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controversial but i still have no idea or strong opinion on what's really happening in xinjiang.
feelin stuck in "is this imperialist misinformation by America/China?" limbo out here
anyone got a link to a nuanced, anti-imperialist take on it? writing preferred. maybe I should just find a way to read the leaked CCP documents.
I don't think there is such a thing as you're asking for, not that I've been able to find in terms of a nuanced anti-imperialist take. But I don't think it's that difficult to get a basic understanding of it. Basically, it's China's version of the US War On Terror, which the CCP has actually referenced. They don't deny the existence of "reeducation camps" or the reason for them, which is just good old fashioned Islamophobia. Reports vary on conditions in the camps, but from what I can gather it's probably somewhere between Gitmo and US immigrant detention centers. So definitely human rights violations. Is China doing imperialism? Yes. Are they lying about it? Of course. Is there misinformation coming out of America? You bet your ass. These are the two main players on the world stage now. The Belt and Road Initiative is American imperialism with Chinese characteristics, which involves a lot less bombing of other countries. When the US starts pointing fingers at other countries for human rights violations, it's never really about that. The US doesn't give a shit...they've done far worse. It's about economic things. But yes, China is purposely mistreating the Uyghurs and it's egregious. Think of what the US does and has done to suspected terrorists and "illegal" immigrants and that should get you pretty close.
This is why I favor anarcho-syndicalism. Nation-states suck shit.
thanks for your take homie, it helps. i guess rethinking what i said, i was hoping for was a synthesis of facts about the situation with an anti-imperialist framing.
i have a hard time believing the islamophobia angle, since the camps have support from many muslim majority nations. some of those countries even
send people to the camps. the questions remaining are who are they sending, who is sending them, and what are their alleged crimes. i think regardless of political motivations, if china's social imperialism endorsed islamophobia to that level id doubt these countries would support them in this way.
the UN human rights secretary visited the camps and said no human rights violations were taking place. do i trust her? no... mostly cus the UN is sus and i already didnt trust her when she was my president. But... so many UN members states have pushed for coining it a genocide, which makes internal UN disagreement even more confounding. the first report of human rights violations done on the camps were financed by the "Victims of Communism USA" which is a joke org to me tbh, but before that, american media was praising China for fighting alleged islamic extremism in the area.
i think this the one thing that got me almost in like an "uh oh..." way: china claiming the camps are meant to combat jihadism in the area, and the US previously being vocal about supporting that goal. made me wonder, what would be the "best" path forward for a situation like this?
what is the leftist praxis to deal with society's fascists, patsocs, jihadists, christian ultranationalists, proud boys, etc.? education is obviously the long term, intergenerational solution. do i trust that that's what china is doing? not really... hard to believe state-run media (hence why reading CCP
internal documents could help). does it come closer to the "ideal" solution? maybe, perhaps a lot closer than the US has ever gotten, even if its still far... Is it genocide? i have no fucking clue... Is it horrible? likely, they're internment camps anyway you look at em...
more than anything i feel like the two options are either american-backed "its a genocide" or China-backed "we're doing good things." there's no nuance in what is being done thats truly wrong and what is the resolution of an "antagonistic contradiction" (in maoist terms). there's gotta be something we can learn from these internment camps without having to praise them or label them as genocidal, especially when our opinion on it is purely of political interest by the two largest empires in the world.
TL;DR: i think too much and it can make me sad and confused but weed sometimes helps but sometimes doesnt