Image: Screenshot of ‘Students for Uyghurs’ Twitter video
By Tess Langbroek
The University College London recently put up a ‘Xinjiang” dance performance. Uyghur culture is not only appropriated but is subsequently used to present a version of the Uyghur region in which genocide is not taking place, Students for Uyghurs says in a tweet.
‘My beautiful culture is being decimated by the Chinese regime. Seeing it falsely performed as a “Xinjiang dance” by the UCL and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) hurts deeply. The CSSA is directly “guided” by the same Chinese Embassy that denies the Uyghur genocide. I await a full explanation and an apology, Rahima Mahmut, a UK-based Uyghur, tweets.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK and its Ambassador Zheng Zeguang have consistently denied the atrocities committed by the Chinese government against the Uyghur people. This event indicates how Beijing uses the CSSAs as its propaganda tools abroad. The CSSA acting in this manner poses a threat to the freedom of speech & academia on international campuses.
Given the solid evidence, media reports & the recent Uyghur Tribunal judgment of genocide, it is hard to believe that UCL is unaware of the Uyghur genocide, ‘Students for Uyghurs’ concludes.