cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/57662436
“When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out ‘stop!’ When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible.”
German playwright Bertolt Brecht’s observation on the political apathy that engulfed Germany in the 1930s resonates with 21st century survivors of the Chinese state’s war against Uyghurs in its northwestern heartland, known by exiles as East Turkestan.
Germany’s slide into fascism brought book burnings and arrests of “undesirables.” It lead step by step to antisemitism, concentration camps, torture, and death. That brutal history echoes today in Beijing’s campaign against the Turkic peoples of its western regions – and in the silence of a deaf world. Only those who have experienced the terror first-hand and survived to tell the tale can hope to describe its full horrors.
Kalbinur Sidik (formerly Romanized as Qelbinur Sidik) is one such rare eyewitness to what many nations have termed a genocide. Her ordeal as a teacher inside the camps drove her to the brink of collapse. She escaped in 2019 ostensibly for medical treatment, hoping to reunite with her daughter in the Netherlands and seek asylum. Speaking out became her path to healing.
She told The Diplomat that “silence is not an option.” The faces of captives in her class have haunted her to this day. Since leaving, her mission has been to give voice to their silent cries.
[…]
Her memoir, “Heart Full of Light” – a title reflecting the meaning of her name, Kalbinur – is full of horror and sadness but also memory, dignity and resistance. It is a cry against erasure and a wake-up call to a world that has not been listening.
[…]
Every inch of the compound was monitored. If someone moved, a screen flashed red and zoomed in. “It was impossible not to compare them to animals in cages,” Sidik wrote of her students. “There was nowhere to hide. For them, or for me.”
The specter of organ harvesting hung over everything. Healthy young prisoners disappeared. Across Xinjiang authorities collected biodata from everyone aged 16-65. Mandatory DNA tests, bloods, iris scans, voice and gait recordings filled vast data banks, many believed for organ matching. Research later identified Saudis and Gulf Arabs traveling to eastern China for halal organs.
“Alive we were worthless, dead, and cut up, our organs were worth a ransom,” Sidik wrote.
[…]
Can you provide a positive counter example?
Pick whatever you consider to be the most democratic democracy in the world. Can you explain how democracy works there?
Why are we skipping my request?
Maybe because by skipping context and relying on a broad call to ambiguous authority you are making a bad faith debate worse?
A person could spend a year studying any large democratic system and still wonder at all the bullshit and lies inherent in such a system.
So what are you actually trying to say? That your favourite system is not rigged for a certain oppressive status quo? Prove that it’s the exception to the global rule.
So you don’t understand how democracy works in China, you can just say that.
You like to pretend you understand how democracy works so maybe you could enlighten us instead of just flinging poo.
Do my thing first and then we’ll do yours.
It’s pretty clear that everyone except you understands that “your thing” is nonsense.
We’ve been asking you to explain what you mean by “your thing” and you just hurl more insults.
It’s kind of funny watching you dodge the question over and over again and without realizing what you’re doing. It’s obvious because Subdivide6857@midwest.social already provided several links to a high-level description of how democracy works in China https://lemmy.zip/post/69779902/28279982 and you still pretend you have a serious question.
No they did their homework, my work is done. None of you others have shown you looked it up lol.
Explain the relevant issue of democracy-in-china here or you are just being a troll.
Are you pretending to be stupid or are you being serious?
OK then, confirmed, a troll.
You could have addressed the point, but it isn’t about debate, is it?
Confirmed stupid, lmao.
Ad Hominem, appeal to authority, diversion, sealioning, discernable contempt.
I checked your post history to confirm, and it’s all piss and vinegar and baiting, with regular propaganda talking points.
Let all other users note that nonconfrontational is a textbook troll.
Because your question disingenuously suggests that there’s some clear standard of what democracy is or how it can be judged.
Until we have that standard it’s a vague word and there’s no objective way to discuss how it works in China or anywhere else.
The Chinese system isn’t well known in the west. The majority seem to think one person is calling all the shots. It’s a little comical. It’s definitely not a secret, though:
https://multimedia.scmp.com/widgets/china/cpc-primer/
https://polsci.institute/comparative-government-politics/deciphering-chinese-political-system-overview/
https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/china_abc/2014/08/23/content_281474982987216.htm
@Subdivide6857@midwest.social
You’re citing sources under the direct censorship regime of the Chinese Communist Party. This is useless.
If you think the information is wrong, you’re welcome to post information that shows it.
For starters you could even say what you think is wrong about it. Can you point at any errors or misinformation in any of those articles?
What the fuck are you on about? How does democracy work in China is a pretty simple question.
If this is all so simple for you, it should be simple to provide a working definition of democracy?
The problem is that it’s nowhere near that simple. You won’t be able to find any definition of democracy that matches all the nations you want to think of as democracies while also excluding the ones you don’t want to.
Sorry about your brain, I guess.
And that’s the username you chose?
😘