan and the rest of the world? If the Chinese government had nothing to hide, then they would have no problem telling the truth. They know that they are guilty of all the crimes they are accused of. They know they are guilty of genocide.”
“Currently, I work as a Chinese outreach coordinator at the Uyghur Human Rights Project. This means that I reach out to Chinese-speaking communities and Chinese people and educate them about the Uighur situation. Many Chinese people don’t understand or even know what’s happening to the Uighur people because of the Chinese government’s propaganda and the misinformation they spread. The government spreads false ideas about what they do in order to get the support of the greater population. ‘Oh the Uighur people are creating trouble, they need to be properly educated because they are not following rules.’ They give out this type of misinformation to justify themselves. It is completely wrong. My job is to educate those people [when they’re outside of China’s Great Firewall], to teach them that whatever is happening is not because Uighur people are intentionally trying to make trouble. My job is to tell them about the truth behind the so-called re-education camps. My job is to tell them about the genocide acted out by the Chinese government.
“The international community can help by raising awareness and fundraising for the survivors. This is a problem that is underreported due to China’s strict control over media and what gets shared. That’s why it is necessary for everyone to educate themselves about the issue and read the stories told by the survivors. Educate yourself, your family, your country. In addition, fundraising for Uighur organizations is extremely important. These organizations, such as the one I work in, aid the survivors and provide them with relief. These survivors are traumatized and they need all the help they can get to resettle back into a normal life. The organizations also locate new survivors, share their stories, and find reports exposing the truth about the camps in China. It is through these things that we can hold China accountable and end this genocide.”
You can donate directly to the Uyghur Human Rights Project using this link: https://uhrp.org/donate/
Zubayra Shamseden | Chinese Outreach Coordinator/中文联络员 | 维吾尔人权项目
+1.571.535.0639 | zshams@uhrp.org | www.chinese.org | 您知道你能做什么
Follow: @UHRP_Chinese | @UyghurProject | @ZubayraZubeyre
