These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

"And In Their Triumph Die, Like Fire And Powder

Which, As They Kiss, Consume."

Innocent Blood

China has taken to a policy of exploitation and dehumanization of it's Uyghur Muslim population in the troubled Xinjiang province. Through the oppressive tactics of exploiting Uyghur as a supply of cheap labor through legislative processes the Chinese have locked the Uyghur people into the role of a permanent underclass. The government routinely looks the other ways as members of the Han majority ethnic group use mob violence to put Uyghur back beneath the heel of People's Republic. When Uyghur dare to fight back against savage attacks they are quickly put down by Chinese security forces.

This is exactly what happened as Uyghur Muslims gathered at the Peyshenbe Bazaar Mosque in Aykol, Xinjiang. According to the official state report the police were supposedly unarmed and simply attempting to arrest a couple worshipers who had been reported to have violated the strict religious laws of China. However if this is to be believed one would have to wonder how the incident quickly spiraled out of control leaving at least four dead and around 20 more wounded. Not a single security officer was injured.

Upon arrival at the Mosque the Chinese police did in fact begin their roundups of Uyghur men they claimed had violated laws restricting religious practices within China. But the security personnel were far from unarmed and simply acting out of legal precedent. The moment the Uyghur showed any resistance to the police officers' displays of force the Chinese security radioed in for backup and commenced to firing live ammunition in amongst the gathered Uyghur civilians. As the bullets began to fly the police's violent tendencies led to a violent tragedy.

Several reports vary on where and how severely Subhinur Memet, a four year old girl, was injured after being struck by police bullets. Some indicate that the little girl took a bullet to the chest while others say that she had been struck in the leg. On any account the young girl collapsed as the police continued to pour bullets into the area where she had fell. As of now the young girl is believed to be alive at least.

Everyone who has reported on the barbaric actions of the police in Aykol agree that tensions between the Uyghur and Chinese authorities flared immensely when the four year old girl was struck down. The Uyghur worshipers apparently ceased from fleeing the fight and turned to attack the police with sticks and stones. With this the police showed more force and more barbarism in their attack by firing even more rounds at closer range.

The result was devastating in a town where relations between the Uyghur population and the Chinese authorities were already strained. With four confirmed dead civilians (some indicate the casualties could be much higher) and a low estimate of at least 20 wounded the town was turned into a miniature police state. After the blood bath was over the Chinese flooded Aykol with every type of police unit they could find.

In response to the resistance that the Uyghur had shown at the Mosque the Chinese officials ordered raids upon Uyghur homes. List of Uyghurs who had been at the Mosque were checked off almost in order as Chinese police took to busting in doors and arresting any Uyghur man or boy who had been present earlier that day. At least three Uyghur women were also arrested by Chinese police as they cast a wide net over Aykol on the night of the Eid massacre. 

Officially only 90 people have been arrested in connection to the violence instigated by Chinese police. However some estimate that the arrest could be well over one to two hundred people as Chinese police raided neighboring villages and towns from where some worshipers had traveled from. On the following day these suspicions were only stoked even more as Aykol citizens reported gunshots from Chinese police positions around the city.

So Why This Attack? Why On Eid? 

China has long restricted the rights of it's Muslim minorities across the country. For the Uyghur this had been a sore spot in the relationship Xinjiang has had with Beijing. It was further stressed as Chinese authorities began to crackdown on prayer violations and religious gatherings amongst Uyghur Muslims. Local mosque have often been kept under police surveillance as the state continues to impose restrictions on prayer times and the length of religious observances. Ramadan has thus turned into a time of tribulation for the Uyghur as they struggle to observe the holy month under increased state sponsored oppression. 

With increased violence, often instigated by Chinese Han and/or police, the Uyghur have found themselves facing travel restrictions that keep them confined in smaller and smaller areas. Farmers are often kept from selling their goods as they wish so that the state's low offer is the only income they can find. Workers are restricted to certain levels of employment and kept from any entrepreneurial ventures. Religious clothing and hair styles are treated as a threat by the state, thus Uyghurs are forced to dress and look like Han Chinese. 

All of this state sponsored repression has led to an Uyghur population that is growing ever desperate for some small taste of freedom and the right to enjoy their own culture. Where they have sought compromise they have been told they must accept the Chinese customs and practices. Where they have attempted to make peace the state has only offered them suffering. 

Uyghur youth who take advantage of educational opportunities often denied to their fellow Uyghur students are turned back once they are done with academia. As their Han classmates move onto careers that fit their level of education, the Uyghur are returned to manual labor for below sustainable incomes. This desire to keep the Uyghur below the Han majority has added yet more stress on the ethnic relations between the two groups. 

So it is no surprise that with all this repression that harsh prayer restrictions and restrictions on religious gatherings would bring relations between Xinjiang and Beijing to a crashing halt. There is no more room for compromise on the Uyghur peoples' part. When it comes to the basic human rights (religion being one) they Uyghur cannot surrender to the will of the atheist state. And that is why incidents like this Eid massacre have taken place and will continue to occur.

These Are Not Polite Suggestions

If China is to maintain it's oppressive presence, at the very least, in Xinjiang it will have to either spill more and more blood or it will have to compromise it's communist and racial ideology. Xenophobic Beijing must learn to accept the ethnic diversity that comprises the rest of China. It will have to stop the importation of Han peasantry into Xinjiang and simply permit the wealth of China's economic growth to be granted to the Uyghurs as well. The ethnic cleansing taking place must be ended and the Uyghurs must be allowed to hold onto their homeland and their way of life. 

Senseless slaughter of any ethnic minority in China must be stopped for China to avoid genocide. Uyghurs cannot be targeted due to their ethnicity to be "destroyed in part or in whole" so that China can benefit in any way from their demise. Their memory will live on, there are always survivors. 

Therefore for China to move forward it must ease tensions by allowing religious observances to occur without police brutality, without police surveillance, and without a police presence. State dogs (officials) must be called off as Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and Jews observe their given holy days. Religious dress must be tolerated for a society to live in peace and pursue economic, social, and national progress. It is not a platitude for a state to tolerate religion but a necessity for the survival of the state itself. 

Ethnic tolerance must be pursued and the bigotry that has been tolerated must be corroded through state and social policies. An education system based upon the ethnic background of the individual must be rejected and replaced with an educational system that seeks out the natural talents of each individual student. Talents and gifts are not distributed by nature, G-d, or what ever you believe in based upon ethnic heritage. China should ask itself where the world would be today if Hitler had been successful in killing off Albert Einstein and his legacy.

If China does not manage to move away from it's current policies of repression and ethnic cleansing it will face far more than stones down the road. A people who are oppressed in this manner have always shown throughout history that violence... the threat of extinction... is never sufficient at keeping them down forever. The Armenians rose up to meet the Young Turks and fought valiantly even as the Ottomans threatened to kill off every Armenian as a result. The Jewish partisans in Yugoslavia, Russia, Poland, and across Europe took to violent resistance as the threat of Nazism engulfed the world around them. Native Americans time and time again stood between death and the United States and yet they fought more fiercely than anyone could had imagined. 

In the end China will have to remember the words of JFK as they continue to repress the Uyghur people.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." 

~John F. Kennedy

This is not a "jihad" for the unlawful control of their country. This is not a war to take from China land, material wealth, or even souls. This isn't even a war at all in the aspect that one side has nothing with which to fight back. This is a struggle by the Uyghur people to keep their heritage alive, to keep their religious rights from being wiped away. This is the struggle of a people to maintain their cultural identity as the Chinese government attempts to take from them the last hallmarks of their culture... their religion. 

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Source Documents
(Note: not all sources listed)

Radio Free Asia
www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/clashes-08102013000244.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/shooting-08122013193025.html

The Epoch Times
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/242294-china-police-break-up-uyghur-celebration-shooting-four-dead/

The Forgotten Diaspora

Chechen Refugees Attempt To Escape Oppression
(Footsteps In The Dark series)

After the Boston Marathon bombing the United States was stunned to learn that the attackers were from some country that most Americans had never heard much about. The name Chechen comes up from time to time in TV shows and movies in American pop culture. And from time to time the media will drag out a story about Chechnya. But for many Americans who were around in the 90's it was simply one of those countries Russia was bombing into submission. Other than that, we couldn't have spotted the place on a map.

For some in America the question quickly became "why the hell are they even here". The immediate knee-jerk reactions included everything from fear to ethnic hatred and bigotry. Insults about the family were most common on social media outlets, yet hate filled tweets and status updates about Chechens all together were prolific. Two individuals had almost instantly painted an entire nationality an entire community as the "enemy".

So what do we know about Chechnya and it's people today?

There are currently less than 1,000 Chechens living in the entire United States. The vast majority of which are refugees seeking asylum from a devastating war perpetrated by old Soviet aggression. It is a war that Vladimir Putin himself helped carry out and a battle that continues under Putin's command. Thus why this diaspora of Chechen refugees is reluctant to go home today.

Their plight began when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. It was that year that Chechnya declared itself independent of Russian rule. However in 1994 the Russians decided that they didn't care to let Chechnya out from under their boot. With a massive blitz style invasion the Russian bear rolled into Grozny. This battle would be the reason that many of Chechnya's civilians decided to take up the role of refugee rather than be subjected to Russian siege.

Accounts of extremely brutal guerrilla and urban warfare leaked out of Chechnya all throughout the 90's. Refugees told of civilians disappearing to never be heard from again when Russian troops occupied an area. Chechen men and boys were often the victims of Russian roundups that were meant to destroy morale amongst the Chechen community. The Chechen women and girls were kidnapped and subjected to rape as a weapon of war. Yet such war crimes committed by Russia's military were never prosecuted and the international community largely looked the other way.

Today the Chechen government still attempts to push the envelope when dealing with "mother Russia". This testing of it's limitations under Russian occupation keeps Chechnya at threat of further oppression by Putin's rule in Moscow. There is always the reality that war is never that far over the horizon as Putin waits for the slightest indiscretion to excuse another military showdown with "terrorists" in Chechnya.

For Chechen refugees around the world this persistent threat of a sudden outbreak of war in their homeland is reason enough to stay abroad. However for some the decision to remain a refugee may very well be out of their hands. Countries with an unstable relationship with Russia often play politics with these refugees. For these refugees the relationship their host countries have with Putin's regime determines whether or not they stay or go.

In Turkey the fear of forced repatriation is a reality that Chechens have to live with daily. Chechens in Turkey have never officially received refugee status. As "temporary guests" these Chechens are persistently faced with the threat of expulsion and extradition to Russia. Their fate currently relies upon the Erdogan regime and it's hospitality... something that the Occupy Gezi movement has placed at risk.

Across Eastern Europe the Chechen refugees face discrimination and isolation as their hosts governments play chess with Russia. In Georgia the Chechen community is almost constantly under threat of expulsion as the local government attempts to hold back another Russian offensive. The threat of politics leaves Chechens the only option of applying for asylum in Western European countries (a short term solution for many).

But the West isn't a safe bet for Chechen asylum seekers either.

Many Western European governments have also used Chechen refugees as chips in their games with Putin. The United States and Canada however have for the most part left the Chechen refugees off the table when attempting to maintain their stance with Moscow.

So why would all these Chechens want to stay away from Russian dominated Chechnya?

“If you go when they call you, you never come back."

~ Chechen female refugee talking about Russian soldiers.

Russia's war crimes in Chechnya has left a legacy of bitterness and terror in a community that wanted out from under Soviet boots. When the Russians used SCUD missiles, fighter jets, and artillery on Grozny in 1999 they sealed a level of hostility in Chechnya's soul that remains unparallelled. Acts of terrorism against Russia are the results of the seeds Russia sowed in the two Chechen Wars it carried out. Yet these acts of revenge are also the excuses Russia uses to continue pushing it's heel down upon Chechnya today.

An official stance of targeting Chechens by Russian police and military keeps Chechens in their homeland on edge. Disappearances of Chechens linked to resistance movements keeps Russia's dominance in the region. In this way Russia imposes as much terror upon Chechnya as it blames the Chechen community for. Through the constant application of steady pressure the Russian government encourages radicalism of both nationalist sentiment and religious ideology.

This reaction shown by Chechnya's fringe is however not a phenomena solely possessed by Chechens alone. It can be seen in every society that has ever had to live with the assiduous oppression of a tyrant. You can see the violent reaction of a community held under the boot of an oppressor in the history books of American society. When pushed to the limit of our own ability to tolerate exploitation by British dictators we rose up as guerrillas in a war that pitted violent militias against loyalists. Chechens have had to face the same in their history with Russia.

One can see the struggle of a people to obtain self-governance and the right to self determination in the history of Russia itself. Was it not the Soviets who rose up to overthrow the Tsars? Was it not Putin's role models that led violent and partisan wars against the ruling class? And is it not the Russian government today that acts as the Tsarists did when dealing with peoples' desire to determine how they would live and be governed? 

Chechnya's issues with Russia may be far to complex to explain in a short blog post. But the direct correlation between the oppressive nature of their relationship to the annual growth of the Chechen diaspora cannot be ignored. As long as Russia insist upon dominating Chechnya the people of Chechnya will seek other ways to resist. Some will flee while others will fight. It pretty much boils down to that.

While I dare not speak for Chechens anywhere in the world. I can only imagine what it must be like to live so far from a place your family once called home. Let alone imagine what it must be like to be threatened with being forced to return to a place that is only a shadow of what it once was.









Source Documents
(note: not all sources listed)

National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130607-refugee-crisis-war-migration-turkey-syria-afghanistan-iran-chechnya-gay/

IHH.org
http://www.ihh.org.tr/en/main/publications/reports/4/story-of-a-chechen-migrant/121

International Business Times
http://www.ibtimes.com/chechens-little-known-global-diaspora-refugees-1204971#

Derry Journal
http://www.derryjournal.com/news/local/russian-journalist-deported-on-way-to-derry-peace-conference-1-5188359

Beneath The Heel Of The Peoples' Republic

Learning From A System of Oppression And Discrimination

Vladimir Lenin told us; "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." Is China's desire to totally control Uyghur students rooted in it's communist beliefs?

Ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan Chinese schools in the Xinjiang region of China have begun to tighten controls on the ethnic Uyghur. In addition to the extorted promises of Uyghur parents agreeing to keep children under 18 years of age from fasting for Ramadan, China has begun sending out buses to gather up Uyghur students. These actions are said to be preventive measures that are supposed to keep both Uyghur and Han citizens safe during the anniversary of the July 5th, 2009 ethnic clashes in Urumqi. The thing that makes Uyghur groups both in exile and within China find these measures offensive and discriminatory is the fact that China only appears to target Uyghur when such measures are taken. 

Such actions often include the confiscation of Uyghur students' cell phones and other personal electronic devices. These confiscated phones are searched and most of the time returned. If an Uyghur student attempts to hide their property from the authorities they face severe consequences, of which China is not willing to talk about. Yet Han students are excused from search and seizure methods that are applied to Uyghur students. 

This is amplified by the state sponsored segregation of Uyghur students from the rest of the students in Xinjiang schools. However when Uyghur students are not segregated they become ready targets for Han students and ethnically Han teachers. In October of 2011 a group of Han students barged their way into a Uyghur language class armed with sticks. These Han students savagely attacked and beat Uyghur students as the Han teacher stood by and watched. Yet in other cases Uyghur students in even earlier grade levels are routinely subjected to severe beatings by Han teachers for even the most minute of infractions (often only perceived offenses). Han students on the other hand are rarely punished, let alone physically. 

“I was sent to Canada to study ... because I couldn’t go to school back home because I was afraid of my Chinese teachers and Chinese classmates.” 

~ Uyghur Student seeking asylum in Canada

The response by many Uyghur parents has been to transfer their children to schools that are officially bilingual or have a Uyghur majority. This initial response has created a system in which the Uyghur fall in line with the Chinese desire for total segregation. It completes the initiatives put forth by Chinese officials without forcing the government to accept responsibility. The excuse that is often offered by Chinese government officials is that the two ethnic groups just simply can't "get along". Therefore when a group of Han students attacks a group of Uyghur students the officials are able to tell the outside media (heavily restricted, if ever allowed into Xinjiang) that this is just how children behave. While at the same time China takes advantage of ethnic division and further alienates the Uyghur community. 

Division, after all, allows for China's government to carry out it's own "war on terror" in Xinjiang. It permits China the oppertunity to put pressure on the Uyghur community so as to crush any future hopes of a separatist movement. With continual pressure of China's heel upon the Uyghur people the government in Beijing seeks to subdue the spirit of a people. Under it's weight it seeks to force Uyghur no other option but to leave their homeland. Thus replacing the Uyghur with China's "ethnic Chinese" Han people. 

While these statements may be controversial to some. The history of China's actions in the Uyghur Autonomous Region has been that of an invasion force. From the start in 1949, China sought to bring the region under control by forcing Han citizens to move into the region. From the very moment the People's Liberation Army entered Xinjiang the Chinese began to flood the region with friendly civilians. Once established in the region, China laid out laws that blatantly favored the Han while discriminating against the Uyghur people. This tradition has been unimpeded every since. 

In 2009's ethnic riots the Chinese government used the excuse that the initial protestors (and instigators of the violence) were in fact Uyghur. The part that China ignores is that the ethnic violence quickly placed blood on both Han and Uyghur hands. Even more importantly, China refuses to admit to the fact that military and police forces entered the fray clearly on the side of the Han citizens of Urumqi. These police forces then conducted arbitrary arrests that cast a large net over Uyghur neighborhoods while almost completely avoiding the Han neighborhoods. Disappearances of Uyghur men and boys followed the 2009 riots and have not ended.

The Uyghur children are however the real victims of China's entrenched bias against them. From the moment Uyghur students come of age to be school bound they are introduced to a state sponsored system of oppression and discrimination. They are not allowed to speak their language in Chinese state schools without fear of beatings by both teachers and Han students alike. Instead of being taught the history of their people, Uyghur students are forced to learn the official history of Xinjiang and The People's Republic. Their heritage and ethnicity are taught to them to be reasons for their suffering at the hands of government officials. And yet all of this is supposed to teach the children of the Uyghur to be faithful to a government all the way across the country in Beijing. A government that they are not permitted to take part in or advantage of. 

Seeds grow in their own time and in their own way. If China intends to teach loyalty to the system (which I highly doubt) then they will be greatly disappointed when the children they teach bring forth the fruit of the seed China has planted. A government that teaches it's youth that it is a burden, an obstacle, and an oppressor cannot pray for patriotism. Instead, it prepares it's field for conflict.

Source Documents 

(Note: not all sources listed)

UNPO 

http://www.unpo.org/article/13376

Radio Free Asia

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/students-06132013105142.html

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/beatings-01312013165459.html 

Human Rights Watch 

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2009/10/22/we-are-afraid-even-look-them

"They are Cockroaches"

On the Fast Track to Hell

In 1994 the tiny, hardly heard of, country of Rwanda slipped into the history books as Hell on Earth. This was the site where a minority of militant attackers launched one of the fastest and most effective genocides of the 20Th century. Now we watch as the warning signs of Rwanda begin to pop up in another tiny, hardly heard of, country.

Bahrain is a country where the national minority runs the government, the Sunnis royal family reigns in Bahrain. Shiites outnumber Sunnis 4 to 1 in this tiny island nation. It wasn't till this year that the minority rule really began to face open opposition to their authority (often oppressive government).

In response the royal family has ordered the imprisonment and deaths of Shiite politicians, teachers, doctors, nurses, and businessmen. Those who have taken to the street to protest this action are now being attacked by government backed militias and the country's own military. Gunfire, teargas, grenades are the common responses to often nonviolent protesters who simply want a government that better represents their common will.

The Sunni population not directly involved in the repression and outright attacks seem to support them simply by remaining silent. Other Sunnis however have come out in favor of the brutal attacks of unarmed protesters. They have even been captured on film cheering the snipers as they pick off protesters one by one.

The Obama White House has said absolutely nothing about this looming genocide. Perhaps the president just doesn't care. After all, was he not the president who decided to wait till Iran had crushed its opposition before muttering some sort of apology? Was it not a Democrat president who waited till the bloody April in Rwanda had ended before he too mumbled some sort of apology?

As bulldozers tear down Shiite holy sites the United States 5Th Naval Fleet enjoys its little base in Bahrain. As people are shot in the streets our politicians enjoy rubbing elbows with butchers. As the youth of a nation are systematically slaughtered our president remains un-harassed by the US... the land of the free.

Our voices should be raised so loud that they might be heard in that tiny country, Bahrain. Our hearts should be with the oppressed peoples of every nation no matter what the race, religion, or creed. Yet when it comes to Bahrain the screamers of our great nation remain silent?

We have watched as Iran shot its youth right through the heart. We stirred for but a moment before falling silent once again. And in that moment of wavering we watched as the youth of Iran were crushed beneath the heels of tyrants.

Make no mistake about it, the Green Revolution of Iran has not been forever silenced. The good fight is still being fought against the beast that still sets upon the throne of Iran. We just aren't allowed to watch this battle... for if we were our government might be forced to act.

So what about Bahrain?

If no action is taken from the outside world, by the United States, Bahrain will slip into the bloody Hell of genocide. Their youth, the protesters, will be systematically slaughtered till their are no more left to fight the oppressors. The leaders of the Shiite community in Bahrain will be butchered... "shot like dogs". Their community will be uprooted "like termites". And the United States will set back in the comfort of its relative safety as the future cause of terrorism is born from our own indifference.

This is genocide. The systematic removal of community leaders, the executions of politicians, the intentional infliction of harm with intent of destroying in part, or in whole, a community. Bahrain is already sinking into genocide. These are just the first signs of what is still to come.

“That [the crackdown on protesters] is completely against the Geneva Convention[s] in any warfare or any protest situation; so to be breaking the Geneva Convention[s]... and to (be) basically committing genocide, I think it's ... an amazing situation that the UN isn't looking further into these things,” London-based documentary filmmaker David Lawley told Press TV on Saturday.

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Source Documents
(note: not all sources are listed)

Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/08/2858559/while-bahrain-demolishes-mosques.html

Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177596.html

LA Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/05/bahrain-new-report-details-alleged-torture-calls-on-obama-to-hep-ahead-of-thursday-speech.html