I absolutely agree. To me, the most striking thing about that White Paper is its sly attempt to suggest there is no coherence to the Uyghur nation, that it is just a mishmash (and only accidentally Muslim). The implication is that in contrast, “the Chinese” is no mishmash — which is of course what China is: a mishmash mix of many different kinds of people, artificially re-presented as a unity. But a mishmash, if there ever was one.
The White Paper seems to signal China’s new rejection of diversity, on the path to embracing the kind of racist policies embodied in that old slogan, “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer.” Like the Nazis, the Chinese Communist Party regime is now bulldozing every trace of Uyghur historical integrity and continuity, even places like precious shrines, and even the ancient graveyard of Sultanim, in the old city of Hotan – a historical cemetery which goes back to at least 960AD, but was paved over and made into a parking area, in 2019 – clearly a heinous crime, committed by the Chinese authorities, in this very spirit.
(I just published an article in Swedish on this bulldozing, — drawing on work such as Bahram Sintash, “Demolishing Faith: The Destruction and Desecration of Uyghur Mosques and Shrines,” Uyghur Human Rights Project, 28 okt. 2019.).
In the face of the paralysis of international bodies such as UNESCO and ICOMOS, a new heritage organization has just been announced, Our World Heritage. It will hopefully help sound the alarm, and call out these crimes against Uyghur heritage and world heritage.
Magnus Fiskesjö < nf42@cornell.edu>