They Can't Send Me Back: Uyghur Asylum Seekers in Europe

New report from UHRP on refugees in Europe. UHRP interviewed 50 refugess in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands in 2010 and 2011. The lack of understanding of the Uyghur condition in China was very much evident among European immigration officials, as was the fear and stress the interviewees felt over possible return to China. They Can't Send Me Back: Uyghur Asylum Seekers in Europe can be downloaded here. The report receives a write up in the September 26, 2011 edition of Democracy Digest.

Commanding the Economy: The Recurring Patterns of Chinese Central Government Development Planning among Uyghurs in Xinjiang

Inner Asia, Volume 13, Number 1, 2011 , pp. 97-116(20)

Publisher: BRILL

Abstract:

The Xinjiang work Forum convened in May 2010 set out an ambitious package of economic reforms in the wake of unrest in Urumchi, Xinjiang, in July 2009. The reforms can be interpreted as a tacit admission of economic failures in the region, especially the capacity of the Great western Development Drive to bring economic prosperity to all ethnicities. However, the formation and implementation of Xinjiang work Forum policies followed patterns evident in the formation and implementation of the Great western Development Drive and many centrally driven economic initiatives before it; namely, non- participatory, lacking in monitoring mechanisms and filled with traditional approaches of Han Chinese management of minority affairs. while the first two patterns occur frequently in Chinese government development planning nationwide, the third pattern is not as prevalent, and in Xinjiang it has exacerbated tensions. This makes development planning in Xinjiang distinct from many other parts of the country. attention to local conditions and local expertise is all the more acute in such situations. although the final assessment on Xinjiang work Forum policies is pending, the continuance of exclusionary practices makes it difficult to predict anything other than a new cycle of building Uyghur frustrations over economic conditions.

The above article appeared in an edition of Inner Asia focused on Xinjiang and Southwest China. Article available here.

Book Review: Crackdown on China's Uyghurs

The Tree that Bleeds: A Uighur Town on the Edge, by Nick Holdstock. 356pp, Luath Press Ltd, available from Amazon, US$17.99.

In February 1997, the Chinese government’s suppression of protests in Ghulja in northwest China thrust the Uyghur people briefly onto the world stage. The protests were an expression of dissent against the execution of Uyghur activists and a government crackdown on traditional Uyghur gatherings, or meshreps, which had been revived as a response to growing social problems in Ghulja’s Uyghur community. Nevertheless, the protests also exposed a seething atmosphere in the city of mistrust between Han Chinese and Uyghur, as well as growing Uyghur marginalization as a result of repressive state policies.

With the Chinese government in firm control of information about the Ghulja protests, it took human rights groups to challenge the notion, promoted by the Chinese officials, that the unrest was the work of Islamic extremists. In a 1999 report, Amnesty International relayed reports that accused the Chinese state of opening fire indiscriminately on protesters and bystanders. Given the scarcity of verifiable details and the remoteness of Ghulja, the events of February 1997 quickly slipped from international attention.

Four years on, Nick Holdstock began a one-year English teaching assignment in the city arranged through VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) with the idea of finding out for himself what happened in February 1997. The Tree that Bleeds is the result of his observations on the existing condition of Uyghur-Han Chinese relations in Ghulja, the mitigating factors that led to the protests, in addition to the role that religion, local and imported, has in such a volatile environment.

Holdstock divides his book into 119 short chapters that give the reader snapshots of his encounters with the land and its people as he attempts to shape an understanding of the Ghulja protests. It is an effective device in giving an overview of the range of issues at play in the city. We learn through his interactions with his Uyghur friends and Han Chinese colleagues, of economic inequities between the two ethnicities and curbs on religious expression, as well as the pervasive and destructive nature of racial stereotyping.

In The Tree that Bleeds, Holdstock adopts the voice of evenhanded observer, but this often leads to a formulaic approach in his writing on Uyghur issues when discussing them outside of his experiences in Ghulja. Explanations of Uyghur issues often take a binary approach with a general stating of the Chinese government’s position as contrasted with the view of Uyghur groups in exile. Holdstock has such a wealth of first-hand materials from his time in Ghulja that it would have been interesting to see him incorporate them into his writing when outlining the overall Uyghur situation. The grassroots views that he collects are very much the unknown aspect to contentious politics in the region. Conversations with sections of the regional population, such as politically cynical Han Chinese and mainstreamed urbanized Uyghurs, offer the reader an understanding that enriches the binary approach to discussion of Uyghur issues. The meeting Holdstock has with two Uyghurs in Urumchi described in the Afterword is a good example.

The Tree that Bleeds has received criticism regarding the author’s views on the activities of the other foreigners in Ghulja, who are ostensibly in the city to either study Uyghur or teach English. As Holdstock progresses through the year, it dawns on him that many of the foreigners in Ghulja are there to spread Christianity (an activity outlawed in China).

Holdstock perceives these foreigners’ mission of religious conversion when local traditions are in place as culturally arrogant. His anger is unequivocal and culminates in his burning of Christian literature he suspects has been placed among the small collection of English language library books at his college.

This is strong stuff and opens Holdstock up to charges of double standards, as he himself is in Ghulja on a somewhat false pretense; however, this should not detract from the legitimacy of Holdstock’s observations, but rather reflect the honesty in his writing. Holdstock openly states his lack of religious faith and also discusses the detrimental effects of the non-indigenous Wahhabist form of Islam on Uyghurs in the southern part of the region.

All told, The Tree that Bleeds is an accessible and informative account of the complex political, economic and social problems in an ethnically divided city. The authority Holdstock derives on discussion of these problems comes from his rare portrayal of the people in Ghulja’s daily lives and unguarded conversations. His sharp-eyed reportage is modestly written, broken with humor (see the part on beards and Islamic terrorists) and filled with anecdotes as he copes with adjustment to a new culture.

While we never really learn about the details of the Ghulja unrest in February 1997 or why this might be important to know, The Tree that Bleeds is a frank depiction of a city, and worth a read if only to add to our knowledge of how ordinary people handle extraordinary circumstances.

Book review also available here. This book review was mentioned in the World Uyghur Congress newsletter for September 2011.