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A review by emmycd
The Chief Witness: escape from China’s modern-day concentration camps by Sayragul Sauytbay
5.0
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
As a history teacher, one of the biggest messages to my students is that we are simply learning about a case study of a bigger concept. For example, World War 1 is just one example of a war. The Chartist movement is just one example of ordinary people protesting for increased rights and against inequality. As part of the KS3 National Curriculum, students must study the Holocaust, one of many (unfortunately) genocides that have blighted human history. Why did it happen? How did it happen? How can we ensure it doesn't happen again? This is something that every single person should know, but yet we seem to be letting it happen all over again.
The truth is there is a genocide happening right now in China. In fact, this isn't the only genocide occurring in the world at the moment, but I will focus on the persecution of Muslim minorities in China here. This has only recently been declared as a genocide even though it really has been known about for a good few years now. China has tried to stop talks about this by trying to get states to boycott UN events and detaining, threatening and killing anyone who speaks out against the CCP.
Sauytbay was born in East Turkestan (Xinjiang in Chinese) in the North-West of China. This memoir details the ever growing restrictions and humiliations dealt to Muslims and ethnic minorities in this region from the 1970s to the present day and mirrors to such a high degree the actions of the Nazi part in Germany in the 1930s and 50s. From increased surveillance, pledging allegiance to the CCP and suppressing "undesirable" non-Chinese culture, the people of East Turkestan have been systematically oppressed for years. In the past 5 years of so this has also led to concentration camps being built where Uighur and Kazakh Muslims are brainwashed, kept in appalling conditions and routinely raped and tortured.
Even after escaping this horrendous regime, Sauytbay was not safe. Through China's economic expansion and lending of money to many poorer surrounding nations, they have a big political influence in these countries and Sauytbay had to fight for her freedom away from Kazakhstan where she had initially sought asylum.
Sayragul Sauytbay is such a brave woman and individuals like her are ensuring that the truth comes to light. This is not something we can ignore. This must be acted on.
As a history teacher, one of the biggest messages to my students is that we are simply learning about a case study of a bigger concept. For example, World War 1 is just one example of a war. The Chartist movement is just one example of ordinary people protesting for increased rights and against inequality. As part of the KS3 National Curriculum, students must study the Holocaust, one of many (unfortunately) genocides that have blighted human history. Why did it happen? How did it happen? How can we ensure it doesn't happen again? This is something that every single person should know, but yet we seem to be letting it happen all over again.
The truth is there is a genocide happening right now in China. In fact, this isn't the only genocide occurring in the world at the moment, but I will focus on the persecution of Muslim minorities in China here. This has only recently been declared as a genocide even though it really has been known about for a good few years now. China has tried to stop talks about this by trying to get states to boycott UN events and detaining, threatening and killing anyone who speaks out against the CCP.
Sauytbay was born in East Turkestan (Xinjiang in Chinese) in the North-West of China. This memoir details the ever growing restrictions and humiliations dealt to Muslims and ethnic minorities in this region from the 1970s to the present day and mirrors to such a high degree the actions of the Nazi part in Germany in the 1930s and 50s. From increased surveillance, pledging allegiance to the CCP and suppressing "undesirable" non-Chinese culture, the people of East Turkestan have been systematically oppressed for years. In the past 5 years of so this has also led to concentration camps being built where Uighur and Kazakh Muslims are brainwashed, kept in appalling conditions and routinely raped and tortured.
Even after escaping this horrendous regime, Sauytbay was not safe. Through China's economic expansion and lending of money to many poorer surrounding nations, they have a big political influence in these countries and Sauytbay had to fight for her freedom away from Kazakhstan where she had initially sought asylum.
Sayragul Sauytbay is such a brave woman and individuals like her are ensuring that the truth comes to light. This is not something we can ignore. This must be acted on.