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1. NEW: In China, the govt is trying to assert control over every aspect of life for Muslim women in Xinjiang. Their minds. Their homes. Even their wombs.
“The women of Xinjiang are in danger,” one woman said. “The government wants to replace our people." https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/world/asia/china-xinjiang-women-births.html
“The women of Xinjiang are in danger,” one woman said. “The government wants to replace our people." https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/world/asia/china-xinjiang-women-births.html
2. Our story builds on groundbreaking research from last year by @adrianzenz & @dakekang @AP that has led human rights groups & some Western govts to call the govt's actions in XJ genocide and/or crimes against humanity.
https://jamestown.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Zenz-Internment-Sterilizations-and-IUDs-UPDATED-July-21-Rev2.pdf?x72568 https://apnews.com/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c
https://jamestown.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Zenz-Internment-Sterilizations-and-IUDs-UPDATED-July-21-Rev2.pdf?x72568 https://apnews.com/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c
3. Recently, China has waged a propaganda campaign to push back against the allegations.
But the govt’s own stats point to a clear takeaway: women in XJ are being forced to have fewer babies even as women in much of China are being pushed to have more. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/11/world/asia/china-one-child-policy-birthrate.html
But the govt’s own stats point to a clear takeaway: women in XJ are being forced to have fewer babies even as women in much of China are being pushed to have more. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/11/world/asia/china-one-child-policy-birthrate.html
4. Official figures show that XJ’s birth rates continued to plummet in 2019. One demographer called the overall drop in recent years “shocking.”
New calculations by Zenz show that birthrates in minority-dominated areas likely fell even more steeply in 2019, by just over 50%.
New calculations by Zenz show that birthrates in minority-dominated areas likely fell even more steeply in 2019, by just over 50%.
5. XJ’s birth campaign echoes some of the worst excesses of the one child policy campaign. The calls for “dragnet” investigations. The harrowing accounts of forced IUDs/sterilizations.
But there is one key difference: violators of OCP were fined— not locked in internment camps.
But there is one key difference: violators of OCP were fined— not locked in internment camps.
6. Women who were detained have told haunting stories of abuse inside the camps: torture, sexual abuse & even rape. “You just want to die at the time, but unfortunately you don’t,” said Tursunay Ziyawudun, as she broke down sobbing. Ziyawudun said she was raped three times.
7. Even outside the camps, the atmosphere of fear was keenly felt. Two women spoke about living under the watchful eye — & sometimes lecherous hands -- of govt cadres in their homes. “I felt so humiliated, oppressed and angry. But there was nothing I could do,” said one woman.
Which begs the question: the govt says the birth control procedures were all undertaken voluntarily. But how voluntary is it when you have the threat of detention looming, cadres in your living rooms & workers messaging saying things like: “Do not gamble with your life.”
9. To be sure, there is a lot we still don’t know. Journos are not allowed to report freely in XJ. The govt has begun withholding key pop data, even as it has tried to discredit the women who have claimed abuse by accusing them of lying and of having poor morals.
10. But despite the denials, the Chinese govt and its defenders have at times inadvertently confirmed darker aspects of the campaign. Like this Nov. 2020 lecture by PKU professor Li Jianxin, who admitted coercion could have been a factor in falling birthrates. (Later deleted.)
11. And this tweet from the Chinese embassy in the US claiming that Uyghur women had been “emancipated” from extremism & were no longer “baby-making machines.” (Also later deleted.) https://twitter.com/_amroali/status/1348033514273460224?s=20
To learn more, read our story. Grateful for the many scholars, translators & colleagues who helped. Most of all, thanks to the women who pushed thru pain, trauma & attacks to share their stories. They were heavy on my mind this Mother’s Day weekend. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/world/asia/china-xinjiang-women-births.html
