A new documentary, by film maker Simon James is now available to view on Forced Migration Online. ‘Across the Border: Uyghurs in Kazakhstan‘ focuses on the situation of the Uyghur minority in Kazakhstan.
While Uyghurs account for just 1.5% of the Kazakh population, relations with the Kazakh government are often strained and Uyghurs live today in a sort of limbo. They can do business, study their native language and organize cultural events, provided they do not interfere with politics and accept limited freedom of thought and tight State control.
This situation gives minorities the opportunity to survive as a community and enjoy stability, but it does not grant them the status of full citizens.
The latest in FMO’s growing selection of podcasts focuses on a new Chinese government policy, recruiting young Uyghur women from majority Uyghur areas of East Turkestan, and transferring them to work in factories in urban areas of eastern China.
Under this policy, thousands of Uyghur women have been removed from their families and placed into substandard working conditions thousands of miles from their homes. Though official propaganda slogans promote the program as an overwhelmingly positive experience for these women, less than two years after the initiation of the policy, it has already left a history of broken promises and shattered families. Local leaders, who are subject to intense pressure from higher levels of the PRC government, have used deception, pressure, and threats in order to recruit women to participate in the program.
In this podcast, four experts talk about the impact this programme is having on these women:
Dr. Michael Dillon, visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing
Omer Kanat, Uyghur Service at Radio Free Asia
Amy Reger, Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)
Enver Tohti, chairman of the UK Uighur Association
These interviews were recorded between September 2008 and July 2009, by film-maker S L James.
The film ‘Silk Road to Guantanamo: The Story of Adel Hakimjan‘ is now available to view online. Silk Road to Guantanamo shows the plight of ex-Guantanamo Bay inmate Adel Hakimjan, a Chinese Uighur, who was abused, persecuted, traded, and falsely imprisoned. There will be a screening of the film at the Blue Boar Lecture Theatre, Christ Church College, University of Oxford, on Tuesday, 17th November 7.30pm-9.30pm. After the screening there will be a Q & A with the film’s director S L James and Enver Tohti, chairman of the UK Uyghur Association.
The newly released DVD title On a Tightrope is an additional resource for understanding the culture and situation of China’s Muslim Uighur minority in the wake of the current crisis.
It is a portrayal of four children at a government orphanage in Xinjiang who despite religious persecution maintain their cultural heritage through learning the ancient Uighur tradition of tightrope walking.
The film has won several awards, including a nomination at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.
In 2007 Forced Migration Online first highlighted the situation faced by Uyghurs in Xinjiang province, China. The film ‘Lost Nation: Stories from the Uyghur Diaspora’ included an interview with Rabiya Kadeer, the most prominent Uyghur in the world today. Channel 4 news also interviewed Rabiya Kadeer yesterday as the situation has suddenly worsened in Urumqi.
Today Lindsey Hilsum interviewed Rebiya Kadeer, the President of the World Uighur Congress, the most significant Uighur leader, either in China or abroad, and a hate figure for the Chinese government.
Ms Kadeer used to be a businesswoman in Xinjiang, China’s most westerly province, until she was imprisoned for separatist activities.
On her release she fled to the USA where she is now based.
The Chinese government has accused her of orchestrating the violence which erupted in Urumqi yesterday.
The film ‘Lost Nation: Stories from the Uyghur Diaspora’ now includes an interview with Rabiya Kadeer. Ms Kadeer had been a successful business woman in China before her views on human rights issues caused her to be imprisoned by the Chinese authorities. Ms Kadeer left China in 2005 for the United States where she is now the president of both the World Uyghur Congress and Uyghur American Association, becoming the most prominent Uyghur in the world today.
In this recording Rabiya Kadeer talks about how and why she left China and her hopes for the Uyghur people in Xinjiang (East Turkistan).
The web page for the video Lost Nation: Stories from the Uyghur diaspora has been updated to feature the interviews as 5 individual films. These can be viewed in a web browser (QuickTime or Flash format) or via iTunes.
Enver Tohti, London
Discusses personal migration and Uyghur Chinese relations
Gulamettin Emet, New York
Discusses his personal migration in 1940s to India, then Turkey and Germany before being the first Uyghur to settle in the USA
Enver Can, Munich
Discusses personal migration and treatment of Uyghurs in Afghanistan and China.
There will be a screening of the film ‘Lost Nation: Stories from the Uyghur Diaspora’ at the Nissan Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, on Thursday, 31st May 6pm-7.30pm.
In the film, Five Uyghurs from five cities around the world tell their personal story of migration from Xinjiang (East Turkistan).
A new documentary, by film maker Simon James is now available to view on Forced Migration Online. ‘Across the Border: Uyghurs in Kazakhstan‘ focuses on the situation of the Uyghur minority in Kazakhstan.
