Monday, July 06, 2009

Thoughts On Uyghur Rioting In Xinjiang

Here are my thoughts:
  1. No disrespect to my Persian brothers and sisters, but barely a dozen demonstrators in Tehran were killed and there was wall to wall media coverage for the good part of a week. More than 150 have been killed in Xinjiang and I have yet to see any substantive TV coverage.
  2. The fact that the Chinese media is already reporting over 150 dead leads me to think that a large proportion of the dead are ethnic Han Chinese. If the majority of the dead were Uyghurs (read: killed during the crackdown by cops, paramilitary, military), then the numbers would be vague and slow to come to light.
  3. Every picture coming out of the official Chinese media shows bloodied Han Chinese victims.
  4. Without a powerful and organized diaspora in America (e.g. Armenians, Iranians, Jews), the Uyghurs don't have a chance at gaining our support.
  5. Being Muslims doesn't help the Uyghurs either.
  6. As Richard Chen astutely noted, we should not be holding our breath for widespread web application support of the Uyghur language.
  7. Why are Muslims so keen on helping the Palestinians but you barely hear a peep out of them about helping the Uyghurs?
  8. The CCP is pointing the finger at exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer. Here is her memoir, which just came out. I wonder how her publicist feels.
  9. Urumqi's Uyghurs make up a small percentage of the overall population. If the unrest spreads to cities like Kashgar and Hotan where Uyghurs are still the majority, look out.
  10. Every article I've read has described Xinjiang as "restive". Can we be a little more creative please?

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