Comments on: Following Protest, Xinjiang Suddenly Makes International News

By: The New Dominion » Details on New Olympic Terrorst Plot by Xinjiang Militants Emerge

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:18:23 +0000

[...] As to what really happened? I’m surprised to see in an article on at The State that names have been released for the newest bust - Abdulrahman Tuersun and Kuerban Mutalifu - something that usually doesn’t happen until a few months later, as was the case with the previous bust. A year later, the sentencing of these fellas usually is quietly published on Chinese newswires with some additional details on “what happened” and “who was involved.” By then, the main media outlets usually don’t care anymore and the government is actually more willing to say more about what happened (though as usual, whether or not those statements are true will never be known…). I’ll actually talk about that in a future post, but we’ll keep our eyes open. Also, check out The State’s article for some commentary by Nicholas Bequelin, a Xinjiang scholr who was consulted for the writing of the article (something we’d like to see more of). [...]

By: Porfiriy

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:03:51 +0000

I think this instance is the exception that proves the rule. Xinjiang doesn’t ever get significant media coverage or a sympathetic global audience, and I believe that’s the case because the current narrative that puts Westerners in relation to other cultures in the world doesn’t leave much room for sympathy towards “Islamic” peoples. The only time Xinjiang does get mainstream media coverage is when “Tibet” is also in the title of the article/news segment, and when Buddhist organizations try to co-opt a separate, distinct struggle in Xinjiang as their own. If Xinjiang is not placed inside of the “Tibet context,” people (people in general, I mean) will not grasp the Xinjiang situation. People can “get” a bunch of peaceful (I use the adjective ironically after what actually happened in Tibet) Duddhists fighting to be left alone in their happy karmic Shangri-La-esque mountain kingdom in the clouds. But people don’t “get” a desert Muslim people (and that’s how Uyghurs are always framed when mentioned in mainstream media - “Turkic Muslims” or something like that) also engaged in that sort of struggle.

But if I’m wrong about all this, then that’s cool too.

By: Weeger

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:08:57 +0000

Thank you, Opke Hessip, for your thoughtful and informative posts on Xinjiang. While I agree that Xinjiang is not “the next Tibet” and should be understood on its own, extremely complex and unique terms, I hope that the current comparison of Xinjiang to Tibet will act as an unprecedented opening for people to finally hear about the Uyghurs and begin to understand their situation. Of course the media will seize upon the Tibet/Xinjiang similarity “hook”, in order to interest readers. Without this hook, the average Joe probably wouldn’t be able even to conceive of what Xinjiang is. Probably I’m being much too naive, but I hope that the media and its audience will slowly begin to have a bit more understanding about Xinjiang itself after hearing the name for the first time. Of course, the media coverage might die down, and the Uyghurs will be forgotten again…

By: Lyn Marcus

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:04:57 +0000

“Finally, I should note that the PRC-funded Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee, a paramilitary group involved in the construction of a New World Order under the leadership of the Sino-Jewish Cabal (that’s irony, folks”

Can you provide further information and details about PRC funding of the laoruche Cult. Larouche’s German wife has always bragged about her journalistic career inside China . Larouche himself has modeled his cult using quite a few techniques of the cult of personality. Larouche has even copied Mao in setting up his own Red Guards via his “Youth Movement” to attack and replace the older youth movement of worshipers who are now too old and expensive to house, feed and provide medical care for.

By: OpkeHessip

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:48:42 +0000

Inqilabchi,

Actually, that’s really not my point at all. Quite to the contrary. My point is that Xinjiang is not just “Tibet lite” or something that should be understood in exactly the same way. The Uyghur nationalist movement is a valid one, but it is not the same as the Tibetan one. It and the region, as I said, deserve to be understood on their own terms, to have an international dialogue as sophisticated as or more so than that which has existed about Tibet for several decades. I’m truly sorry that you got the impression you did from my (I admit, slightly ranty) piece. I, for one, want Xinjiang and the problems there to be interesting to people even when Tibet isn’t in turmoil.

I really wasn’t railing against the nationalist movements or denying anyone’s right to speak out against oppression. I honestly thought that was clear from my piece. We do need to understand, though, what actually happens when someone protests. Does a 500-to-1000-person protest automatically mean a rally for independence, as the news media seems to assume? Or does it mean that there are local grievances which are being aired? The first thing we heard from the international news when this came out was “this is just like Tibet”, and I really don’t think that’s the best approach to take to understanding the situation.

By: OpkeHessip

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:42:19 +0000

No, no. It’s quite real.

By: inqilabchi

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:40:16 +0000

Gosh aren’t we lucky that there are reasonable intellectual types such as yourself around to debunk any claim that Uyghurs might have to international recognition of their struggle a la the Tibetans. I’m so impressed by the way your deep insight into the region has led you to conclude that Uyghurs should put up with remaining subordinate to a regime that they never chose for themselves, and abandon their bogus claims to “independence”. I do look forward to further pearls of wisdom from this sophisticated website.

By: Huh?

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:53:57 +0000

Is that LaRouche website for real? Or something like the Onion?

By: The New Dominion » Blips of Unrest in Kashgar and Ghulja

The New Dominion » Blips of Unrest in Kashgar and Ghulja — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:23:57 +0000

[...] just published a detailed analysis of the most recent media coverage of unrest in Xinjiang and makes a point that I also hold with [...]