orangedog on Nostr: I’m still learning how to properly *re-tweet* and give appropriate credit here on ...

I’m still learning how to properly *re-tweet* and give appropriate credit here on Nostr

Leo Fernevak (npub1y02…fvpl)​ is an account I find tremendous value, the following is excerpt from a book he posted

I’m here for the learning and I learn a lot from Leo 🔥🔥

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This is a short background to the history of China's occupation of Xinjiang/East Turkestan, from the account of Rebiya Kadeer. She later became one of the first business women in China before her exile to the United States.

Excerpts from her 2007 book "Dragon Fighter":

"Even the name of our Uyghur nation is clouded with politics. The Chinese call it the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is also known as Uyghurstan or East Turkestan." (P. 4)

"Uyghur hero Yakub Beg led our people back to independence the last time in 1867. In 1876, however, the Manchu rulers reoccupied the "wild west", which they then violently integrated into the Manchu Empire under the name Xinjiang, which means "New Territory." (P. 6)

"Our land is not only of major military strategic importance, but its mineral wealth includes some of the biggest coal reserves in the world, in addition to large deposits of petroleum, gold, uranium and iron ore." (P. 8)

"I was one-year-old when the communists under Mao Zedong took over our land on October 1, 1949. Then a year later, on October 7, 1950, they conquered our neighbor Tibet." (P. 11)

"After so-called "peaceful liberation" General Wang Zhen initially took control over our Uyghur nation. Among his first actions was a "cleansing" of the region. Thousands of people were arrested or murdered." (P. 12)

"According to Chinese Communist Party theory, all people should live under the same standard as the majority of the population. In our case, this meant living as peasants. In the years after General Wang Zhen took control of the Uyghur nation he set about eradicating the rich, the intellectuals, and ideological opposition. Anyone who opposed his reforms was put before a firing squad." (P. 14)

"By March 1950, Chairman Mao had already ordered a program for the mass immigration of Han Chinese - the largest ethnic group of native Chinese - into our homeland, whereby the Uyghur nation would be afforded "mutual help" from their Chinese "brother nation"; in fact, this program was intended to foster socialism. The impetus for this strategic policy was provided by the Soviet Union's General Secretary Joseph Stalin. But this first influx was minor in contrast to that which still was to come." (P. 14)

"In 1949, there were approximately one-hundred-thousand Chinese living in our homeland. Today, the Chinese population has already grown to an estimated eight million, and at a rate excessively outpacing our own population growth." (P. 14)

"Mao Zedong formally declared our homeland as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China in 1955 and made statements about the rights of self-determination for the Uyghur nation, including the right to secede from the Chinese alliance." (P. 15)

"In reality, though, we no longer had any power in our own land. In the new Communist system, everybody was controlled by everybody else. People were encouraged to incriminate others. The Communists' collectivization of our agriculture took place in July 1955." (P. 15)

"Their violent socialization of our private trade and industry soon followed. Because of its size, our region was expected to contribute substantially to the agricultural productivity of China. For this purpose, military farms called bingtuan were established." (P. 15)

"The relationships among Chinese and Uyghurs cooled even more dramatically after several thousand of our people were again arrested and killed in the Altai region.

During the same period, the loudspeakers that by the time had been installed on every street corner would continuously broadcast the message that local inhabitants and the Chinese were friends and that we should live in harmony and unity forever.

The friendships they spoke of were merely words. In actuality, their words were veiled threats." (P.23)

"As we grew wiser, it became apparent to us that those in power in the government generally thought that the only way they could live in peace and quiet was if all of us regional natives were either exiled or murdered." (P. 23)

"In the spring of 1957, Chairman Mao called upon all intellectuals to state their critiques of the Communist Party. They were supposed to offer "complete and thorough opinions of everything." No one was to fear reprisals. Most people were grateful for this apparent liberalization. In reality though, Chairman Mao had only one thing on his mind. His carefully calculated intent was to "lure out snakes out of their holes."

"This wretched phrase was actually the official slogan of that propaganda campaign. All of those lured out by the chairman's call were indeed revealed as enemies of the state. Artists, university students, scientists, and other intellectuals were declared to be "rightists"."

"Any form of independent thinking was dangerous. Nobody was able to sleep soundly anymore because anyone, through betrayal or contrivance, could be declared an enemy of the state at any time. Everyone was supposed to think the same way and to speak the same way."

"Everyone was required to be vigilant against "incorrect" thoughts. Otherwise, we were told, the country would be threatened with disintegration. Our school teacher taught us that these words were from Chairman Mao himself."

P. 25.