He is a senior advisor at the World Uyghur Congress and founder of Uyghur Academy

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  • ElGosso [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Don't get me wrong, reeducation camps certainly leave a bad taste in the mouth, but for a state to continue existing it has to be able to dissuade separatist insurgencies. Is there a more humane way for them to do it?

    • Gorn [they/them,he/him]
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      4 years ago

      I’m not gonna sit here with the basically no information the international community has and claim I could design something better, you know? Haha

      But I think I can imagine some possibilities that I’d be more comfortable with.

      Why not just universities/colleges/day schools like people usually do for skills training? Also, ideally they would be entirely voluntary, which it is unclear if the camps are. Indeed, it kinda looks like they’re not?

      But also... if we’re accepting this is an important war on terror measure... how many ‘insurgents’ are there, really? I know there has been violence, but nothing on the order of hundreds of thousands, or even possible millions, of ‘extremists’. I’m not sure it’s enough to warrant such a large response. I don’t think that’s the entire motive, tbh. I would suspect the bigger motivation is to prep the area to be the hub for the belt and road initiative?

      In which case... is doing involuntary sinicization and skills training to smooth a push for global economic expansion really that defensible? Though, really, I know nothing haha I cannot stress that enough

      But ya, a lot of my skepticism about the camps does come from a very instinctive/personal level, where reeducation/internment camps leave more than just a bad taste in my mouth, tbh, cuz of my history and social position and whatnot