A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti
Post Tagged with: "Ilham Tohti"
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The world is ready for a New China
It’s not the time to celebrate with China, it’s time to call for change to an evil regime By Wu’er Kaixi As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congratulates itself on yet another year in power, we should not forget that this so-called People’s Republic comes into the world “dripping from head to toe, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” It is also about the time the leaders of the free world got together and talked about how a new China could emerge from the shadows. On Thursday (Oct. 1) the CCP will praise itself to the heavens for making China a “moderately prosperous society in all respects,” becoming a strong military nation, and managing to control the spread of Covid-19. For me, a survivor of the Tiananmen massacre 31 years ago, this is like a poke in the eye. It is also a kick in the teeth for the people of Taiwan, protestors from Hong Kong, the oppressed Uyghur people, and everyone else around the world affected by the deadly coronavirus. On the 71st anniversary of the violent seizure of power by Mao Zedong that created the People’s Republic of China, it is time to reflect on all the evil that the CCP is doing, rather than join the party and celebrate. We have often heard China’s leaders claim the narrative of development is one of a “peaceful rise” — but it is anything but that. After the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fired on the peaceful Tiananmen protesters in 1989 and the tanks rolled in, I was put on a government hit list. Thankfully, I was smuggled out of the country into what was then the British-controlled enclave of Hong Kong. I will be forever grateful to those who helped me in my darkest hour, and to the city […]
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Uyghur Scholar’s Release Sought [Archive]
RFA 2009-07-14 A Chinese writer petitions for the release of a prominent Uyghur economist detained after riots in China’s ethnically divided northwest. WASHINGTON—Chinese writer Wang Lixiong and his wife, the Tibetan writer Woeser, have launched an online campaign calling for the release of Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti. Tohti, a professor at Beijing’s Central Nationalities University, went missing after he reported police had summoned him from his Beijing home following July 5 riots in Urumqi, capital of China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Beijing-based Wang Lixiong is best known for his novel Tian Zang (Sky Burial), in which he explores the issue of Tibet from a perspective different from that officially espoused by the Chinese government. Wang published his petition for Ilham Tohti on the Internet July 12, and within 24 hours had collected 158 cyber signatures endorsing his appeal, most of them from Han Chinese. By Tuesday, the number of supporters had reached more than 250. Blog targeted Tohti, an outspoken economist from China’s largely Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, was targeted by police after his blog, Uyghur Online, was cited for allegedly instigating deadly ethnic clashes in Xinjiang. Tohti told RFA’s Uyghur service that police had been surveying his home in a telephone interview on July 7, two days after deadly clashes in the northwestern city of Urumqi killed at least 184 people. “They are calling me now, and I have to go. I may be out of touch for some time,” he said. “I wasn’t involved in anything, but I am not safe. The police are calling me,” Tohti said before hanging up. Subsequent phone calls rang unanswered. On July 6, he told RFA’s Cantonese service that he had gathered information on the clashes but wouldn’t release it because the timing was sensitive. Tohti’s blog, Uyghur Online, publishes in Chinese and Uyghur […]
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Outspoken Economist Presumed Held [Archive]
RFA 2009.07.08 An outspoken economist belonging to the Uyghur ethnic minority is presumed to be detained after police surrounded his home in Beijing. HONG KONG—An outspoken economist from China’s Uyghur ethnic minority, whose blog was cited for allegedly instigating deadly ethnic clashes in Xinjiang, has gone silent and his whereabouts are unknown after he reported police had summoned him from his Beijing home. “Police have been watching my home for two days now,” Ilham Tohti, an economics professor at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing, said July 7 in a telephone interview, two days after deadly clashes in the northwestern city of Urumqi killed at least 156 people. “They are calling me now, and I have to go. I may be out of touch for some time,” he told RFA’s Uyghur service. “I wasn’t involved in anything, but I am not safe. The police are calling me,” Tohti said, and then hung up. Subsequent phone calls rang unanswered. On July 6, he told RFA’s Cantonese service that he had gathered information on the clashes but wouldn’t release it because the timing was too sensitive. Uyghur Online publishes in Chinese and Uyghur and is widely seen as a moderate, intellectual Web site addressing social issues. Authorities have closed it on several previous occasions. Tohti’s blog, Uyghur Online, was specifically targeted in a July 5 speech by the governor of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Nur Bekri, as an instigator of the clashes, along with exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer. Tohti’s last blog entry, published through a U.S. server at 10:52 a.m. Beijing time July 7 and now blocked inside China, reads: “As the editor of Uyghur Online, I want only to tell Nur Bekri, ‘You are right, everything you say is right, because you will decide everything. I have already […]
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Economist Speaks Out Again [Archive]
RFA 2009.05.12 A prominent Uyghur economist takes outspoken aim at the Chinese government’s handling of his native Xinjiang region. HONG KONG—A prominent economist from China’s mainly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority has called on authorities to ease curbs on free expression and foster greater economic opportunity for Uyghurs in their native Xinjiang region, where poverty and joblessness are commonplace. Ilham Tohti, an economics professor at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing, said he was interrogated repeatedly and accused of separatism after he spoke out in March against Chinese policies in Xinjiang. He said at the time that unemployment remains the single biggest problem in Xinjiang and that Uyghurs have suffered under the current governor. “There are visible changes in China,” he said in an interview. “But in terms of freedom and democracy, Xinjiang’s situation is the worst of the worst-compared with other regions of China. “What I have encountered at this time is typical. My Web site was shut down without notice. I was interrogated many times and threatened. I am a legal Beijing resident, and by law I should not be interrogated by Xinjiang police officials, but it has happened.” “This shows how long the local authorities’ reach is. They accused me of separatism,” he said. “But is demanding implementation of the autonomy law separatism?” I have received more than 1,000 e-mails from intellectuals—Chinese, Tibetans, and Uyghurs—all saying they are behind me.” Ilham Tohti, economist China’s 1984 Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law is the main legal framework for managing the affairs of China’s ethnic minorities, and it promises a high degree of autonomy for minority groups. Critics say its implementation in many areas has been weak. “There is no major problem with the main points of the central government’s policy,” Tohti said. Sharp criticism His goal, he said, is “equal opportunity […]
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