(Sorry in advance for the long post, I'm just frustrated)

My friend leans anarchist, but doesn't really read theory or history, he kinda just like punk music and reads/watches easily digestible leftist stuff online (twitter, tiktok, etc), and recently he's been on a kick of complaining about "tankies who apologize for and idolize authoritarian governments" as well as harping about how "tankies" don't believe the genocide in china is real. I tried to push back and say most people you'd label as tankies, including myself, probably just want to give a more fair and balanced view to leftist governments that exist/have existed, and credit their successes, rather than totally write them off, primarily based on capitalist propaganda. I also mentioned how the state department found no evidence of genocide in china, as well as the fact that most sources on it come from skewed studies and propaganda by right wing nuts like Adrian Zenz.

He referred me to this twitter thread that is supposedly proof of the Uyghur genocide by "non-western" and anti-capitalist sources. I'm bad at debunking stuff, so what do you all make of these articles? I'm just curious and skeptical of them, given that one, although an ML publication, is from India, who generally dislike China and look to discredit them, and others seem to base their arguments on dubious/non-specific Chinese government reports. Can anyone help? Also, how do I talk to my friend about learning to embrace the communist countries of the past and present that he thinks were/are failures, and show him that being an ML doesn't mean I'm like pro-genocide or anything.

  • RedDawn [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    If you scroll the replies there's a guy who did a counter-thread

    • pluggd [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      essential reading it's even got some 👁️

      https://twitter.com/RodericDay/status/1375566405542817793

      He also wrote maybe the most concise longer thing on Xinjiang I've seen

      https://redsails.org/the-xinjiang-atrocity-propaganda-blitz/

      "The real Xinjiang story is not so difficult to understand:

      The rise of Xi Jinping and the Belt & Road Initiative posed a serious challenge to American supremacy much earlier than they were expecting, so [41]
      the US amped up their funding of terrorism in the region, as per the “Afghan Trap” doctrine outlined by Brzezinski, but [42]
      instead of sending in the PLA, repeating the error of the Soviets, China reacted by building schools and vocational programs instead. [43]
      As a result, the US and its allies desperately pivoted to accusing them of “genocide,” despite lack of evidence. [44]
      

      I’ve yet to see any evidence whatsoever challenging this basic understanding."