UIGHURS: Vigil on 5th February, Chinese Embassy, London

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Vigil on 5th February, Chinese Embassy, London

On the 5th February every year vigils are held outside Chinese embassies around the world to mark the occasion when Chinese security forces opened fire on Uighur ethnics who were asking for equal rights in their own country.
Only a few people turn up for the vigil, and I wonder why. I wonder why there are not hundreds of British based Uighurs joining hands to mark their unhappiness at the treatment of their countrymen.

Are they afraid to be seen at a public gathering? Have they become so comfortable here in the UK that they have forgotten how hard it was at home? Of course I don't know the reason, but I would be very grateful if someone would tell me.

On February 5th 1997 a demonstration in Gulja City ended in violence and rioting after Chinese security forces opened fire on the crowd killing several people. The demonstrators were calling for equal rights for the Uighur ethnic people in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China. Following the massacre many people were detained. Some are still in prison while others have been executed. Many of those detained received no trial while other trials were manifestly unfair. (See Steve's link on the right.)

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

I met Rebiya Kadeer in October 2007

Her brave diminutive form spoke in a language of passion and grief and hope.

Like many others I was moved by her plea to help her country, (East Turkistan, now known as the Xinjing Autonomous Region) to survive the cultural and cruel vice of insidious Chinese occupation. She has quite literally sacrificed her children to come to us, to plead with us, and our option cannot be to do nothing.

I have been to China. As a tourist I have faced fixed bayonets in Tianamen Square for simply wanting to enter at the wrong time of day. I have no difficulty imagining the inscrutable rule of this ambitious race as they slowly but surely spread their unyielding muscle across the less aggressive nations within their reach.

The Olympic games will be upon us soon, and the democratic world is turning a blind eye to the grotesque abuse of human rights in China. The Olympic games were supposed to encourage China to become more aware, instead they are encouraging us to put on the blindfolds and become less aware.

The media circus will not want to highlight the issues. They will be far more interested in getting their investment returns. The athletes – with some reason – will not want to be involved in politics. My voice is small, but if you read this, you are joining me on the stage.

Potted history of the Uighurs

During the mid-1700s and mid-1800s, China and the Soviet Union conquered a large region north of China which included the peoples of Central Asia - Kazakh, Uzbk, Turkmen, and Uighurs. The Xinjian Uighur Autonomous Region was created by China on October 1, 1955.

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, all of these people regained their freedom except for the Uighurs. In order to prevent an uprising for independence among the original people of the region, the Chinese infiltrated the country with millions of settlers and have taken measures to obliterate the language, religion, and traditions of the Uighurs. The Uighurs are repressed as much as possible and kept at minimum subsistence levels.

Xinjiang is an area rich in natural resources. This is the main reason that China seeks to hold on to it with such tight reins. Xinjiang contains one-third of China's total oil reserve. The country is rich in gold and coal as well as steel, yet the region remains poor because the rightful owners are being exploited and degraded.

Despite these abundant resources, the "wealth gap" has significantly widened between the minorities and ethnic Chinese of the region. Most of them are farmers, only averaging an annual income of £45. Nearly 80 percent of Uighurs live below the poverty level. Less than a quarter even have running water.

Each year, the Party Committee asks each citizen of Xinjiang to work anywhere from 45 days to six months without pay. Many benefits, such as job incentives are only available to the Chinese, not the Uighurs .Without being able to speak Chinese, these people are at a major disadvantage - they cannot get jobs. Many are left unemployed.