Settler Colonialism and the Path toward Cultural Genocide in Xinjiang
Version 2 2024-06-03, 02:03Version 2 2024-06-03, 02:03
Version 1 2023-12-14, 04:45Version 1 2023-12-14, 04:45
journal contribution
posted on 2023-12-14, 04:45authored byMichael Clarke
Abstract
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (xuar) is the site of the largest mass repression of an ethnic and/or religious minority in the world today characterised by extra-judicial detention of Uyghurs in ‘re-education’ centres, pervasive surveillance, and repression of Uyghur ethnic identity. While Beijing frames such draconian measures as necessary ‘counter-terrorism’ measures, the intersection between concern for the ‘welfare’ of subject populations and the desire to eradicate ‘defective’ elements of cultural identity central to the ‘re-education’ system in Xinjiang betray the fundamentally colonial nature of the Chinese Communist Party’s (ccp) endeavours in the region.