Xinjiang and Uyghurs — What You’re Not Being Told | World Affairs
XINJIANG AND UYGHURS — WHAT YOU’RE NOT BEING TOLD
“1 million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps!” … “Ethnic Cleansing and Cultural Genocide!” … the western media is very effective at using emotional phrases. But what’s the real story? Let’s go beyond exaggeration, distortion and sensationalism.
First of all, the media will never show the peaceful, prosperous parts of Xinjiang:
Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang
And Western media won’t talk about the billions of dollars that China has invested in Xinjiang, modernizing the cities, building 21 airports, linking with region with bullet trains etc. Here’s a video of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. See how prosperous it is:
High-Speed Railway in Xinjiang
In 2018, the 21 airports in Xinjiang handled 33 million passengers
And there are also thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, a region whose recorded history goes back more than 2000 years when the ancient Silk Road linked China to Italy and Greece. In China, there are mosques that were built in the 10th century, which demonstrates the tolerance and respect for religious rights in Chinese society.
There are about 20,000 mosques in Xinjiang
Also to remember are two nuggets of information: Xinjiang is a really vast region — it’s four times as large as California(!); and Uyghurs make up only about 40% of Xinjiang’s population.
Now, let’s break down the facts. There are four types of Uyghur Muslims:
Well-educated Uyghurs who are moderate/secular Muslims
Poor and lower middle-class Uyghurs
Nomads
Separatists and terrorists
Moderate/Secular Uyghurs
These are middle or upper middle-class Muslims who enjoy normal lives, have good jobs, and integrate easily with the mainstream Chinese culture. There are even popular Uyghur musicians, TV hosts, rappers (!) etc. in China. Here are two famous Uyghur actresses — Guli Nazha and Dilraba Dilmurat.
Uyghur Actresses
Uyghur kids from educated families go to schools, live normal lives and have a lot of fun on social media like Tik Tok (“Douyin” in China):
And here is an upper class Uyghur wedding, for which obviously the family must have spent a lot of money!
Working Class Uyghurs
There are also many working class Uyghurs who may own restaurants and gift shops or work as artists and craftsmen in touristy places. Their lives aren’t bad and most of them don’t get into trouble with the government. here’s a quick slideshow :
Really Poor Uyghurs
Then there are really poor Uyghurs who live in slums. These are prime targets for recruitment by jihadists. Many of these Uyghur kids work on the streets and shine shoes or help their families with menial jobs like taking care of donkeys or other animals.
When the Chinese government mandates that these children go to school, the Western media scream bloody murder. What hypocrisy! If these Uyghurs come to the US, the children will be forced to attend schools as well. Here is a school that the “evil CCP” forces the Uyghur kids to attend:
Most of these kids don’t even speak Chinese, which greatly limits their abilities to find jobs later on as adults. So when they learn Chinese in school, the western propaganda screams, “cultural genocide.” Sheer idiocy!
The BBC admits that the “communist” (gasp!) government has spent $1.2 billion in the last five years on upgrading and building new schools for children in Xinjiang. This should be applauded, not demonized!
The Chinese government has done a phenomenal job by lifting 1.85 million Uyghur Muslims out of poverty between 2014 and 2017. Of course, the western media will never talk about it.
Nomadic Uighurs
Then there are Uyghurs who are herders and nomads in the vast Xinjiang region. Here’s a quick slideshow:
Although it seems romantic, their lives are not compatible with modern days. Most of them are stuck in extreme poverty and their kids also grow up completely illiterate. Sometimes the Chinese government relocates tens of thousands of these people into the cities and gives them jobs, free housing, health care etc. Of course, US media will spin this as “ethnic cleansing.” (The government has helped millions of Chinese people in other areas get out of extreme poverty by similar relocation projects as well).
Many of these nomads appreciate the new life: “With central heating, gas, running water, Internet and cable TV, we no longer need to worry about things that troubled us in the past.”
Sometimes, if the parents don’t want to give up their nomadic lives, the government may move the children to boarding schools, where they get free lodging, meals and education.
Separatists and Terrorists
What is not mentioned in the mainstream media is that the West has been stroking separatism in Xinjiang since the 1950s! When the Chinese communists won in 1949 (by defeating US-supported faction, which went on to establish Taiwan), the US started arming/funding separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang. The US brought in a lot of these extremists into Germany in the 1970s and helped them foment a movement for “East Turkestan.” Currently, the so-called “World Uyghur Congress” (WUC) is funded and glorified by the US government through NGOs such as National Endowment of Democracy (NED) — which also played a major role in the Tiananmen Square clashes in 1989 (see my article). BTW, the story of “1 million Muslims in concentration camps” (sometimes it’s 2 or 3 million!) comes from testimonies of WUC members.
However, to the dismay of propagandists, no Muslim country is buying the “concentration camps” narrative. Turkey is the closest to Uyghurs, who are of Turkic origin. Turkish leader Erdogan was in China few days ago and said that the Uyghur re-education centers won’t affect China-Turkey relations.
Indonesia — the largest Muslim country in the world —has also said that it understands China’s predicament of dealing with separatists. Similarly Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and even Saudi Arabia have dismissed the sensational stories. Many diplomats and reporters have visited these camps and have come out reassured.
One more historical perspective: After the Mujahideen war in Afghanistan ended in 1989, many of those fighters went to Central Asia. And the disease of Wahhabism spread to Xinjiang as well. In 2002 (and a few times since then), the UN officially labeled ETIM (East Turkistan Islamic Movement) as a terrorist organization linked to Al Qaeda.
From 2009 to 2015, there were a lot of terrorist attacks by the Uyghur jihadists (here’s an example). That’s when China decided to really crack down. During the peak of the Syrian war, about 18,000 radicalized Uyghur Muslims went to Syria and joined ISIS to fight Assad.
Uyghur jihadists with ISIS
Conclusion
Xinjiang also has a lot of economic implications. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has 1000s of freight trains and trucks carrying goods between China and Europe every year; and most of these trains and trucks go through Xinjiang. There are also many oil/gas pipelines from Central Asia that go through Xinjiang to power China’s industrial economy. An unstable Xinjiang will wreak havoc on the Chinese economy.
The Chinese government is trying to help the poor people and fight the jihadists at the same time. While the West cries crocodile tears, Uyghurs are dancing and singing on “Uyghur Got Talent”:
The US really needs to fix its foreign policy, which is now based on chaos, confrontation, wars, Machiavellian divide-and-conquer strategies, and endless propaganda. The US needs a positive approach that’s based on cooperation, friendly competition and ethical policies.
Related blog post: Xinjiang in pictures (slideshow)
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54 COMMENTS
roger5201July 6, 2019 at 1:45 am
America should get its own house in order before accusing others. “1 million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps” sounds more like another “Huawei is spying on us” propaganda.
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BradJuly 7, 2019 at 5:07 am
So, may I ask, to clarify this article, would it be safe to travel there to see this for myself, ask questions of local people and officials without fear of government reprisal toward myself or others I would speak to?
I’m very confused by both sides using propaganda and disinformation.
I have seen the western media side on the Uyghur situation, as well as the Chinese answer to these allegations.
Both sides seem to have quite fair points, though without seeing things for myself I’m worried that anyone who may wish to find out the truth would be likely accused of espionage or of spying.
I don’t like to see western media shitting on another country due to economic wars, especially as we have seen how far China has come in recent times of industrialisation and modernisation of the country.
I understand barely how hard this would be, and congratulate China and the Chinese government on these efforts, especially with the disruptions that the US is famous for world over.
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carJuly 7, 2019 at 7:10 am
You sound very young and not too wise in the ways of the world. China is a vast area and if you know their culture, can speak dialects of Chinese or have a very close Chinese friend able to show you China…by all means go but if none of the above is true, you will be in trouble the first time you drop a piece of paper on the street. Note how clean the streets are? There are lots of rules in this communist country and they are to be respected. It’s really none of the US business how China cares for and protects it’s population. We in America have our own internal war to fight. why not join the fight right here to keep America free and to keep it working as a free and not a socialist or communist state. Every American should join in this fight because if not. You will find out very up close and personal what it’s like to live in a communist/socialist country and it’s not pretty for most.
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World Affairs - Non-Partisan and ObjectiveJuly 7, 2019 at 1:04 pm
Millions of international tourists travel to Xinjiang every year, so you can go there. As for “investigative journalism,” I don’t think it will go well. LOL. China has ways to go regarding that
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PM Van AardtAugust 26, 2019 at 4:29 pm
utter rubbish! You are free to go, film, talk to locals and explore the area. Your brainwashed ignorance is so typical of all yanks.
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Qiu WeiJuly 8, 2019 at 1:03 am
at first i thought this is so but after watching youtube video of overseas tibetan and other tourist travelling it seem easy enough. abit trickery for the tibetan as she has to get a permit ahead of time, but western tourist has been riding the train into xinjiang and posting their travels without issue.
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TravelerJuly 11, 2019 at 11:28 pm
Yes. I had done it.
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HenryAugust 5, 2019 at 5:10 pm
Please go and see by yourself, by all means
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taraOctober 2, 2019 at 6:34 am
i traveled there n spoke with lots of people. I didn’t have any problem but I speak Chinese; even then I had fair amount of problem communication directly with some locals. That was over 10 yrs ago. Not sure how far you can get nowadays speaking only English, probably not very far unless u hire an interpreter.
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dontspeaknewsJuly 7, 2019 at 7:01 am
Thanks for posting this and getting us some truth!
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carJuly 7, 2019 at 7:12 am
Looks like some truth and some propaganda so take it with a grain of salt. Either way it’s certainly not American’s business, we have our own problems trying to keep the socialist and communist out.
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FitzhenrymacJuly 14, 2019 at 11:09 pm
Whilst you are ‘keeping the commies out’ your government is keeping hundreds of children in detention, holding the most people in the world in its jails, spying on you, sending your kids to kill other people’s kids and maybe to be killed too… I could go on but I think you will have got the drift. Your enemy is not socialism but your government.
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Kevin ArmesJuly 20, 2019 at 12:16 am
I bet you don’t even know what socialism is. You’ve just been raised to fear it without anyone bothering to explain it to you.
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Joseph TajikJuly 7, 2019 at 10:29 am
Good article and true as well. China helps Uyghurs in every way possible.
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KC TohJuly 13, 2019 at 7:10 am
I didn’t have cable or satellite TV and did not watch much network TV. More than 20 years ago there was supposed to be unrest in Xinjiang and there was footage of a man in red jacket get off his motorbike and beat up a bystander. Captions: Anti government unrest in Xinjiang. I was amazed. People beat up fellow city mates to protest the government? And CNN on hand to capture this two-person episode?
Some uprising indeed!
KC
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joshstyxJuly 13, 2019 at 7:45 pm
mmmmm, had initially put this ‘news’ down to Western propaganda, another excuse to demonise China.
But after watching the Vice News Tonight episode – “China’s Vanishing Muslims: Undercover In The Most Dystopian Place In The World” – I got a distinct case of the heebie jeebies.
Unfortunately, with the crude restrictions on freedom of expression, association, debate and investigation that the state appears to enforce (no doubt to the envy of governments the world over), it seems impossible to get a truly reliable idea of what is going on there. But things did seem particularly ‘dystopian’.
Being British by birth, I see ‘dystopian’ all around me in the wars of aggression in the Middle East, the demonisation and ill treatment of migrants and Muslims, the absolute surveillance of private citizens, the nefarious marriage of money & politics, etc. etc. So do not make the mistake of believing my concerns about this subject are simply the further vilification of China that we see in the propaganda of many governments and their compliant mass media stooges.
Whilst technically being British, I consider myself a human being first and foremost, as I do my fellow human beings whether they be living in Xinjiang, Beijing, Cape Town, Bogota, San Francisco or anywhere else on this wonderful planet we all call home. We are all Citizens of the World.
So to those commentators who would dismiss my opinions, or my wish to express them, on the basis that I should not concern myself with what is going on in China or with what the government of China is doing; or that the vile abuses levelled at people within and outside my home nation by Western governments somehow precludes me from engaging in conversation on the situation in Xinjiang, I would simply reiterate the words of the Good Doctor when he said that an “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. A sentiment which I assume resonates with all of us human beings, wherever we happen to reside.
As the saying goes, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” and the article above mentions several, often professed, good intentions behind what is occurring in Xinjiang, be it; strengthening national unity or identity; enhancing security and stability; eradicating poverty and offering education to those without, etc.
All very noble considerations, but at what cost?
To forcibly relocate tens of thousands of people puts me in mind of the European migrants and their “acquisition” of native lands in North America, evicting the legitimate and indigenous humans from their ‘homeland’.
The re-education camps have numerous precedents across the colonised worlds where so called ‘savage’ people were helped to become ‘civilised’ in their oppressors’ image.
Those children whose parents are kidnapped and bussed off for ideological re-education, who are themselves then transported to ‘boarding’ schools and kindergartens? The Inuits of Canada and Aborigines of Australia will be familiar with the heartbreak and pain caused by this ‘kindness’ in the name of assimilation.
All too often, the errors and horrors of history are repeated ad nauseum and I fervently believe it is the responsibility of us all to question and challenge this as if our lives depended on it, because undoubtedly someone’s life does depend on it. Maybe not our own life, not today, but definitely somebody’s life, someday.
Is ‘development’ really worth the pain, the dislocation, the despair, that is caused? The individuals detained, the freedoms restricted, the families torn apart?
So that someone can then judge themselves privileged to watch another homogenised television version of “Somebody’s Got Talent”, living in an anonymous concrete box perched high above another anonymous McCity?
Is there no other ‘means’ to achieve the laudable ends of a healthy, educated & secure existence for all those in our communities?
Unless you’re on the receiving end of such policies, I think it is difficult to answer these questions truthfully. All too often, what happens to ‘Them’ is easily disregarded as we struggle with our own lives as ‘Us’.
But as Pastor Niemöller so aptly stated, one day ‘Them’ could very well be ‘Us’ – and the empathy this alludes to is an essential human trait that we should all nurture.
I believe that we can find unity in diversity, that to celebrate another is to enrich ourselves, to defend others is to ultimately guarantee our own security.
In the Vice documentary, an everyday woman responded to the attack on Uighur cultural identity by saying that Han and minorities must be the same in order to ensure unity.
She referenced the “Three Togethers” – eat together, live together, work together. Itself a laudable sentiment but “Togetherness” and “Sameness” are not the same thing.
How stultifyingly boring life would be if all diversity was eradicated, that we all ate the same, thought the same, enjoyed the same?
Where everybody ate noodles for breakfast or burgers for lunch or pizza for dinner. Where everybody listened to the same music or enjoyed the same humour or wore the same clothes.
No more would we ask the question “do you like…?” or “what do you think about….?”
To be human is to be diverse. No human alive today, no human who has ever lived or ever will live, is identical. We are all unique and it is our very differences that ultimately unite us.
To attempt to forcibly remove these differences or to deny us the freedom to express these differences is to make us ‘unhuman’, to create robots that are more easily ‘managed’.
It is this that I fear may be happening in Xinjiang to the Uighur men, women and children, as it is happening and has happened all over the world at one time or another, as it happens now in the part of the world I grew up in where there are those who would prefer people to simply be vigorous consumers, pliant workers, unquestioning followers and docile citizens.
It is this that we struggle against, that we have always struggled against and will probably continue to struggle against till the end of time. Because our freedom to ‘be’, the freedom of our communities not to be ‘coerced’ into uniformity, the freedom of ourselves to find a peaceful coexistence outside of tyranny and brutality is at the core of a human being, the happiness that we strive for, for ourselves and for our fellows.
I admit to knowing next to nothing about the situation in Xinjiang as I’m sure there are plenty of people in Xinjiang itself who know next to nothing about what is going on.
This is why I am happy to have stumbled across this article and also the Vice documentary, to fill in some of the gaps in my ignorance, to answer questions and raise more.
But what is known does already worry me:
What happens in these forced re-education camps? Will we ever know? What is hidden & why?
And what is not known worries me even more. Because we know that governments and bureaucrats can act unfeelingly in pursuit of ideology (I’m guessing many Chinese know this more painfully than I). We know that minorities are often easily and casually abused and we know that when decent people stand idle, evil can flourish.
And it terrifies me that whilst all debate on this is limited to “this side is good and that side is bad” or “the end justifies the means”, small children will be crying themselves to sleep, mothers and fathers will be sick with worry, separated, isolated, in unfamiliar surroundings, hundreds of miles from one another and from their homes, their communities, their neighbours & friends, with no contact and no idea if their loved ones are well, unable to console one another.
This is no way to live & I truly would not wish it on my worst enemy.
More than this I do not know and cannot say, but history teaches us that terror lurks in darkness. I give my utmost respect and solidarity to those, like yourselves, shining a light on and searching for the truth in Xinjiang.
Peace,
Josh
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PM Van AardtAugust 26, 2019 at 4:55 pm
if your view of China is based on VICE then I am afraid to say that you are as ignorant of the Chinese people, the Chinese ‘way’ and the Chinese ‘socialist/communist’ government.NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON who has made the stupidly ignorant comments on here has ever bother to go there. I have, I lived in China, I have seen and met 1000s of expats, brits/ yanks/ italians/ germans/dutch etc etc etc and ALL, EVERY single one of them LOVE it there and NOT ONE will EVER move back home as they ALL feel safer there than in their own countries, and the are Christians, muslims and agnostics. London with all your stabbing etc etc, USA with all the police brutality, school killings etc etc etc is safe?? Your UK that designed the concentration camps and starved to death 1000s and 1000s of innocent women and children and with your criminal regime USA has murdered millions in all the fake wars you have taken part in in all the illegal invasions of sovereign states do not have right to say one single negative word about China which has never invaded another country, has been invaded, pillaged and robbed for decades by your criminal regime, poisoned by YOUR opium trade and not once ever supported by your nation.
FACT =USA/ CIA and UK/MI5 etc have, from Laos and Cambodia infiltrated the region with terrorists YOU have trained to launch over 2000 attacks on innocent civilians including the mass attack by drug crazed wankers supported by you and the CIA on a small town where they ran around hacking people to death. Those in the few camps ARE TERRORISTS! Scum, trained by our self righteous government of liars, killers, assassins, thieves and criminals. I have with my own eyes seen shipments of explosives , weapons, ammunition sent by your government to African countries in support of TERRORISTS. You claim to worry about crying women and children. Bollocks! Your nation are cowards like the Ausies and the yanks who sit on your fat butts while your countries commit mass murder and starvation on nations like Yemen and Venezuela etc etc etc etc. Dont even PRETEND to care! I have seen the result for your BS care for crying women an children with their faces dripping and melting off form your illegal frantam and phosphorous bombs and blind, smashed up children screaming for their father with their guts in their hands and one eye hanging out looking down at the ground so stuff your ‘care’ for women and children that YOUR wanker government murders EVERY SINGLE day. You 4 nations, USA/UK/Australia and Canada are the worlds worst sponsors of global terrorism and mass murder because you citizens are all so brainwashed and such cowards you LET IT ALL HAPPEN. Bollocks to you all!
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Agent SmithAugust 29, 2019 at 5:27 pm
I gotta say that I think I would much rather use a Chinese train terminal than one in the U.S. and believe me, I shit red, white and blue (but not on the sidewalk, which is my point here). To prove your last point I will post a version of this article to face book and watch the vitriol (or indifference) flow towards me from my countrymen. I have been lambasting my friends with images of hungry children in memes ridiculing our illegal sanctions for a little while now (gotta get tough with these dictator types by starving this child here) and actually I was surprised by the six or so that agreed that it was evil. So maybe when we paint with the broad brush we miss the individual exception. I think some of the problem is that my countrymen can’t understand the Confucian oriented thinking that values the harmonious society, which is to bad because social cohesion is disintegrating at a horrific pace here. So if you wish to classify me with pretense, nothing will stop you, but I would suggest you are more persuasive with a more nuanced approach. No person, or system is perfect.
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jimAugust 29, 2019 at 10:29 am
“Being British by birth, I see ‘dystopian’ all around me in the wars of aggression in the Middle East, the demonisation and ill treatment of migrants and Muslims”
Too bad you don’t notice the much more obvious ‘ill treatment’ of British children by Muslim rape gangs in Rotherham, etc.
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Agent SmithAugust 29, 2019 at 5:36 pm
Amen, my heart goes out to you all in the U.K. with tides of “migrants” which, I’m sure there are two or three that are class acts and “grateful to be there” solid types; but the groomer gangs, acid attacks (on tots none-the-less!) glassing, stabbings, vehicular assaults and so on… well, if I could fix it, I would in less than a moment. Forward with intensity my man!
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joshstyxAugust 29, 2019 at 10:00 pm
who says I “don’t notice” that ill treatment?
But I would disagree that it is “more obvious”, unless you are simply looking for excuses to shore up a preconceived prejudice.
Knowing a few people working in Child Protection Services, I know that the overwhelming majority of cases of child abusers in Britain are white men. Britain is predominantly a white society so that statistic is probably not surprising.
But I wouldn’t deduce from that fact that it is a characteristic of white men to abuse children or somehow part of their (my!) culture, unless I had a preconceived prejudice I wanted to reinforce. Likewise, the “Muslim rape gang” trope is similarly ill conceived and essentially self serving to those propagandised into hating/fearing some “other” people.
I fear to imagine the scope of “elite” human trafficking and pedophilia suggested by the scandals of Epstein, Jimmy Savile, Edward Heath, Cyril Smith, Catholic Church, etc. etc. Obviously a lot more white there than Muslim or brown.
British Muslim isn’t the problem, pedophiles are the problem and to disproportionately denigrate the former gives the latter free reign to operate under the radar, especially as we find out again and again that they are repeatedly operating from positions of power within the establishment, the very White establishment, over generations.
Perhaps you ought to look beyond the “obvious”.
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joshstyxJuly 13, 2019 at 10:51 pm
p.s.
Just a more positive note to balance my rather glum & worrisome post above, to say that China, its recent developments, rich history and potential on the global stage in the 21st Century fascinate and excite me.
China’s potential to be a global hub for technological and environmental development is almost unimaginable in scale and this is what I find so exciting. I have been travelling with my bicycle for more than 5 years, through Europe, East Africa, South Asia and now South East Asia with China as my destination, to explore, witness & interact there for myself, to a small degree – as it’s such a big country!!
But with global developments over the past 30 years in particular and 80 years in general, in terms of society and social development, I just hope that the mistakes & injustices of the past are not compounded in the rush to change but rather avoided wherever possible.
And whilst I am concerned over such dangers, I am ever optimistic that human beings will continue to find a way to ensure their freedoms are protected alongside the well being of our communities. As a nation of some considerable number of human beings, I can only imagine China will continue along this path in ways we cannot yet imagine.
But if we are going to collectively manifest that Other World that is possible, we do need to be ever vigilant and proactive. For I have seen & experienced the dangers of authoritarianism and blind consumerism in my own lifetime, dangers for our communities, our environments and our selves, dangers highlighted by the likes of Orwell, Huxley & many others in all parts of the World.
As a species, I believe we do better and better every generation, but as the magnitude of our successes increases exponentially, so too do the potential risks of ill conceived or poorly implements policies.
Freedom is key, without which all else is but a temporary distraction.
…….sorry to waffle on so much, I have been travelling alone for the past couple of months and am probably lacking a bit of social interaction besides the fleeting conversations I have along the Way :-)))
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World Affairs - Non-Partisan and ObjectiveJuly 13, 2019 at 11:28 pm
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Balanced and very well articulated.
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Import AntJuly 19, 2019 at 4:15 pm
Hi Josh, you are a charming individual, very different from the ones I know in the UK who speaks only for the best and right things in Western democractic societies and put down other nations, regimes or cultures in a hyprocritical way! I am also a human being, enjoying living and helping to make this universe a peaceful place to live in and preferably with the infusion of love, tolerance, acceptance and understanding of all the different fellow humans on earth. After all, we are passers-by in our limited time and space. Why can’t we gather up to rejoice over our existence or perhaps a chance to meet instead of digging into others’ faults and gaining an upperhand due to greed for power and money? If you reside in the UK, I would like to salute you! I am an ‘import-ant’ with only a tiny voice ….
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joshstyxJuly 19, 2019 at 11:05 pm
Hello Ant,
Thankyou for your kind words.
Rest assured that my sentiments are shared by countless numbers of other humans living on my home island of Britain
asthey are by the overwhelming majority of our fellow humans across the planet, as I’m sure you’ll agree.
We are largely ignored by the mainstream voices of ruling minorities and their media echo boxes as we do not promote their
divisive and supremacist ideologies, but we exist, we challenge, we struggle, we persevere and, eventually, we prevail as
compassion and cooperation are simply essential elements to ensure the survival of our species.
The ‘divide & conquer’ tactics of those who would seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the majority and the
overwhelming pervasiveness of the propaganda they employ is hard to counter and we are all susceptible, to a greater or lesser degree.
So much so, that eventhough we live in a very interconnected world, the fallacy of our separateness is foisted on us to an
alarming degree.
But it is a fallacy, an illusion that invariably fails and falls.
I realise that I will be writing nothing new to you, Ant, but it is nice to put down these thoughts and share them with yourself & others on this internet, in solidarity on the Line Apologies for ‘hogging’ so much page space.
I have been travelling with my bicycle from Britain to China for the past five and a half years, through Europe, East Africa,
East Asia and now South East Asia, largely living and working in local communities along the Way.
What has been most rewarding has been the near constant reaffirmation of our common humanity, that despite all the
misconceptions and prejudices we suffer from, underneath it all is a commonality that transcends all the divisiveness and
differences that we are led to believe separate us.
The community I grew up in is one rich in struggle, against the poverty and social injustices suffered both within and without our island. But it is amazing how little of this is known by the people I have travelled amongst. And in equal measure, there are whole swathes of human history from within their communities of which I have been largely ignorant.
The joy of sharing those stories and breaking down some of the walls of ignorance between us, of eating, living, working and
laughing together is a truly beautiful experience.
Whilst the minority that maintain the status quo are empowered by the digital age and revel in their ability to further
spread their obsolete ideologies, the very tool of their mischief will be their downfall because it is essentially ‘ours’ and, despite their efforts to the contrary, it is and will always be open. You, I & others can share our ideas here, find commonality and iron out differences, if need be. If not here, then there, or somewhere, anywhere and everywhere. I think this terrifies them.
Whilst falsehoods can spread with alarming rapidity, especially with the complicity of mainstream media, they are blown away
just as easily and therefore need to be constantly replaced and reinvented, the conveyor belt of “Enemies” to keep us fearful
and compliant – in Britain, the ‘Them’ in “Them & Us” has been West Indians, the Irish, South Asians, Muslims, minorities, refugees, migrants, the poor, gypsies, young people, brown people, teenage mothers, domestic terrorists, international terrorists, Russia, China, drug dealers, etc. etc. When in fact the biggest dangers to our health and social well being, more often than not, come from individuals who adopt the roles of those most ‘upstanding’ in our communities, in politics, business and covert ‘intelligence’.
However, a Truth stands the test of time. Once stated it resonates within us all and is indestructible. The best that those
purveyors of falsity can hope to do is hide that truth under mountains of disinformation and distraction or simply behind a
wall of silence. But even then it shines, it rings out and it will not go away.
I realise nothing I say is new or original, merely restating that which we all know within ourselves and which has been reflected on and articulated be much wiser humans than I throughout our communities and histories, but it’s nice to share some nice thoughts with you Ant, after enjoying your own nice thoughts.
An Import Ant, nice A drop in an ocean of thought, a grain of sand in a blooming desert. Perhaps it is this admirable and essential humility that sets us apart from those who feel supremely deserving and seek happiness in self aggrandisement.
Before I sign off and go and play computer games at the local Cyber cafe (I’m resting in Saigon before cycling north to China), I’ll share two quotes your post reminded me of, from much more erudite people than me :-))
“Rise, like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you:
Ye are many—they are few!”
― Percy Bysshe Shelley, part of the poem “The Masque of Anarchy”, Written on the occasion of the Massacre at Manchester.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world wil know peace”
– Jimmy Hendrix (with a ‘hat tip’ to Sri Chinmoy)
Peace,
Josh
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Agent SmithAugust 30, 2019 at 12:19 am
so a case like Rotherham is conflated with a class example of white men… I realize there is a gulf between perception and fact. In the U.S. eye witness testimony is one of the more notorious proofs and one that an attorney will generally seek to impeach. We also have a fairly diverse population, yet Caucasians still make up over half of the population, and a much larger one than in the U.K., Native Americans are one of the smallest and have horrifically high levels of child molestation. Right behind these are Hispanics followed by Black Americans and then Caucasians (or whites generally); Asians have a low rate, though it seems that those from India and Pakistan seem to molest their boys at a higher rate than say north Asians. Yet if we look at numbers, the whites, with a lower rate of molestation have more instances of child abuse because of their larger overall representation in the population. You would want to look at the rate of engagement in said activity. How many white groomer gangs are on record in the U.K.? Then correlate with the population size and then compare this with available data points for say, Asian peoples in a given sample (of chomos.. in the U.S. we say chomo as a contraction).
Having a ton of Anthropology credits I can say that there are of course large variations within these groupings. A high caste man is much less likely to molest his son than someone of lower caste and so on. Pakistan tends to favor readings of the Koran which stipulate that all are free to marry whoever they wish, and because of clan structures and tradition it keeps more wealth within the extended relation group if one marries their daughter off to a brother, uncle or cousin. Good for the clan, but not so great for the gene pool.
It sounds as if you do in fact need some down time or social interaction. Perhaps you might wish to investigate a phenomena called liminality. It originated by the observations of a folklorist (Arnold van Gannep) and than was used to examine sociopolitical and cultural conditions (Rene Girard). Of course I backed into it because an anthropologist (Victor Turner), who describes situations where humans are between one definite state and another; coming of age rituals for instance (the subject is neither child nor adult). The state produces tension and confusion the longer the basis of reality is suspended.
“The attributes of liminality are necessarily ambiguous. . . Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention and ceremonial.”
—Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (95)
But look at what Marshal McLuhan says:
“Radical changes of identity, happening suddenly and in very brief intervals of time, have proved more deadly and destructive of human values than wars fought with hardware weapons.”
—Marshall McLuhan, Laws of Media: The New Science
Now I know much less about say, old timey Bolshevist theory about dialectical action; but lets assume that the assorted intelligence aparats of the west (or the world for that matter) understand these concepts very well. I mean, one does not run an operation Gladio (or any of the “stay behind armies” that NATO ran) with shoestrings and swizzle sticks. Now with this in mind, how can you say anything about freedom? How can you make claims about what is obvious? How can you assert an identity if such is drawn from externals (like “race”)? Is not the psyche within the human? Or is it that the mind is in charge and the body comes along as it’s bitch; we get to choose things like identity just as we like, based upon what suits us?
As an aside: You mention Epstein, and I myself was curious because here we see the social elites, as opposed to the lower and middle of society in contravention of law and morality. I believe Costas claimed he backed off the charging docs because he was told Epstein “was an intelligence matter”. I was burning with curiosity because the “classic honey pot” is classic for a reason (its effective). Was that how Israeli intelligence gets a “leg up” on the political class here? Or maybe a joint venture of “intelligence sharing” with it being a CIA shop? Well, the world may never know, but I think it is apples and oranges to compare the social elite with the underclass in terms of predatory child abuse. I’m wrong just about a third of the time just by virtue of not having all the facts present (as are we all- which is something to think over the next time an official asks if you would like to make a statement, eh?).
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CharlieJuly 14, 2019 at 1:21 am
USA is the biggest devil
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World Affairs - Non-Partisan and ObjectiveJuly 14, 2019 at 3:31 pm
Empires are always ruthless. They have to resort to violence to maintain their power; then they need extraordinary propaganda and lies to justify their actions. Been that way 2000 years. But they all eventually crumble. Need a new-new world order for nations to coexist in peace as equals.
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Te’ amo ClassyJuly 16, 2019 at 8:57 am
Socialism is far more necessary than Democracy, for progress.
Islam needs its own Enlightenment.
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Agent SmithAugust 30, 2019 at 12:38 am
Hmm, Socialism has problems with price calculation, and I’m not picking on anyone’s pet method here; all centralized planning and top down control mechanisms share this feature. I’m not exactly a fan of “Democracy” either. Though in truth, the U.S. started out with a republic that used democratic process, as opposed to being a “democracy”. Our schools bombard us with it, as does the media and soon enough it just gurgles out of everyone’s mouths here.
But to be clear, Socialism isn’t Venezuela’s problem with feeding its people. That is more the U.S. control of the reserve currency and the British heisting the Venezuelan reserves (I want to say through the International Bank of Settlements, but I’m second guessing myself as I type this- maybe it was just BoE). But as this seems to be a fairly sharp group, I think most are aware of these differences and assorted shenanigans.
What is necessary is a responsive system of maintaining actual justice and conditions of a high trust society. Look at Honk Kong and Singapore; neither has a tradition of what we could meaningfully call “western democratic principles and “rights”. Yet both enjoy an incredible amount trust that a contract signed today, will be honored at a later date. I hear Singapore has eased up on chewing gum and some littering, since the good old days; what with martial arts caning and such.
Anyhow, we can call these ideologies what we wish, but I say the highest and best good delivered by government is a valuable, just service of law, and fostering a high trust and harmonious society. We could call it what we wish, but at the end of the day it has to deliver these high value goods.
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Agent SmithAugust 30, 2019 at 12:40 am
Doh! thats Hong Kong… pardon.
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Zhang JackJuly 16, 2019 at 8:59 pm
I just want to say the government never push or convince us to give up our cultures and religions! Instead to protect our cultures! Learn mandarin is definitely necessary important thing for us. Because we need to get a good education good life better future! Some Western media wrote Chinese government have been assimilating us that’s lies ! We also learn English as well that you can’t say western countries are assimilating us as well !
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Richard LeongJuly 19, 2019 at 8:13 pm
USA spread hatred n wars among the races of the world wreaking havoc to the peace loving peoples including the Chinese.
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Charles chiaJuly 20, 2019 at 6:44 am
The world is slowly but surely knows the evil evil and wicked scheme of US and Britain govt. inn every part of the world. The
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Charles chiaJuly 20, 2019 at 6:46 am
The world is slowly but surely knows the evil evil and wicked scheme of US and Britain govt. inn every part of the world.
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Pang chui huaJuly 31, 2019 at 5:29 am
To Americans, they have been taught they are the most open country, the most free country and the the strongest in the world. They are also the most arrogant country in the world especially it’s leaders. So much so that they condemn others they seem fit without getting the facts right
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Agent SmithAugust 29, 2019 at 5:46 pm
We are told its this free and open system, but a bit of study and examination will show that it is more akin to a neo-feudal technocracy that is run by a militaristic cabal. Its sad really, because my countrymen don’t understand that as our empire fails, it will become more authoritarian and repressive internally. Of course the vast majority will not listen to reason and there is a good chance that it may end badly for a lot of people. Here’s to hope (even if but a fool’s hope)!
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Ressident Far EastAugust 8, 2019 at 10:53 pm
A real eye opener. The west would only highlight the negative and makes China looks bad. Such positive infomation should be circulated and to more people outside China.
Not many people has the opportunity to travel to Xinjiang.
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YeoAugust 21, 2019 at 9:09 am
Thank you for your insightful article and the debunking of the 1m myth. 1m in concentration camp ? Is this possible? There are about 9m uyghurs in Xijiang, so 1 in 9 in concentration camp? Can you imagine the logistics of housing 1m , including feeding them and the people that are needed to manage the camps? At say $1 a day to feed one person, it will cost the Chinese government $1m a day just to feed and keep these people alive! The Chinese government is much more prudent than to waste this amount every day. End day the western media has it own agenda, and basically that is to spite China and its progress for the last few decades. Underlying this is the western fear that the sicky and sleepy giant of the past is now healthy and strong and can challenge them. China has now turned the corner and is no longer weak. There is nothing that the west can do to change that but to accept gracefully China’s march to wealth and power. The present approach by the west to China has not changed for the last few centuries , but the days that the west being powerful and rule the world are closing soon, if no gone. Modern China , unlike the past centuries, can no longer be humiliated or will she tolerate it. So I urge you guys to adopt an objective view of the world rather than to be misled by propaganda.
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Agent SmithAugust 29, 2019 at 5:57 pm
Believe me, I love my homeland (America) and it is all I have known, but if I had the chance I would choose to grow with Eurasia. We seem only to destroy, control and siphon wealth away from others, but China, Russia and others in Eurasia seem to build, to grow and have an eye towards the future. Our culture is being squandered, abused and thrown away, and it is sad to watch. Actually, it is heart wrenching. If I speak out for free, open markets that foster peace, understanding and growth I am called a communist, yes thats right, I advocate the old, capital theory and they call me a “communist”! Reason turned around, and every fool has his madness crowned! Best wishes to you all.
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eanpengmas292August 27, 2019 at 10:52 pm
This is an outstanding article with clean facts and photos written to defend the truth about the horrifically visored version popularised in the predominant mainstream media. I find the comments made here highly educational and committed to their cause.
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Sam DicksonAugust 29, 2019 at 1:17 pm
It does seem hypocritical for the US to talk about brainwashing children and taking children away from their culture, etc. What pray tell has the System in America done but exactly that in dealing with the South? The textbooks in Communist China can scarcely be any more biased and designed to brainwash and “reeducate” Uighers than the ones in “our” school system here. It’s SOP in America to vilify the founding stock of the country and to demonize White people. And, just as with the Han Chinese, the System in America is engaged in a massive colonization program to replace the core ethnic group of the country with 3rd World colonists.
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Agent SmithAugust 29, 2019 at 6:07 pm
Oh amen there. Its absolutely insane, but they call them “climate refugees” now; you didn’t see the propaganda brief? As if there is a refuge anywhere; the bees don’t find their way back to the hives, the harvests are poor, and we pump the largest aquifer in the hemisphere to grow wheat and corn to keep the commodities speculators fed and wealthy. Our ag belt poisons the great river on down to the gulf with nutrient pollution that fosters algae blooms that are visible from space, while we blather about “property rights and freedom”. With each cycle of insanity it becomes more and more acceptable to scapegoat Americans with light skin tone, and the president who is constantly made out to be a “racial supremacist” wants to throw our due process and “worry about it later”. Enough to make my blood boil thinking about it… I blame the Yankee problem.
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Bruce DicksonOctober 3, 2019 at 10:43 am
An enjoyable and educational article. Thank you for working to counter the West’s incessant propaganda.
Just one minor note, however: Islam does not date back 2,000 years. It is centuries younger; therefore the region cannot have “mosques” dating back as far as you state. It’s possible there are 2,000-plus year old buildings that went on to become mosques; but they most assuredly did not start out as such.
Of course, that does not refute your key point about the region’s long standing respect of, and tolerance for, the practice of Islam and for its adherents.
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World Affairs - Non-Partisan and ObjectiveOctober 3, 2019 at 9:15 pm
Oh, I meant that history of Xinjiang’s connection to China goes back 2000 years. Added clarification to that statement
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