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Uyghur people and their families are not the only ones at risk in face of the Chinese government's atrocities. The civilization itself is at risk if governments and corporations continue "business as usual" with the Chinese government in the midst of ongoing mass atrocities, writes Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), for The Diplomat.
Kanat, an Uyghur himself, expressed his gratitude to the Jewish community and to the many others for advocating universal human rights and continuing to demand "Never Again" in defence of the Uyghur people. He said that the China's efforts to stamp out Uyghur identity continue. The UHRP in November published evidence regarding the Chinese government imposing forced interethnic marriages on Uyghur women with the aim of completely assimilating Uyghurs into the dominant Han culture. Kanat wrote that Uyghurs in late 2022, mourned the loss of lives in a fire in Urumqi (Urumchi). This came as the government imposed "zero COVID" measures to block building exits, which disproportionately impacted Uyghur residents, and prevented their escape from the apartment. Episodes like this underscore the dehumanization of Uyghurs by the Chinese regime. Kanat in The Diplomat report said that, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he reflected on the Jewish history of resistance to assimilation. "As an Uyghur, it is deeply meaningful for me to honour the memory of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Together with individuals of conscience worldwide, Uyghurs will never forget the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, in a unique act of evil that will forever haunt our modern civilization, " wrote Kanat. According to Kanat, it is fitting to reflect on the words of a Holocaust survivor whose tireless work for human rights is legendary, the late Congressman Tom Lantos: "The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and can never rest". Solemn remembrance of the Holocaust is important for all humanity. And for Uyghurs, in our current crisis, "Never Forget" and "Never Again" have a direct and profound meaning, wrote Kanat for The Diplomat. US-based Foreign Affairs magazine recently reported that many of the Uyghur camps in China's Xinjiang have been converted into formal prisons and the detainees have been given lengthy prison sentences. According to Foreign Affairs, many detainees have been transferred from camps to factories in Xinjiang or elsewhere in the country. Some Uyghur families abroad report that their relatives are back home but under house arrest. Under the guise of a poverty alleviation campaign, Beijing has been forcing tens of thousands of rural Uyghurs out of their villages and into factories. The Communist Party of China (CCP) criticised and restricted the use of the Uyghur language, prohibited Islamic practices; razed mosques, shrines, and cemeteries; rewrote history to deny the longevity of Uyghur culture and its distinctiveness from Chinese culture; and excised Indigenous literature from textbooks. (ANI)
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