India should teach China democracy: Dolkun Isa

As Ramadan begins, China has applied certain restrictions on fasting upon select members of its dissident Uyghur community. Uyghur activist Dolkun Isa spoke with Aarti Tikoo Singh about Islam and exclusion amongst Uyghurs, how democracies are overlooking violations of Uyghur rights – and why he was recently prevented from visiting India:

Why are Uyghurs fighting violently in China? Uyghurs are fighting non-violently – the Chinese government has violently cracked down on the peaceful activities of Uyghurs. For instance, in 2009, a peaceful demonstration was attacked – and more than 1,000 Uyghurs killed by Chinese police and army.

A small number of Uyghurs have chosen violence against the Chinese government. We do not in any way condone such use of violence. We find it counterintuitive for the Uyghur community’s progress. We do not speak for these people.
But decades of discrimination and repression have led to helplessness among the Uyghurs. The Chinese government has ignored this – and continues its repressive policies.

Isn’t Uyghur movement centred around Islamic identity? How does it differ from global Islamist movements? The Uyghur movement is not an Islamic movement – it is a freedom movement. East Turkestan was occupied and has been under military control of Communist China since 1949. Uyghurs want democracy and rights – but the Chinese government has implemented polices to assimilate Uyghurs. Uyghurs’ basic human rights have been violated by China.

Today, Uyghur identity is endangered – Islam is only one of the main elements of Uyghur identity.

China has prosperity – are Uyghurs not interested? Uyghurs are certainly not disinterested. But China touts that East Turkestan’s seeing the most impressive growth in its history – these lofty pronouncements ignore the fact that with the mass migration of Chinese settlers to the region since the 1950s, disproportionate benefits flow away from the Uyghur population into migrant communities.

Knowledge of Mandarin and access to higher education remain significant barriers for Uyghurs in the job market. Industries in the region exclude Uyghurs in favour of the Chinese. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a dominant state-controlled construction organisation, employs over 2.7 million people – Uyghurs are only 7 per cent of its workforce, despite being nearly half the region’s population.

Government, administrative and managerial jobs are overwhelmingly filled by non-Uyghurs. An analysis of 2005 census data shows Uyghur workers on average earn 66 per cent of Chinese counterparts – Uyghurs have really been left out of this ‘growth story’ and are discriminated against economically.

Can’t their socio-economic rights be sought peacefully? Yes, of course. The problem arises when the government labels those who support human rights as violent extremists or terrorists – as they’ve done to the World Uyghur Congress (WUC). The purpose is to shift the debate from human rights to whether WUC promotes violence.

Why should the West support Uyghurs against China? Clear human rights violations are committed by the Chinese government – but very little is done because of China’s economic power. Morally, the international community – the US, UK and EU in particular – hasn’t lived up to its professed ethical standards.

Protection of human rights is one of the main values of western democracy. The democratic world has a responsibility to support Uyghurs and Tibetans. China is an economic power – but at the same time, China is a champion of human rights violations.

Recently India issued you a visa – but then cancelled it. Why did you want to visit? To attend a human rights conference with different activists. India's one of my dream countries to visit because of its history and multi-cultural diversity.

The visa was likely cancelled because of Chinese pressure. It's understandable the government decided to not damage its ties with China further. However, India should have some responsibility to teach democracy to China.

But most Chinese don't seem bothered by the one party dictatorship ­ why? How can one measure support for the dictatorship? There's widespread dissatisfaction in China from Chinese people themselves. We've witnessed Tiananmen ­ but brutal crackdowns halt civil society with real consequences for speaking out.

Another factor is the stranglehold on information by the Chinese government ­ states that expend such tremendous efforts to control information clearly suffer from paranoia that people may gain better understanding of what's actually happening around them.

Information is passed through the Chinese propaganda machinery ­ it looks nothing like reality when it comes out.