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For anyone shocked about the revelation of the sterilization of Uyghur women and wondering how this could possibly happen, the sad truth is is that it's not the first time it's happened. History is filled with horrifying cases of mass sterilization against Indigenous people /1
In Peru, the Alberto Fujimori presidency issued mass sterilization against the Indigenous groups like the Quechuas and the Aymaras in the disguise of a health policy which in reality was meant to enforce a decline of birth rates /2 https://newrepublic.com/article/151599/dont-talk-perus-forced-sterilizations
In Canada, sterilization against Indigenous women has continued for decades even to the present day. They were originated from medical policies in the early 20th Century that sterilized women in order to reduce population growth /3 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9keaev/indigenous-women-in-canada-are-still-being-sterilized-without-their-consent
Indigenous women in the US were also subjected to forced sterilization just like their counterparts in Canada. During the 60s and 70s, Indigenous women were sterilized without their consent by the Indian Health Service in the guise of "health service" /4 https://daily.jstor.org/the-little-known-history-of-the-forced-sterilization-of-native-american-women/
The Sami people, an Indigenous people native to the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, were targeted by sterilization as a result of colonial policies by the three countries /5 https://prospectjournal.org/2016/10/31/the-sami-a-disappearing-indigenous-minority-in-scandinavia/
In Puerto Rico, a colony controlled by the US, Puerto Ricans were subjected to sterilization as a policy in response to poverty in the island as eugenicists assumed that reducing the poverty rate would alleviate poverty /6 http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/connections/530ba18176f0db569b00001b
Blacks and Mexican-Americans were also subjected to sterilization in the US throughout much of the 20th Century, which was motivated by scientific racism /7 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mexican-americans-sterilized_n_3390305
Sadly, these are only a few examples of mass sterilization in the world. What's happening to the Uyghurs shows that little has changed since. It's another part of the horrific saga of the mistreatment of Indigenous people worldwide. And we should all be outraged /7
This is why fighting for the freedom of Uyghurs is an important anti-colonial struggle just like any other anti-colonial struggle. Colonialism targets reproduction in its effort to eradicate Indigenous people and to assert dominance over the land. We must break this cycle /End
