By Kok Bayraq
The Beijing Winter Olympics kicked off on April 4, 2022, with the Uyghur genocide still raging in East Turkestan (Xinjiang of China). This is the same as a wedding taking place next to a funeral. One of the most common and long-held rules of etiquette is not to hold a wedding on the day of a neighbor’s funeral. How is this rule so easily broken, and whom does it harm? As a veteran Uyghur journalist, my place in this scenario is on the funeral stage, so even though my heart is full of pain, my conscience is at ease, and my pen is free. Let me drop a few lines for future generations to memorize.
How did this happen?
Is it because the media and human rights organizations have been unable to fully expose the genocide? No! The world has seen 380 camps on satellite images, through leaked Chinese secret documents, and a sharp decline in Uyghur birth rates over the past two years. The world has heard the grievances of relatives of Uyghurs living in nearly 40 countries and the testimonies of more than 30 camp witnesses. An Uyghur leader, Rabiye Qadir has said: Investigators do not even need to go into the region to determine genocide.
Look at the reality:
Eight countries have recognized the violence against the Uyghurs as genocide—the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Belgium, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
On 19 January 2021, Mike Pompeo, the United States Secretary of State said that “the People’s Republic of China, under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party, has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uighurs…”
On February 23, The Canadadian parliament declares China’s treatment of Uyghurs genocide. Lawmakers also voted to pass an amendment asking Canada to call on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing “if the Chinese government continues this genocide”.
In an interview with the NBC News, the Russian President backed China’s Uyghur policy and said: “ I met certain Uyghurs, and what I heard with my own ears, that on the whole, they welcome the policies of the Chinese authorities in this area.” However, he didn’t mention who these Uyghurs were, whether they represented the Uyghurs or the regime. He continued: “They believe that China has done a great deal for people who live in this part of the country….” He has not hidden his pro-China stance at the matter by saying “Moscow doesn’t see Beijing as a threat but as s friendly nation”.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said, that China’s take on the Uyghur issue is completely different from what was being reported in the Western media. “Because of our extreme proximity and relationship with China, we actually accept the Chinese version”, Khan said.
This reality shows that holding the Olympics in Beijing is the result of money prevailing over morality, power over justice, in the second decade of the 21st century.
What does it mean that the Winter Olympics were handed over to China? Obviously, this is nothing more than saying to China, “What you are doing is nothing, and even if you do something worse, there is no power in the world to stop you.”
Let’s put aside the national and international impact of the Olympics in Beijing. Just imagine part of the possible effected scene of genocide based on previous testimonies:
The most common questions asked during interrogations at the camps over the past five years have been: “Where is your God … the one who is supposed to save you? Doesn’t your holy book say that Allah is with the oppressed? Do you still believe it?”
Today and after the Olympics, the most common questions will likely be: “Didn’t we say that the West’s call for human rights is a slogan, and its eyes are only on money and interests? Didn’t we say that Muslim countries are our friends and that separatists will be orphaned?”
Please remember this is not a scene of the talk show, let’s listen to Jiang, a former police officer from China, as he provided facts about the Uyghur genocide to the Uyghur Tribunal: “[We] kicked them [and] beat them [until they were] bruised and swollen,” Jiang recalled, noting how he and his colleagues would interrogate detainees in the camps “until they kneeled on the floor crying.” Speaking to CNN, Jiang revealed details of the torture in the camps: “Every new detainee was beaten during the interrogation process, including men, women, and children as young as 14.”
What makes the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics unique? The answer is the scene: a wedding taking place adjacent to a funeral. I say loudly that these are the Genocidal Olympics! The Bloody Olympics! The Complicity Olympics!
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