True Colors |
6 November 2018 |
Cogito Ergo Non Serviam The Beijing government is building concentration camps for Muslim citizens who live in Xinjiang. The Jamestown Foundation report that 2017 spending on security in the far-western region of the People's Republic rose 213% compared to 2016 levels. At the same time, vocational training in the region fell 7%. Clearly, when it comes to non-Han Chinese, Beijing would rather incarcerate than educate and tolerate. German academic Adrian Zenz the spending changes "reflect patterns of spending consistent with the construction and operation of highly secure political re-education camps designed to imprison hundreds of thousands of [Uighurs] with minimal due process." The Uighurs are a Turkic people, one of 55 recognized ethnic minorities in the PRC. According to a report on the BBC "Those with relatives in 26 'sensitive' countries have reportedly been rounded up, and up to a million detained. Rights groups say people in camps are made to learn Mandarin Chinese and criticise or renounce their faith." The official party line in Beijing is that there are no re-education camps, or concentration camps. Instead, the people are receiving vocational training. The party says that the region suffers from three evils: terrorism, extremism and separatism. For the ideological children of Mao to accuse others of terrorism and extremism is laughable. What the Uighurs are doing is holding the central government to its word. The constitution of the PRC reads in part, ''All ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China are equal. The state protects the lawful rights and interests of the ethnic minorities and upholds and develops a relationship of equality, unity and mutual assistance among all of China's ethnic groups. Discrimination against and oppression of any ethnic group are prohibited.'' Religious freedom is enshrined in the same document. However, the Uighurs seem not to enjoy the same status as the Han. Long beards and headscarves are banned. Children may not be taught the tenets of the Islamic faith. Even Islamic sounding names are unacceptable now. Satellite pictures show a facility outside Dabancheng capable of holding at least 11,000 people and up to 130,000. This is bigger than Rikers Island in New York that holds 10,000. A BBC team visited Xinjiang and called random phone numbers asking about the facility. What was this large complex with its 16 watchtowers that the authorities were so desperate to stop us filming? Once again, the ChiComs have demonstrated the validity of Bakunin's criticism of Marxist thought. Any revolutionary party will become an entrenched bureaucracy that will abandon every principle if it must do so to stay in power. The Uighurs are proof. © Copyright 2018 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux. |
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