Okay, but like, the Jacobin tweet is accurate, isn't it?
Xinjiang is materially important for China and BRI, and Islamic terrorism is a tool the US uses for geopolitical reasons. So, in the name of combating Islamic extremism, CPC is trying to centralize its hold on Xinjiang and that has resulted in harassment and detention of the Uighur population.
What they're doing isn't a genocide. But the response is far out of proportion for the level of Islamic terrorist activity that is actually present.
> We need to actively decouple the Xinjiang issue from the pursuit of Western interests in Asia, and provide it with a different framing, one that speaks in universal terms of a rejection of racism and discrimination.
This is the key, I think, to understanding Jacobin's perspective.
They do talk about US interests in the region and the hypocrisy of the West.
Writing to the US ambassador in Beijing, he [Rubio] asked him to look into the issue because the “crackdown in the XUAR touches on a range of interests critical to US efforts to secure a free and open Indo-Pacific region.” Rubio is now spearheading an effort to ramp-up pressure on China across the board, a push that follows on the heels of Washington’s most hawkish foreign-policy statements on China since it officially recognized the People’s Republic in 1979.
There’s no point talking about holding China to international norms when those norms don’t exist. Reading Jim Wolfreys’s recent book on France, it’s not hard to see similarities with the measures being implemented in Xinjiang: bans on forms of veiling, citizens encouraged to look out for signs of radicalization as innocuous as someone changing their eating habits. Many of these PRC citizens have mixed feelings about an issue like Xinjiang: they recognize that CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping might be heavy-handed but think he’s right about Western meddling in China’s affairs.
But, in the end, they want people to not view what is happening from a geopolitical/economic lens and think more in terms of the actual in-the-moment human cost. When viewed from that perspective, yeah, what is happening to Uighurs is bad and they don't deserve it. But, at the same time, Jacobin doesn't really provide any solution. They don't talk about how to influence US policy so that we can actually decouple the Xinjiang issue from the pursuit of Western interests in Asia. They just say that we should. I don't know if this is because they are idealistic or naive or what.
even back in 2014 there was an acknowledgment in VOA & Diplomat of Saudi & Western imperalist-funded Muslim extremism destroying lives & causing terror to unfold in PRC. But only since then has the narrative changed & extremism is now downplayed in the west.
its easy to shit on every publication that exists in america at this point in time, but the jacobin is just about the only one that isn't hot garbage. give them a break.
they have writers that are all over the place ideologically. at this point they have way more marxists contributors then liberals. that's a trend that's been going in the right direction as of late.
Xinjiang is a complex issue with many competing interests. It's hard to say anything about it that can't be used for imperialist ends. Like, even if you declare full sympathy to the CPC in its mission to secure its territories and ensure its economic independence, the imperialists can just use you to push for a new Cold War.
This isn't what Jacobin does, though, so that's not really relevant. Skimming the article, it felt they wanted to criticize China's handling of Xinjiang and the Uighur without trying to provide any support to the US right-wing who they called out. I don't think they succeeded, though.
I'm sorry, but can you honestly read this paragraph and claim they're attempting nuance to avoid feeding an imperialist line?
In the name of combating Islamic extremism, the party has embarked on a massive campaign of detention and indoctrination of ethnic minorities. Its goal is to eradicate all possibility of opposition here once and for all and turn this huge territory into a stable platform from which to extend its Belt and Road Initiative and dominate Central Asia.
In the name of implies that's not why they're doing what Jacobin alleges and have a more sinister reason.
Detention and indoctrination of ethnic minorities makes it sound completely indiscriminate and as though it's all ethnic minorities as part of some sort of racial supremacy.
Eradicate all possibility of opposition here once and for all is deliberately using the language of total extermination and totalitarianism regimes to the degree that it would be over the top for an 80s movie Nazi.
You simply do not reach that level of hyperbole and incredibly specific language by mistake. Debate the merits of China's actions by all means but the language used in this article would be extreme even for a neo-con rag.
If the above is true, how is it not a cultural genocide? I'm failing to see the difference fundamentally between this everything done to idk something like schools doing the same to first nations people in Canada?
This isn't bad faith, I've been trying to educate myself and still don't understand why any comrade supports this, even knowing that any brutality is at least the exception?
Okay, but like, the Jacobin tweet is accurate, isn't it?
Xinjiang is materially important for China and BRI, and Islamic terrorism is a tool the US uses for geopolitical reasons. So, in the name of combating Islamic extremism, CPC is trying to centralize its hold on Xinjiang and that has resulted in harassment and detention of the Uighur population.
What they're doing isn't a genocide. But the response is far out of proportion for the level of Islamic terrorist activity that is actually present.
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That language would be over the top in a straight to video sci-fi thriller never mind a supposedly lefty magazine.
> We need to actively decouple the Xinjiang issue from the pursuit of Western interests in Asia, and provide it with a different framing, one that speaks in universal terms of a rejection of racism and discrimination.
This is the key, I think, to understanding Jacobin's perspective.
They do talk about US interests in the region and the hypocrisy of the West.
But, in the end, they want people to not view what is happening from a geopolitical/economic lens and think more in terms of the actual in-the-moment human cost. When viewed from that perspective, yeah, what is happening to Uighurs is bad and they don't deserve it. But, at the same time, Jacobin doesn't really provide any solution. They don't talk about how to influence US policy so that we can actually decouple the Xinjiang issue from the pursuit of Western interests in Asia. They just say that we should. I don't know if this is because they are idealistic or naive or what.
https://thediplomat.com/2014/10/chinese-salafism-and-the-saudi-connection/
https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/china-muslims-work-change-perceptions-after-knife-attacks
even back in 2014 there was an acknowledgment in VOA & Diplomat of Saudi & Western imperalist-funded Muslim extremism destroying lives & causing terror to unfold in PRC. But only since then has the narrative changed & extremism is now downplayed in the west.
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If jacobin didn't have a prior pattern of pro-imperialist takes this would maybe be a valid point
its easy to shit on every publication that exists in america at this point in time, but the jacobin is just about the only one that isn't hot garbage. give them a break.
they have writers that are all over the place ideologically. at this point they have way more marxists contributors then liberals. that's a trend that's been going in the right direction as of late.
I don't think Jacobin is pro-imperialist. They are more utopian, I guess? But, like, feel free to give me examples. I'm not a regular reader.
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Xinjiang is a complex issue with many competing interests. It's hard to say anything about it that can't be used for imperialist ends. Like, even if you declare full sympathy to the CPC in its mission to secure its territories and ensure its economic independence, the imperialists can just use you to push for a new Cold War.
This isn't what Jacobin does, though, so that's not really relevant. Skimming the article, it felt they wanted to criticize China's handling of Xinjiang and the Uighur without trying to provide any support to the US right-wing who they called out. I don't think they succeeded, though.
I'm sorry, but can you honestly read this paragraph and claim they're attempting nuance to avoid feeding an imperialist line?
In the name of implies that's not why they're doing what Jacobin alleges and have a more sinister reason.
Detention and indoctrination of ethnic minorities makes it sound completely indiscriminate and as though it's all ethnic minorities as part of some sort of racial supremacy.
Eradicate all possibility of opposition here once and for all is deliberately using the language of total extermination and totalitarianism regimes to the degree that it would be over the top for an 80s movie Nazi.
You simply do not reach that level of hyperbole and incredibly specific language by mistake. Debate the merits of China's actions by all means but the language used in this article would be extreme even for a neo-con rag.
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Unpopular to say around here, but yes. ACAB afterall
If the above is true, how is it not a cultural genocide? I'm failing to see the difference fundamentally between this everything done to idk something like schools doing the same to first nations people in Canada?
This isn't bad faith, I've been trying to educate myself and still don't understand why any comrade supports this, even knowing that any brutality is at least the exception?