CHRIS ROPER: The lighter side of genocide

Beginning in 2017, China established a network of internment camps in Xinjiang, an autonomous region in the northwest that is at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia. It is home to the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim Turkic ethnic group whose population in China is estimated to be between 11-million and 13-million. Beijing euphemistically calls these camps “vocational education and training centres”.

Up to 1.8-million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in them in what has been described as the largest arbitrary detention of ethnic minorities since World War 2. The camps operate outside China’s legal system and detainees face indoctrination, harsh conditions and physical abuse.

Human Rights Foundation has published testimony from Qelbinur Sidik, a survivor of the camps.

“I was forced to teach in a camp. There were about 7,000 men there — with 13 to 14 in a cell. They slept on the floor. They didn’t take a shower at all in the six months I was teaching there. There were specific time slots to go to the toilet. They had handcuffs and chains on their feet. To get out of the cell, they had to crawl on the floor because the door couldn’t open widely since it was chained to the wall. They had to crawl to class and during break. They were regularly taken to interrogation sessions, and we could clearly hear them being tortured.”

She describes life in a women’s prison. “All the women had shaved heads. They were regularly raped by the police during interrogations. The police put electric batons in their intimate parts. Every Monday, the women received mysterious injections and medication. Afterward, they no longer menstruated and couldn’t breastfeed.”

On a junket in China a month or so ago, one that he firmly tells us is not paid for by Beijing, he supplies a merry travelogue about encounters with laughing, dancing, happy Uyghurs

And now, by way of contrast, here are some pearls from the X account of one of South Africa’s foremost alt-idiots, the podcaster Jeremy Nell. On a junket in China a month or so ago, one that he firmly tells us is not paid for by Beijing, he supplies a merry travelogue about encounters with laughing, dancing, happy Uyghurs. He also takes every opportunity to scoff at the notion that China is in any way oppressing them.

Here are some samples, many accompanied by cheery pictures. “Went to a Uyghur theatre production here in Kuqa (Xinjiang). Was great!” “Went to a restaurant and there was a Uyghur wedding happening. Incredible party.” The posts are designed to make us believe that life for Uyghurs is normal, with all the usual social interaction and cultural richness of a free people.

Nell, who has the heavy-handed sense of humour of a vacuum cleaner cosplaying as a human, adds sarcastic gibes: “I was at a restaurant in Kashgar last night. There was a Uyghur wedding going on at the same time. They were partying like this because there was a firing squad waiting outside.” Snigger.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Xinjiang Victims Database has reported 177 deaths of detainees in various parts of Xinjiang, most of them in custody and some after release as a result of complications from injuries suffered in custody. Radio Free Asia reported 150 deaths in one camp in Aksu prefecture during the latter half of 2018.

Some more examples from Nell. “An old Uyghur man playing music. Amazingly, he avoided the genocide. Incredible.” The office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights reports that the Chinese government has criminalised songwriting and performance in the Uyghur language, with artists sentenced to prison for allegedly “promoting extremism” by expressing cultural identity through lyrics and music.

Authorities use broad counterextremism and antiterror laws to brand Uyghur music as a threat, targeting those who create, perform or even possess songs and materials reflecting Uyghur heritage, effectively silencing the community’s musical tradition and freedom of artistic expression.

According to Radio Free Asia and others, most Uyghur cultural activities must be state-approved, often sanitised for tourist entertainment and for gullible clowns with a podcast, rather than allowed as free grassroots expression. Internationally, state-backed Uyghur troupes may perform choreographed dances and music, but actual Uyghurs in Xinjiang struggle to gather freely or preserve their musical heritage without fear of repercussions.

Also worth noting, apropos Nell’s post, is that in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch documented that detention camp guards beat detainees, hung them from ceilings and walls, forcibly deprived them of sleep and subjected them to prolonged shackling. Some former detainees reported being strapped to metal chairs, known as “tiger chairs”, during police interrogations. And according to Wikipedia, detainees have been made to wear physical restraints such as “iron clothes” weighing more than 20kg to break their spirits.

Here’s a sweet spot! Making fun of slavery and genocide in one post! “I found a Uyghur slave picking cotton.” This was posted with a picture of his fellow traveller, cueing hilarity from the 50 Cent Army, China’s state-sponsored internet army, and other trolls: “OMG, the Uyghurs made Carl into their slave~~~” and “Hahaha nooo it’s Carl they capture him”.

Then there’s a picture of Nell with his arms around a smiling young woman in traditional dress, with the post: “Another oppressed Uyghur. Shame. Probably her last night. Hope she carries on with the party.” Ha ha! What delicious wit! How I laughed.

According to Voice of America, Chinese authorities have implemented a campaign to forcibly sterilise Uyghur women and enforce birth control. At least 80% of women of childbearing age were subjected to birth prevention surgeries or forced abortions, and IUDs were inserted without consent.

Zumret Dawut spent two months in a detention camp in Xinjiang, where she was forcibly sterilised along with other Uyghur women in her area. “We lost a part of our body, we lost our identity as women. We will never be able to have children again,” she told the Associated Press. “They cut out one of our organs. It’s gone.” Ha ha! Great party!

Of course, Nell denies that he is in any way recompensed by Beijing for his genocide-denying travelogue. He just happens to keep pushing the classic state narrative that, to quote him: “There is no Uyghur genocide in China. Muslims in China are neither being killed nor oppressed; the entire thing is part of an anti-China narrative.”

Here’s a pitch for a podcast he did with a pro-Russia, pro-China conspiracy blogger: “There is no Uyghur genocide or organ harvesting in China. We need to stop parroting Western anti-China propaganda. No, I’m not funded by any Chinese groups (because I always get such stupid accusations thrown at me).” Sure, buddy.

Nell is the man who, during Covid, tweeted a picture of ceiling lights in an airplane and claimed they were air vents that had been closed off by agents of wokeness. We’re not going to expect any level of honest intellectual engagement here. He is but one of many desperate shills trying to make money by parroting foreign state propaganda.

I am interested in his drivel only as an example of the insidious nature of disinformation and the way state-sponsored information manipulation and interference works. The primary goal of China’s trolls is not to debate or argue with critics but to inundate social media with positive content to distract the public and change the subject.

What is interesting, though, is how entirely divorced from ethical considerations the people are who spread disinformation. No matter how many facts are lined up that conclusively disprove their conspiracies, they just keep on going. The fact that real people are dying horribly, and that an entire culture is being erased in this case, is irrelevant.