AP Photo

Tibet’s struggle for independence has long captured the imagination and support of the Western World. Very few people however are even aware of the Uygur people’s struggle for survival, which in many ways is far more critical. Made up of Turkic speaking, Central Asian and mostly Muslim people, the Xinjiang Uygur Auton­omous Region is their ancestral homeland. Located in Western China, the entire area lies at the one time center of the known world and is rich with the Technicolor fabric of our kaleidoscopic human history. Missionaries, monks, merchants and traders from every corner of the planet passed through with regularity. Muslim pilgrims, Buddhist holy men, Marco Polo and even Genghis Khan have cast their footprints in Xinjiang’s soil, the one time crossroads of all humanity.

Situated in an area rich with much needed natural resources, the Uygur are fast becoming outsiders to what has been the epicenter of their very cultural being for centuries. Han Chinese are slowly pouring in to take advantage of the readily available resources and at times they are doing so aggressively. Xinjiang is fast becoming China’s second Tibet in the process.

The Uygurs are witnessing the slow eradication of their culture in the name of progress. Once the vast majority, they now make up approximately half the population. Few hold good jobs as they slowly are being pushed out of the oil rich city. A recent study by the U.S. government said 800 of 840 civil service job openings were reserved for Han Chinese. Why? China’s communist government requires all government employees renounce their religion. That and they simply do not want to see their history sacrificed in the name of development.   

To make matters worse, long standing historical world heritage sites are being torn down to make space for new real estate developments. Gambling and prostitution have quickly moved in and as the pro-atheist Chinese government have even put restrictions on worship at mosques.

The culture clash has slowly begun to turn to violence. Uygyrs shopkeepers are having their businesses vandalized and some have been threatened with arson. The Uygurs are a proud people and have begun to fight back, challenging the Han and police forces in the process. More than 200 people were killed in ethic clashing and more recently, riots resulted in more than 800 deaths in some of the deadliest protests since Tienanmen Square. The military has since taken to the streets by the tens of thousands to restore order. Amnesty International and human right watch groups are disturbed by the forced assimilation of the Uygyrs by the Han Chinese. China is made of of 56 Ethic groups, with more than 90% being Han.

Tibet, Palestine, Sudan – the world is filled with stories like this and unfortunately the ending is rarely a happy one. Once again what we were, a magnanimous piece of our collective past, is about to be sacrificed upon on the altar of greed, hegemony and progress. When will we ever learn?

From David Anthony Hohol…