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No Escape: A Uyghur's Story of Oppression, Genocide, and China's Digital Dictatorship by Nury Turkel
maggietokudahall's review
5.0
holy shit, I hated reading this book and also think everyone should read this book. truly terrifying shit happening in China.
kristinasshelves's review
3.0
Everyone needs to know that genocide against the Uyghur people is happening in today's world. Yet, Disney has filmed a movie in the very province where concentration camps are operating and the Olympics was allowed to be help in China. Turkel himself was born in one of the "re-education" camps before being able to move to America. The information about what is happening to these people is heartbreaking and we cannot turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed.
Had the narrative focused solely on the Uyghur experience, this would have been a five star read had it not devolved into a criticism of the Republican parry, President Trump and full of misinformation about January 6th. For a book that was so critical about Chinese propaganda to then pander to Denocratic false narratives was disheartening and made me question the rest of the facts presented. I'm not sure how anyone can endure persecution and not be able to see through the Democratic party's manipulation and empty virtue signaling.
Had the narrative focused solely on the Uyghur experience, this would have been a five star read had it not devolved into a criticism of the Republican parry, President Trump and full of misinformation about January 6th. For a book that was so critical about Chinese propaganda to then pander to Denocratic false narratives was disheartening and made me question the rest of the facts presented. I'm not sure how anyone can endure persecution and not be able to see through the Democratic party's manipulation and empty virtue signaling.
thuglibrarian's review
5.0
A gripping, eye opening history/memoir written by Nury Turkel, a human rights attorney and Uyghur activist. He writes about the plight of the Uyghurs, (prounouced wee-guhr) an ethnic minority group who mainly live in the Xinjiang region of the People’s Republic of China.
Turkel spares no details as he writes about the current of the Uyghur crisis, a crisis that many in the West are not aware of. In fact most of what he writes seems unbelievable but sadly is all true. Over a million Uyghurs (some reports report 2 million) have been forced into Chinese re-education camps for political and cultural indoctrination. Camps where crimes against humanity occur. This is an important read about the Uyghurs who are being systematically erased.
* I read an advance copy and was not compensated
Turkel spares no details as he writes about the current of the Uyghur crisis, a crisis that many in the West are not aware of. In fact most of what he writes seems unbelievable but sadly is all true. Over a million Uyghurs (some reports report 2 million) have been forced into Chinese re-education camps for political and cultural indoctrination. Camps where crimes against humanity occur. This is an important read about the Uyghurs who are being systematically erased.
* I read an advance copy and was not compensated
rstock's review
5.0
This book is for everyone. By now I hope at the very least we have read one headline about China’s genocide that is happening NOW. Please dig a little further and read this book. This book is a great starting point as it sheds some history on the Uighur people and also tells of first hand accounts of prisoners who have escaped.
The Holocaust Memorial Day just happened and a line you hear over and over is ‘we won’t forget’
How did this happen? Didn’t the people living by the camps know what was going on?
What is happening right now in China is what happened during WW2 - and I’m still shocked how many people don’t know about it. The parallels are staggering. There is nothing much we can do about it - at the very least we can read one book, hear one story, and simply be in the know of what is happening.
The Holocaust Memorial Day just happened and a line you hear over and over is ‘we won’t forget’
How did this happen? Didn’t the people living by the camps know what was going on?
What is happening right now in China is what happened during WW2 - and I’m still shocked how many people don’t know about it. The parallels are staggering. There is nothing much we can do about it - at the very least we can read one book, hear one story, and simply be in the know of what is happening.
leahsbooks's review
5.0
Thank you to libro.fm for providing me with an ALC of this book.
While I know a tiny bit about the Uyghur's plight, this book taught me so much about what is actually happening, and how it happened. I was most surprised about the way that China uses technology to monitor the people living there, and how it's been twisted to oppress an entire group of people.
Nury Turkel shares his own story, knowing that his family members still live in China and are at great risk. He also conducts interviews with survivors of the "reintegration" camps that are contributing to a massive genocide, both of people and an entire culture.
The most dangerous part of this entire story is the way that China controls so much of the market, so that many governments and large companies aren't able to stop doing business or impose strong sanctions on China without massive repercussions. At the same time, I'm absolutely outraged that the free world is basically just sitting by and allowing this to happen.
This book is well-written and narrated beautifully and sensitively, especially with such a difficult and painful topic that directly affects the author.
While I know a tiny bit about the Uyghur's plight, this book taught me so much about what is actually happening, and how it happened. I was most surprised about the way that China uses technology to monitor the people living there, and how it's been twisted to oppress an entire group of people.
Nury Turkel shares his own story, knowing that his family members still live in China and are at great risk. He also conducts interviews with survivors of the "reintegration" camps that are contributing to a massive genocide, both of people and an entire culture.
The most dangerous part of this entire story is the way that China controls so much of the market, so that many governments and large companies aren't able to stop doing business or impose strong sanctions on China without massive repercussions. At the same time, I'm absolutely outraged that the free world is basically just sitting by and allowing this to happen.
This book is well-written and narrated beautifully and sensitively, especially with such a difficult and painful topic that directly affects the author.
spacestationtrustfund's review
4.0
"China has created an open prison-like environment through the most intrusive surveillance state that the world has ever known while committing genocide and enslaving the Uyghurs on the world's watch."
inggridd9's review
5.0
I love non-fiction but I also don't because of books like this. This book was absolutely heartbreaking to read. Nury Turek (Uyghur in America) carefully details the life of the Uyghur population in China and how China is trying to do away with (think genocide) this population by putting them in re-education (concentration) camps where they suffer horrendous difficulties and many die. Men & women are abused, starved, & tortured. This isn't decades ago, it's happening NOW and has been happening over the past years. We all are aware of the policing and monitoring that the Communist Party enacts on its people but the extent of it is more invasive than anything i could have ever imagined, particularly for the Uyghurs. They have their eyeballs scanned, they set up neighborhood watch members to report on people (and you have to report on at least 1 person weekly), barcodes are placed on the 2 knives they are allowed to own for tracing purposes, data is scanned from your phone which must be kept on at all times so the gov't can track you, forced sterilizations, as part of a "Becoming Family" program, spies are put in your home at all times that you must welcome with open arms (some of which rape women and children with no repurcussion), the amount of food you purchased is monitored (any more/any less and you're sent to prison). This is going on NOW. Today. I like non-fiction reads becuase I love learning more about the world but this was a difficult and frustrating read that I seriously recommend.
literarylaila's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
zainub_reads's review
5.0
This memoir expertly documents the unimaginable persecution of an entire ethnic race. It is hard-hitting and in equal parts, both infuriating and an eye-opening revelation.
It records the atrocities openly inflicted on a large population with impunity, and no drastic global backlash just because of the economic might of the oppressor.
TW: there is evidence of Uyghur women being forced to undergo extremely late-term abortions, take pills, and have operations to prevent them from ever having children. Sexual abuse and assault are rife in these prisons where they are surveilled every moment of every day and where even the slightest acknowledgement of a fellow prisoner can have severe repercussions.
Those that are “permitted” to live in their own homes must accept a Han visitor/spy to live with them under the “Becoming Family” program, eat their food, and even share their beds. For women to refuse unwarranted advances from these strange men would be considered a sign of modesty from secretly practicing their religion and hence, a cause for being sent away to a re-education camp. Just like having a prayer mat at home or refusing alcohol would lead to.
The Uyghurs are being erased from history, through the demolitions of their properties and even their cemeteries. They are being wiped out from the face of this earth, by being tortured and murdered but only after they have been used as slave labourers in the production of cheap goods to be exported, and often after a willing buyer is found to purchase their profitable organs.
There is so much content in this book but there aren’t enough words for me to stress its importance, but I request everyone who can, please read it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“What is happening…simply defies categorization & historical parallels…because it both differs from previous atrocities, ethnic cleansing, genocide, crimes against humanity and because it has an overlap of elements of so many of the famous ones.”
It records the atrocities openly inflicted on a large population with impunity, and no drastic global backlash just because of the economic might of the oppressor.
TW: there is evidence of Uyghur women being forced to undergo extremely late-term abortions, take pills, and have operations to prevent them from ever having children. Sexual abuse and assault are rife in these prisons where they are surveilled every moment of every day and where even the slightest acknowledgement of a fellow prisoner can have severe repercussions.
Those that are “permitted” to live in their own homes must accept a Han visitor/spy to live with them under the “Becoming Family” program, eat their food, and even share their beds. For women to refuse unwarranted advances from these strange men would be considered a sign of modesty from secretly practicing their religion and hence, a cause for being sent away to a re-education camp. Just like having a prayer mat at home or refusing alcohol would lead to.
The Uyghurs are being erased from history, through the demolitions of their properties and even their cemeteries. They are being wiped out from the face of this earth, by being tortured and murdered but only after they have been used as slave labourers in the production of cheap goods to be exported, and often after a willing buyer is found to purchase their profitable organs.
There is so much content in this book but there aren’t enough words for me to stress its importance, but I request everyone who can, please read it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“What is happening…simply defies categorization & historical parallels…because it both differs from previous atrocities, ethnic cleansing, genocide, crimes against humanity and because it has an overlap of elements of so many of the famous ones.”
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