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THREAD: 2018 has seen a diversification of quality reporting and uptick in exposure of the mass repression of #Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in western #China, by media, academics, and civil society groups across the world.
. @RFA Uyghur Service should be commended for its long-standing and fearless reporting on the situation in #Xinjiang, way before the current human rights crisis began to unfold. See its reporting here: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur, esp. the series of interviews w/ victims/families.
In a series of op-eds, research papers, interviews, joint statements and public presentations in 2018, scholars of China and Uighur studies have made a strong stand against the mass repression in #Xinjiang.
In an op-ed in the New York Times, @JimMillward says the Communist Party of China has "updated its old totalitarian methods with cutting-edge technology" in its campaign against the Uighurs in #Xinjiang. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/opinion/sunday/china-surveillance-state-uighurs.html
. @BitterWinterMag has emerged as another key English-language source of info on the repression and discrimination against Muslims in #Xinjiang and elsewhere in #China. The reprisal against its in-country reporters is a grim indicator of its importance https://bitterwinter.org/dozens-of-bitter-winter-reporters-arrested/
In Nov, Bitter Winter released exclusive video footage and photos of the interior of a #Xinjiang internment camp, chilling evidence that these are anything but “education” or “vocational traininng” facilities by any stretch of the imagination. https://bitterwinter.org/camps-for-uyghurs-schools-or-jails/
Despite government restrictions, major international media outlets have produced several deep-dive investigative pieces, based on satellite imagery, interviews with victims and/or their families, procurement documents on Chinese government websites, and field visits.
In May, AP's @gerryshih talked to those who were arbitrarily detained in the so-called transformation through education centers, where they were subjected to intense political indoctrination and ill-treatment. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-life-like-in-xinjiang-reeducation-camps-china-2018-5
In July, @meghara of @BuzzFeed reported on how #China is "using its huge digital surveillance system, and the threat of sending family members to reeducation camps, to pressure minorities to spy on their fellow exiles." https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/china-uighur-spies-surveillance
In August, @guardian's Gene A Bunin, after spending 18 months talking to Uighur restaurant workers all over China, reported on "how this Muslim minority feel the daily threat of arrest, detention and ‘re-education’". https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/07/why-uighur-muslims-across-china-are-living-in-fear
In August, @emilyrauhala and @washingtonpost published new evidence based on interviews w/ people in Kazakhstan familiar with the experiences of ethnic Kazakhs and have knowledge of the internment camps in #China https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/new-evidence-emerges-that-china-is-forcing-muslims-into-reeducation-camps/2018/08/10/1d6d2f64-8dce-11e8-9b0d-749fb254bc3d_story.html?utm_term=.669876cf581a
