Hungry And Desperate

Refugees Face Death While Seeking Freedom
(Footsteps In The Dark series)

(North Korea denies "death camps" yet satellite images show the camps clearly.)

Defection from North Korea is simply defined as crossing the border without expressed permission by the state. Those who are treated as second class citizens in the system are not allowed to ever leave the country. The fear that they might not return isn't really exaggerated in a country where mass starvation is a persistent threat to the underclass. Given the chance these abuses peasants would rush the borders in a heart beat. Yet the North Koreans making it out aren't from the lowest cast of North Korea's communists system. Instead the defectors are coming from the youth of all classes (with the exception of the elites). 

Young Koreans in the North have some idea of what awaits just beyond the fortified borders. The lies they have been fed all their lives cause reasonable doubts. Yet these young North Koreans compose the bulk of refugees attempting to illegally flee the country. And given the challenges that face them on the other side they are either just naive to believe freedom is possible or desperate enough to die for it. 

Regardless of what brings them out of the country that has kept them as slaves from birth, the first steps these young Korean defectors face are terrifying. In just moments they go from being disenchanted North Koreans to being stateless. The country they find themselves in, China, is hostile toward them. The people they are suddenly surrounded by can't really be trusted. And the bribes, the lies, the danger that got them out of North Korea are all just the beginning of what they now face. 

On the other side they are met by a country of wolves. Citizens of China have been bribed with rewards for spotting and turning in Korean refugees. The police in China are ruthless in their attempts to root out any North Koreans attempting to make their way to safety. This all further complicated by the presence of North Korean agents sent over into China to spot and capture North Koreans on the run.

Hiding, Starving, And Desperate.

“If these refugees are found in China, the Chinese government sends them back to North Korea, where they will face imprisonment or death,” ~ Yoon Sun Na

The only thing refugees from North Korea have is their ability to go unnoticed. Anything, any little minor detail, can out them as a defector from the dreaded North. A loose word, a misspoken statement, can raise the suspicions of an eavesdropper. Anyone and everyone they come across is therefore met with suspicion. Every smile is a mask and every handshake a possible handcuff.

When North Koreans flee they are often in search of food. Hunger is a major motivator for those who dare to cross the border into China. They take to desperate measures to find anything that they can use as food. For the nine recently returned youth who were captured in Laos this had meant digging through discarded food. They were reported to have mixed fish bones and rice into porridge just to have something to eat. Then they would consume toothpaste in an effort to help digest what food they had managed to scavenge.

These stories seem hard to believe in a world where we have a McDonalds on every block and a Starbucks in every spare corner. Food surrounds those of us in the West. And for the developing economy in China this is starting to become more normal. The constant presence food becomes a luxury for us as we take every spare moment to indulge in some form of it. So much so that we don't often pay attention to the food itself.

For the North Koreans, especially those outside Pyongyang, life is rarely defined by food in the aspect of what they recently ate. Rather food becomes a milestone that they struggle to reach as the days pass without it. Children who have been abandoned or made orphans are even worse off as they take to eating whatever they can find. Grass, tree bark, and at times clay become sources of material with which to fill their stomachs. This is in spite of the fact that North Korea claims to be prospering.

Once outside North Korea these young refugees use their life long experience with hunger to keep themselves moving. They know that the food they find is not free. There is always a price for scavenging whether it is social or physical punishment. Then there is the reality that being seen scavenging can be a red flag for the ever-prying eyes of a hostile world.

For 70-80% of the North Korean girls and women that flee the threat of hunger and forced repatriation is further complicated by human trafficking. When these desperate girls are over the border they become targets for traffickers that are more than willing to exploit the victims illegal status in China. These numbers are also added to by traffickers that lure North Korean women over the border in the first place; promising freedom, safety, food, and shelter all as ploys to enslave the would be refugee.

For those who manage to evade forced repatriation to the North, trafficking by criminals, and starvation as they run... the journey has only begun.

There is no safe harbor in China for North Koreans on the run. Once over the border these refugees must continue moving toward Mongolia, Laos, Thailand, Russia, or find ways over the border elsewhere. The path they choose is often decided shortly after fleeing North Korea or is determined by what networks they can find after arrival. This short window of deciding whether to hide where they are at or run further is the most dangerous time these refugees face. It is in this window that they risk all the dangers of being exposed, captured, or trafficked.

The Railroad System

Over the years of isolation North Koreans have endured there has been progress made in alleviating there suffering. Networks across the border have been forged as countless organizations strive to establish routes upon which to smuggle refugees out of China. These organizations play constant games of cat and mouse with authorities who remain determined to stem the flow of Korean refugees. Every move they make not only risk the safety of the refugees but also the security of the network they have forged. 

The most notable case as of recently where the system has failed was in Laos where the Laotian government agreed to forcibly repatriate 9 young Korean refugees. This illustrated to the world that China's long held agreement with the North goes well beyond it's borders. When refugees begin to feel safe they are often still well within reach of the red states' grasp. Meaning for most that they must either reach South Korea or get as far away from China as possible. 

For organizations that can manage to cart refugees out of China's reach this is an expensive endeavor. For the organization Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) this can cost 2,500 dollars to get a refugee to safety. That is a price that is almost comparable to the average cost a trafficked person is sold for in Cambodia or Thailand. And yet in this case it is the cost of freedom for these North Korean individuals.

With the help of donations and private funding LiNK is able to do amazing things for refugees that have faced a living nightmare while escaping what some call "hell on earth".

A simple donation of 100 dollars can provide shelter for refugees and refugee rescue teams along the journey to safety. 

A donation of 250 dollars can provide the basic necessities to refugees needed by North Korean refugees; including food, water, clothing, and medical attention. 

A larger donation of 500 dollars can give refugees safe transportation to countries where they can be safe from forced repatriation (including cars and buses). 

And for those who are able, a donation of 2,500 can provide all the funds needed to bring a refugee to safety and liberty. 

This is just one of the organizations helping North Koreans reach a better life and escape from a regime that has denied them so much. Through there work they contribute to an extensive underground railroad system that is bringing desperate refugees to safety. And you can help...

By visiting, promoting, and donating to LiNK you can help scream on behalf of the North Korean people. Using your voice you can help to fight the dehumanization that North Koreans have had to live with in their homeland and the prejudices they face outside it. You can echo their voices to a world that knows so very little about their struggle. And you can put your money and time to use by helping to give hope where it is most needed. 

Please visit LiNK today and watch how you can support the #BridgeToNorthKorea.

This is the second article on this subject. We will continue to highlight the struggle of North Koreans and what you can do to help them in future articles. If you would like to learn more please read our source documents, contacts us on Twitter (@alders_ledge), or follow us on Facebook (key words: Alder's Ledge). And most of all, to learn more about the organization highlighted above, visit: http://libertyinnorthkorea.org/bridge/

Source Documents

*Note: not all sources listed.

Washington Times

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/1/9-north-korean-defectors-may-have-been-executed-up/

National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/27/we-were-slave-owners-ex-prison-guard-taught-to-view-north-korean-inmates-as-sub-human-enemies/

Pipe Dream
http://www.bupipedream.com/news/22956/n-korean-refugee-recounts-escape-seo-recalls-starvation-journey-to-america/

Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2440178/Did-North-Korea-execute-children-defecting.html

Telegraph UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10349298/Fears-over-fate-of-young-defectors-sent-back-to-North-Korea.html

Liberty in North Korea
http://libertyinnorthkorea.org/bridge/

The Elephant's Crushing Weight

India's Attempts To Subdue Kashmir

Indian police officers arrest a Kashmiri boy protesting during curfew in Srinagar, India, Saturday, July 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/20/3511480/the-daily-edit-072113.html#storylink=cpy

It is the long held tradition in human history that given members of society have painted conflicts in the light of an oppressor (aggressor) and the underdog. Yet in most fights that have taken place throughout history there has rarely been a clear cut aggressor and a pure victim. When the facts are laid out there are often reasons for why and how a conflict has played out. The side that has had the upper hand is rarely as evil as the sympathetic onlooker might paint them. And likewise, the apparently victimized side is rarely innocent in the overall scheme of the conflict.

This generalization of war can be applied to most conflicts between organized states. A certain level of antagonism takes place as the two sides size one another up like grade school boys. The larger one generally attempts to flaunt it's muscles like a bull pacing the fence. While the smaller challenger more often than not just tries to save face as it puffs up it's chest and prepares to attempt to outlast it's foe. It is this simplistic approach to generalizing war between states that can be given to outdated battles and wars of days now past. It can't however be applied to modern crises where a third party finds themselves trapped between old world style conflicts.

In Kashmir the third party happens to be the people who lived upon the land prior to the development of the two rivaling states. They are an innocent bystander in a conflict that places two egotistical foes against one another. Leaving the Kashmiri people trapped between two sides that so selfishly utilize the land and it's people as pawns in a power struggle from which no one will ever benefit.

In a simplified version of war the Kashmiri people just simply wouldn't exist. Either they would be Pakistani or Indian. And that bloody, densely militarized, zone of "control" would be void of life. That would be the portrayal of war with which the Western world is familiar. A landscape of no-man's lands where only the dogs of war dare stray.

But Kashmir isn't a land of burnt foliage and bomb craters. It is a land of rich and deep heritage that fills the Kashmiri people to the brim. It is a land where dusty roads and green trees hide in the shadows of looming mountains. It is a land of picturesque waters dotted with houseboats and old men wasting the days away at the water's edge. And yet for all it's beauty, Kashmir is also a land where Islam and Hinduism have been forced to violently butt their heads like rams.

This struggle is one in which the two sides, India and Pakistan, are forced to hold their positions while keeping the Kashmiri people in check. To do so India has relied upon some of the most heinous of atrocities and tactics to keep the will of a broken nation beneath it's heel.

Holding The Line

Violently

Unending Ambush

From the moment the British left the Kashmir valley has been plagued by death and destruction. This bitter legacy of bloody hands on both sides has left the valley divided and distributed amongst three glutenous countries. The hellish fighting that led up to this modern "cease fire" culminated in countless stalemates. In the end the main scar that has remained upon the land itself is the "Line of Control" (LOC), or "Asia's Berlin Wall". 

Much like Korea's divide, Kashmir's scar is pot-marked with guns, soldiers, tanks, planes, and anything that can kill. Most horrifically however are the weapons that don't simply walk away if the war was ended tomorrow. One silent killer, the ever present stalker, will live well past the end of Kashmir's divide. The landmine. 

Placed by the two brutal armies of India and Pakistan, the landmine is a weapon that is impossible to keep track of and contain. In Kashmir these weapons of war have, as they always do, killed an maimed countless civilians as the two armies place the blame on the opposite side. And yet regardless of who places them, these weapons continue to claim more lives even when relative peace is established along the LOC.

Landmines are a weapon that have long been utilized due to their ability to hinder the advancement or movement of an enemy combatant. Yet with every weapon there are trade offs that the military often callously labels as "collateral damage". For the landmine the trade off is the inability of the device to determine who exactly it is about to kill once the bomb becomes active. It has no ability to determine if the victim is a fully armed combatant or just a child running past. Either way, the damage is unable of being stopped once the weapon has been triggered. And it is for this reason that the landmine is often deployed... there is no escape. 

For the civilian population along the LOC in Kashmir the threat of landmines lingers well after the threat of war has passed. In 2002 the area was flooded with landmines as India and Pakistan began to prepare for open conflict over the disputed region. India is believed to have placed just over 200 thousand landmines in the area along the LOC in Jammu region alone as a response to the Pakistani troop surge along there. One can only guess as to how many more were placed in Kashmir as the Indian Army prepared for invasion along the LOC fences in the Kashmir region. 

Today the Indian Army claims to have cleared at least 80% of the landmines it placed in 2002 when it prepared for a war that fizzled out. However in 2007 a rash of landmine explosions plagued the Jammu region as wildfires, cattle, and civilians all triggered the deadly sentinels. This outbreak of death and destruction highlighted the fact that (then) 16,000 acres of mine-affected land in Jammu and 173,000 acres in Kashmir were still extremely lethal killing fields. 

India currently, as it has for the past decade, resisted identifying ares afflicted with mines and disclosing just how many mines it has laid along the LOC. Instead of warning civilians in the region, India allows civilians to live in afflicted areas so as to conceal the locations from Pakistani intelligence. This means that India permits innocent civilians to be maimed and killed by it's mines so as to hide the locations from an enemy it has yet to openly fight. 

In 1997 the world was given the Mine Ban Treaty. 158 countries became signatories to an international agreement that would officially ban the use and maintaining of landmines and mine fields. India and Pakistan have refused to sign the treaty (along with Russia and China). Despite 40% of the signatories showing that you can sign the treaty and simply create laws of your own to permit domestic use of mines, India refuses to sign the treaty.

Instead India continues to place hundreds of thousands of it's four to five million mines along the LOC dividing line. Instead of taking a step toward peace, India continues to place these gatekeepers to hell along the LOC. With no regard to the safety of the Kashmiri civilians, India actively places and maintains it's landmines in Kashmir. 

Striking At The Soul Of Kashmir

February, 1991 a detachment of Indian soldiers in Kunan Poshpura, Kashmir gang-rape at least 53 Kashmiri women. Accounts of this incident are varied in numbers. Witnesses to the crime have at times disappeared. And those who dare speak out are routinely threatened or made to be quite by the Indian military. 

Officially, according to the Indian government, the mass gang-rape in Kunan Poshpura did not happen. Despite countless credible accounts and documented evidence of the crime, India's government refuses to investigate or hold the soldiers accountable. Like so many other such cases the Indian government has taken a stance of silence in the face of absolute barbarism. 

You only have to step far enough back to realize that rape cases like this one are not spontaneous acts of sexual deviancy perpetrated by hormone driven savages. To rape 53 (possibly more) women a group of men must have the apparent authority over their victims and/or the threat of immediate death to subdue their victims. The crime must be organized and orchestrated in such a manner as to prevent the act from being interrupted or discovered at the time it is being perpetrated. The victims must be restrained or confined in such a manner as to keep the assailants from sustaining bodily harm while inflicting it upon the victims. And the officials in charge must be informed of the crime so as not to end it unintentionally.

These are obviously sanctioned crimes in the fact that they are rarely if ever punished by the government or military itself. The fact that they are targeted at communities that have shown resistance to the weight of India's government upon the backs of the Kashmiri people. Where signs of resistance emerge the use of rape as a weapon has often followed in India's occupied areas of Kashmir. Thus it is undeniable that this crime is not only directed and encouraged but an intrinsic part of the Indian strategy to demoralize the Kashmiri people. 

In war the use of rape is usually defined as a method of conducting psychological warfare. Many voices on the use of rape as a weapon often state that its use is meant to inflict pain on the targeted society by humiliating and shaming the community at large. It is also classified by the United Nations, in accordance to the relationship to it and the conflict at large, as either an act of war, crime against humanity, war crime, or a constitutive act with regards to genocide. Thus meaning that it's intent is in direct relation with the intended outcome of the crime genocide given the nature of the Indian occupation of Kashmir itself.

“It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict.”

~ Major-General Patrick Cammaert, former UN Peacekeeper Commander DRC

One of the most horrific aspects of the rapes being committed by India's troops is the tragic affects they have on the community at large. Punishing the men by forcing them to watch and punishing the women though it's application; rape destroys the community at as a whole. Even when the women are killed in mass after being gang-raped (sometimes dieing during the attacks) the mental wounds are permanently affixed to the victimized community. Children who have had to see their parents made helpless, having to see their sister and mothers raped, do not forget these grotesque crimes.

In Bosnia the scars that were left behind due to the extensive application of rape as a weapon have remained open for decades after the genocide there. Cambodia's rape victims were even more ignored as the genocide there came to a close and Vietnamese troops began to apply rape during their advances into Cambodia. The crime was even less mentioned or recognized as we go back to World War Two and see how Japan's victims were marginalized as the Japanese were removed from their occupied territories (especially Nanjing).

One can only attempt to imagine what nearly 60 years of rape in Kashmir will leave upon the fabric of Kashmiri society. Entire generations have grown up in a time and place where rape has been an ever lingering threat hanging over their heads. Women, girls, and even boys have been victimized in ways that the Delhi government has refused to recognize or even prosecute.

The Mouse Under A Box

Crimes committed against an entire community are crimes that cannot be forgiven by the individual. These are crimes that if left unaddressed will continually come to the surface, and often violently. The urge to fight back against an aggressor is a motivation that will persist even after the aggressor has ended their attacks. It is for this reason that India's persistent application of brutal means of oppression only serve to fill the lungs of Kashmiri youth with screams... bloody cries of resistance. 

It can be compared to a mouse trapped beneath the weight of a box. Unable to move on it's own the mouse will continue to gasp for air as the box pushes each breath from it's lungs. Slowly suffering from asphyxiation the mouse will fight for each next breath as it twists and turns to find an advantageous position from which to draw it's next breath. The fight wears at the muscles as oxygen slips away and the trapped mouse uses more strength to push back against the crushing weight upon it's back. Yet despite all this the fight continues on and on as the mouse flares it's nostrils and attempts to find each next breath. 

If the weight on a people becomes so oppressive that they risk losing the very things they rely upon to bond them to one another, such as culture and shared customs; the people will push back. Even if the fight they choose is nothing more than pelting their aggressors with rocks; the people will find a way to fill their lives with a purpose... a common struggle... and a reason to take that next breath. 

For Kashmir the oppressive heel of the Indian government cannot keep them from pushing back against their oppressor's weight. They are a resilient people, a proud people, and despite all the atrocious acts committed against them; they are a people still united.

Want to learn more or reply to the author? 

Contact us:

Twitter: @alders_ledge

FaceBook: Alder's Ledge

Source Documents:
*Not all sources listed

Greater Kashmir
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2013/Sep/16/day-2-kashmir-shuts-against-civilian-killings-27.asp
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2013/Sep/16/south-kashmir-townships-under-curfew-for-9th-day-28.asp

Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/13/323771/fresh-clashes-erupt-in-kashmir/
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/15/324125/kashmir-rape-victims-await-justice/

Kashmir Media Service
http://www.kmsnews.org/news/2013/09/15/kashmiris-being-brutalised-mirwaiz-petitions-envoys.html

Global Times
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/784243.shtml#.Uji-57ypYXw

Kashmir Times
http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=22791

The Dragon, Tiger, And Elephant

Land Of The Lost 

When my family first came to America they settled in the warmth of the Virginia mountains. In those calm mountains they made a better life for their future generations. The love for those beautiful mountains flows in my veins. It is a desire for their presence that never leaves my soul as I wander the world in search of a peace I will not find out from beneath their shadows. In the hills, among the trees and cool night air, my mind finds itself a sense of being at home.

The picture above reminded me of those Virginian mountains to which I'm so often drawn. In those old forest I see the warmth that first welcomed my ancestors to this land of the free. In those blue shadows I see the gentle peace that brought my family out of Europe's callousness. But I can't help but realize that despite the beauty of that picture there is something far different than freedom nestled in those mountains above.

The picture above is of the mountains in Azad Kashmir. Just to the east of those peaks lay the line of control... a demarcation between Indian and Pakistan. It is one of the world's most militarized zones. It is a place on the planet that two armies stand and stare at one another as a war that officially ended decades ago waits for the spark to reignite it. Millions of men wait to die on both sides of the wire. Millions of innocent souls wait to be caught up in the crossfire.

Kashmir is a land of lost beauty. Despite all the wonders it has to offer the world it is caught between three nations that make life impossible. Everything and everyone that remains between the three beasts does so with the constant reminder that death isn't far away. Every flower that blooms risk being savagely crushed beneath the heels of jackboots on their way to the next massacre. This is the irony of one of the world's most neglected lands... a paradise lost.

The Dragon

China is in Kashmir as it is in Tibet, an opportunistic savage. There is no better way to describe the persistent pain that China has created in the eastern portion of Kashmir. Through aggression and refusal to cede land it never really had claim to, China has injected itself into India and Pakistan's war. 

The area of Aksai Chin was forcibly annexed when in 1956-7 the Chinese military moved their forces into Ladakh to build a road capable of moving military equipment south from Xinjiang province. The excuse that the world has accepted is that China wanted to provide better communication between Xinjiang and Tibet. However this is hard to explain outside the realization that China occupies both Tibet and Xinjiang through military might and has no real claim to either. 

The desire to annex Aksai Chin led to a short but nasty little war in which India's line of control was shifted. This once again divided up the Kashmir and placed yet again more families on opposite sides of the fence. Pakistan took the opportunity to antagonize it's rival to the south by handing over even more land claimed by India at the end of the war. This once again added another layer to the conflict ridden area. 

As for China the move to invade the region was something of an effort to create a buffer zone between it's Muslim population in Xinjiang and the Muslims of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This show of unpunished aggression allowed China the ability to make it's presence felt in the Muslim world. It showed the Uyghur Muslims that the state could and would use force to keep Xinjiang... and every last inch of it. 

This use of force is still reflected upon today as China pumps Xinjiang and Tibet full of military and security personnel. The road that launched the conflict is still utilized to maintain the buffer zone between Islamic ethnic minorities in China and the rest of the Muslim world. Even with the Internet and television weakening that physical barrier, China still maintains it's presence in Aksai Chin. 

The Tiger

Pakistan is often accused of inflaming the Muslim population of Kashmir with propaganda and anti-Indian messages. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the Pakistani government was accused of providing Afghan Mujahadeen with passage into the Kashmir. This claim, mainly by India, was used to explain the influx of Kashmiri nationalism as the youth of the region became increasingly disenfranchised. Though there is a little truth to the allegations that Pakistan has provided some assistance to militant groups operating on the opposite side of the wire the reality of brutal Indian policies should be first blamed. Yet the claims still persist to this day. 

The desire to absorb the Kashmir in it's entirety and the refuse to allow the Kashmir to express it's right to self-determination has been Pakistan's main failure. Unlike China, Pakistan does not appear to want any such buffer zone left between their country and India. The desire to claim the land is further expressed through Pakistan's constant highlighting of the reality that the Kashmir is predominately Muslim. This shows Pakistan's desire to finish the bloody mess the British left behind when the Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus were left to race toward their respective homelands (in which the Sikhs were left empty handed).

This desire to force the Kashmir into Pakistan rule is not a new one. In 1947 the hellish fighting that ensued was a direct result of Pakistan's willingness to push it's will upon the Kashmiri people. The land had been left in a standstill as the rulers decided which country they wanted to join at the end of British rule. Pakistan sent in it's guerrillas to rush along the decision making process while India offered it's military to push back the Pashtuns. The war that followed was the exact reason that India now maintains a line of control and divides the Kashmir region with it's presence. 

Another result of the war is the Azad Kashmir district on the western edge of Kashmir. This strip of land is all that the Kashmir region has to show for it's first attempt at self-determination after the fall of British occupation. A sliver of land that echoes the mistakes of long dead men. 

Pakistan continues to antagonize the Kashmir people with promises of freedom. It shows the world one face while creating excuses for India's overreactions along the militarized line of control. Playing the victim, Pakistan attempts frequently to fly one flag while preparing to run up another. 

This toying with the fate of the Kashmiri people serves only to satisfy Pakistan's desire to rule the Kashmir region. It serves to keep the region in chaos as the Indian government shifts it's weight to maintain control. In this aspect the government of Pakistan seeks to inflict a death of a thousand cuts... biting the elephant ever so often just to keep it bleeding. As a result the Kashmiri people themselves pay for the callousness of Pakistan's actions. 

The Elephant

India's presence in the Kashmir region has little to do with protecting it's territory or the Hindu minority in the Kashmir state. It has mainly to do with taking what India views is rightfully it's own. When the British left the Indian government that took over was less than willing to recognize the right of Pakistan to exist. This meant that Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) was just as much a nuisance as Pakistan was to the newly founded India. These were all areas that the new nationalist felt rightfully belonged to the Indians themselves. After all, these were all lands that had historically been included in the Hindu realm of influence. 

Kashmir fell into the conflict that originated out of Britain's two state solution through the desire of India and Pakistan to segregate the states by religion. So despite India having no real reason to claim an area that was predominately Muslim, the new government took the opportunity to do just that. Disregarding the initial reason for two states, India took the first excuse that came along. 

When the Maharaja signed over their right to self-determination the Indian military flooded the Kashmir. In a war that threatened to engulf the entire region, the Indian pushed the Pakistani guerrillas out of the Kashmir. Then in a sign of things to come, India turned their guns on the Muslim civilians who they had been asked to protect. This was the initial excuse India used to invade the Kashmir. This was the first sign that India wanted to fulfill the promise of two states for two peoples of two different religions.

An often hidden aspect of India's occupation of the Kashmir are the abuses that the Indian government inflicts upon the Kashmiri people themselves. This was best illustrated during Ramadan when the Indian government violently responded to what began as peaceful anti-Indian protest. This once again highlighted the tension felt by Kashmiri people as they coup with the back and forth between India and Pakistan. It also however demonstrated the methods used by India as it shifts it's weight to crush any opposition to it's dominance in Kashmir. 

(Indian Police Fire Tear Gas At Protesters)

On Eid (the end of Ramadan) tensions flared between Hindus and Muslims as India began to crackdown on demonstrations against the government of India. In Jammu the violence became so incredibly dramatic that it overshadowed the Indian government's abuses across the Kashmir state. Curfews came into affect as the Indian security forces rounded up Muslims for what the state officially labelled "questioning". Those who continued to show passive resistance to the police state tactics were brought "under control" with violent force by the Indian military and police forces. 

What has followed can only be described as a blood bath.

This heavy-handed response to Kashmiri challenges to Indian rule shows the world that India has no intention of allowing a peaceful path forward for Kashmiri peoples seeking independence. Though the original British mandate had indicated the right of the Kashmiri people to choose for themselves to which (if either) government they wanted to belong, India claims they made their choice. There is no room in India's resolve to admit that the Kashmiri people were forced into submission. There is no room for admitting that a bribe was all it took to crush the soul of a people.

Self-determination

 

Without a peaceful path to change...

violence devours all.

Just as with the Uyghur, whom China attempts to subdue through ethnic cleansing, the Kashmiri people will continue to seek a path toward self-determination. Without the right to decide their own fate as a people, as a nation, they will strive toward that end goal relentlessly. It is a condition in the human spirit that is undeniable and cannot be withheld from any people. It is the part of a nation's spirit that gave rise to countries such as India in the first place. And yet it is the portion of the Kashmiri story that has been withheld from the start. 

Britain, in all its mistakes, realized that it could no longer control the destiny of modern nations through military dominance. The empire that never saw the sun set fell because it refused to allow ethnic, religious, and cultural groups the right to determine their own path forward. It was for this reason that many of the areas that the Brits left behind are still in turmoil today.

For Kashmir this hunger has devoured the beauty the land has to offer the world. The culture, the food, the knowledge; all are lost to war and greed. The beauty of it's mountains, it's people, and it's heritage; all are withheld as three beasts of nations continue to rip it's people apart.

Want to learn more about this and other subjects covered by Alder's Ledge?

Follow us on Twitter: @alders_ledge

Follow us on FaceBook: Alder's Ledge

Some of the Source Documents used:

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/world/asia/curfews-imposed-in-indian-held-kashmir.html?_r=0

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/the-flames-of-kishtwar/

Huffington Post 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/10/indian-kashmir-protests_n_3737437.html

Channel News Asia

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/curfew-extended-in-indian/772624.html

Gulf Times

http://www.gulf-times.com/india/185/details/362370/kashmir-town-under-curfew-after-violence

Independent.ie

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/kashmir-protesters-take-to-streets-29486019.html

Voice Of America 

http://www.voanews.com/content/police-clash-with-protesters-in-indian-kashmir/1726504.html

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

China's Silent Crackdown

China has decided to increase it's heavily armed police presence across the Xinjiang region. Locals of both the Uyghur and Han ethnic groups have reported that there are more Chinese troops in the region than in any year since 2009. Riot police routinely block access to mosque and patrol Uyghur villages and neighborhoods. Freedoms that are taken for granted in the West are now alien to the oppressed peoples of Xinjiang

The official excuse for the sudden tidal wave of Chinese police in the province is the June 2009 ethnic violence in Urumqi. Yet this year things seem to have gotten out of control. While small shows of dissent around the morbid anniversary are just as much a tradition now as the increased police presence has become, this year is worse. This year is a turn for the worse.

Peaceful displays of contempt were replaced by a violent attack on police by knife wielding civilians. This violent spark was all it took to bring down the heel of the Chinese jackboots. With the excuse secured, the Chinese government decided to show it's muscle by bringing in combat ready police units. Security forces bristled as Ramadan approached. The dogs of war had come to Xinjiang over what could had been handled by local police forces.

This over reaction by China has become typical as the communist leaders continue to push a narrative of "jihad and a "war on terror" in it's far western province. The opportunistic politicians in Beijing have utilized the "unrest" of their own making to push economic growth at the expense of local citizens. This over development of Xinjiang has allowed the Chinese to shift it's growing economy off the eastern shores and out onto the mineral rich lands of Xinjiang. It has also allowed however the racism of the ruling political class to disrupt the social structure that previously existed in Xinjiang.

For decades this tinge of racism has inundated Xinjiang as government schools have pushed the idea that Han Chinese are superior to the Uyghur minorities. This is highlighted by the continued segregation of Uyghur children from Han children. Those who are placed in the same classes with Han students far too often suffer abuse at the hands of teachers and pupils alike. Yet the state does nothing to correct either the abuse or the segregation the abuse is used to justify.

Then there are the state programs that offer Han benefits for moving to Xinjiang while the state simultaneously attempts to push Uyghur citizens out. Taking Uyghur females to the East to work in what amounts to forced labor has been a long running trait of the Chinese government. This practice alone could push any good intentioned individual to the point of questioning the state's motives. It not only acts as a state sponsored method of deportations but threatens the ethnic group as a whole.

All of this has been done this year under the weight of a massive police buildup. A buildup that has allowed China to begin what some speculate is a "silent crackdown". This means that China is sweeping through Uyghur neighborhoods and mosque making mass arrest. Only this time they aren't chasing the Uyghur around the city beating their victims where everyone can see. This time China is collecting their victims in night raids and door to door arrests.

Since August 8th Uyghur have reported that the attendance at mosque has been down at least by three quarters what it was prior. This is in part due to unreasonable bans on prayer times and travel for Uyghur Muslims. It also is believed to be in part due to the silent crackdown that has been occurring for over around a week now.

Imams have reported that Uyghur youth are not able or do not dare show up for prayers after the August 7th police violence (in which the Chinese police shot a four year old girl). Some have pointed to the conclusion that many of the youth may be among the "detained". This would mean that the Chinese are collecting the youth of the Uyghur community just as they did prior to Ramadan in areas of Xinjiang.

Aykol Uyghur Suffer Mass Arrests 

After Eid Massacre

The main reason for the mass arrest in Aykol has been the police violence that occurred on August 7th. The incident began with what China's police viewed as a "routine arrest". The state official had directed police to gather two individuals on the charges of "unlawful religious practices". When the crowd at the mosque gathered to watch the arrests the inevitable happened. The police decided to antagonize the onlookers with their usual displays of force.

When the situation began to deteriorate it wasn't from lack of the officers' best efforts. The Uyghur crowd asked why the two men were not allowed to enter in and pray and simply be arrested afterward. That is when the police decided to show their force in a more profound manner... live ammunition. 

Civilians report that around one third of the crowd began to retaliate with rocks as the police popped off shot after shot. Another third of the crowd offered moral support as they backed off the battle lines that promptly formed. While the remaining third began to break and run. 

This wasn't the fire fight that China has reported. It wasn't a running battle either. This was the result of rabid police who had been encouraged to use deadly force at the drop of a hat. This was a small group of Uyghur civilians who had been pushed too far and had decided to defend themselves by any means. No, this wasn't the shoot out that the police told state media. This was savagery... state sponsored savagery. 

A young girl, only four years of age, paid in blood for the lack of self-control that the police showed that day. From their lack of integrity this young girl learned a lesson, for right or for wrong, that police in her country can't be trusted. That lesson, learned from the sting of a bullet, isn't one that goes way simply because the state tells you it is wrong either. That is a lesson that will forever be remembered in the scar it left behind. 

As for the Uyghur community in Aykol and the surrounding area, this tragic attack left at least four dead and around 50 (updated from 21) injured. It was not only a stain upon the community's Eid celebrations but was the start of a police siege of the village and surrounding area. This blood bath brought the Uyghur community only more suffering in the week that has followed it.

Sweeping through the area the police collected around 300 to 400 Uyghurs. Officially the victims of this roundup are just in for questioning. However many of the family members believe that their imprisoned relatives are on their way to long term detention. This fear is accompanied by the reality that China has recently sentenced Uyghur to death for similar alleged offenses. And since China executes (at times publicly) more civilians than any other country in the world, this fear is very real to the hundreds of Uyghur the Chinese have arrested over the past week. 

Time To Scream

In response to China's heightened police presence in Xinjiang province we would like to invite all those who read this to "scream" with Alder's Ledge. We understand that this tragedy is not as dramatic as those occurring in Syria, Egypt, and other war torn areas of the world. Yet it is our duty and the mission of Alder's Ledge to scream for all oppressed and suffering peoples of our sad little world. And for this reason we have decided to relentlessly cover the suffering of the Uyghur people. We want to bring a light into the dark reality that is the plight of the Uyghur community. And to do this we need you... we need your voice. 

Screaming is easy in this modern world. Almost too easy, yet it is essential. 

All you have to do is put your voice out there and tell the stories of the Uyghur who are suffering under China's oppressive system. You can do this by sharing articles like this one on your social media outlets. You can do this by starting the conversation in your own way on Twitter, Facebook, or better yet... in person. 

Your voice can break the silence that surrounds these tragic events. All you have to do is use it. All you have to do is scream.

Want to learn more about this issue or others covered by Alder's Ledge?

Join us on Twitter: @alders_ledge

Or follow us on Facebook: Alder's Ledge

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. 

Want to learn more about this issue or others covered by Alder's Ledge?

Follow us on Twitter: @Alders_Ledge

Follow us on Facebook: Alder's Ledge

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/

China's Hidden Jihad

The Atheist State's Unholy War On Uyghur Muslims

Repression is not defined by strict measurements. If a state is able to deny the basic rights of a people in any way it is crossing over into the realm of repression. If it attempts to limit the access of a people to their faith it is a repressive regime. If it blocks a people from the same rights that it assures to others within it's population the state is repressive by nature. It is an act of tyranny that though it may be hard to put to words it is always identifiable when you see it.

In a country where the state has no prescribed religion and recognizes only the rights of the majority the line between normality and repression is often blurred. But it is there. And for the Uyghur people it is a reality that threatens to deny them their heritage, their faith, and their future. For in a state where the perverted desires of the few are put above the needs of the many it is always those left on the fringe that pay the most. In China's unstable Xingiang region the Uyghur people are the ones left on the fringe of society. They are the ones that bear the weight of a country's greed.

The weight of a nation can break the will of a people to fight... to resist. Yet when pushed too far that weight can create unity. A certain bond is formed in a people that are oppressed by brutal tyrants. It is a link to that once formed it is hard to break. All the degradation, all the humiliation, all the pain and suffering; they become reasons to push back. The tears that mothers have shed over children taken away by jackbooted thugs become the water that nurtures bitter seeds. The blood and sweat that fathers sacrifice for their families' sake only serve to feed the hunger for change. All of which are planted in the minds of the youth who watch as their parents backs' break under the heavy hands of authoritarian beasts.

Change that comes from this form is not something that waits patiently for the right time and place. Change that comes from this form is that which comes like fire. It razes the structure of society and puts siege to the cornerstone of a government that has held it down for far too long.

This is what China is struggling to contain as it tucks it's iron fists in a velvet glove. All the while the regime finds new ways to keep prying eyes out of the troubled region. For this reason the national propaganda is the only form of press allowed into areas where the security forces heighten their presence. China is once again attempting to blackout the region so that the rest of the world can't see what dirty deeds are being done behind closed doors.

The rage that China created in the hearts and minds of the Uyghur community has flared up time and time again. With each new riot came an opportunity to round up the men and boys. With each new stabbing or alleged attack came a new chance for China to open fire on Uyghur protesters. The most notable incident in recent memory was the July 5th 2009 violence in Urumqi. It was a riot in which the Han majority was rewarded for turning a peaceful protest violent. Their reward has been the persistent repression of their Uyghur neighbors every July since.

This past Ramadan the anniversary of the July violence was celebrated by the fascist state by placing hundreds of Uyghur students in detention centers where they were not allowed to observe the holy month. Uyghur children were bussed to state run schools where they were forced to hand over all electronic devices that could be used to contact the outside world. Once under arrest the children were daily subjected to state propaganda that was intended to help the reeducation process take root in the Uyghur community.

"Due to Ramadan, places of worship will be forbidden from holding all sorts of religious teaching activity. If there are violations, the places will be sealed."

~ Posted Chinese Order in Karamay

In addition the state supported increased police presence in Uyghur neighborhoods across the Xinjiang region. In Karamay the security forces were meant to enforce restrictions on Uyghur travel and to prevent visits to mosque and religious facilities. Those allowed to visit the mosque were ordered when they could be present in the mosque and for how long. A police officer was present at all times to assure the order was carried out to the letter of the law. Not a minute longer was allowed in the heavily restricted prayer times.

Then comes the French style ban on headscarves. Chinese authorities in many parts of Xinjiang have put out orders to prevent Uyghur women from wearing hijabs and other traditional head coverings. Most notably the area of Hotan has seen (mostly peaceful) demonstrations against such restrictive ordinances that violate the Uyghur peoples' religious rights.

"We have a policy of going and checking bearded and strangely clothed people, according to orders from the top,” Uchturpan public security department’s intelligence unit.

This restriction on religious attire was highlighted on August 5th when a Uyghur man was stopped by two police officers and ordered to shave his beard. When the man refused the altercation became violent. As a result the police pulled their weapons and opened fire. In the end the Uyghur man was gunned down while using his knife to defend what dignity the state had left him with.

All of these are just examples of the barbarism with which the Uyghurs are forced to live. When local concerns are brought through the proper channels the state responds with vast sweeps of the community and even harsher laws. This sort of discrimination against the Uyghurs, who watch as the state ships in Han settlers, is the food for revolution. It cannot be ignored as China attempts to force economic advancement while segregating the minority population from the economic windfall.

With every exploitation that the Uyghur people suffer comes a new seed cast in a bitter field. And while only time will tell what will grow from this maltreatment it is only reasonable to assume that it will not be beneficial to the state. A government cannot sow the worst forms of abuse and expect to reap the best of a neglected population's efforts.

So what exactly are the seeds that China is planting? 

Displacement and Replacement

Let's start with the displacement of Uyghur people and the replacement by the state with ethnic Han Chinese.

The outbreak of violence in July of 2009 drastically changed the way that China approached the issue of "assimilation" and "economic adjustments" in the Xinjiang region. Where the government had been attempting to stifle religious practices gradually while simultaneously increasing manufacturing activity in Uyghur villages and cities they suddenly ramped up their approach.

By the end of July 2009 the capitol of Urumqi was blanketed with 20,000 new Chinese military personnel. Uyghur citizens were forced out of large sections of the city while the government bussed in Han citizens. Homes where Uyghur families had just recently raised their children were now being occupied by Chinese transported in from Eastern China. The jobs these displaced Uyghurs had held in local factories were then handed over by the state to the Han immigrants. Any Uyghur who dared to speak out was caught up in the dragnet that the security forces had cast over the city.

Official and unofficial detainment centers were created for the Uyghur citizens of Urumqi. Countless civilians who were detained after the riots were not heard from again. This helped China's official campaign of uprooting the Uyghur people. It allowed the Han immigrants to be left in place since nobody would be coming back to claim the "abandoned" homes in which the state had placed them.

If we fast forward a couple years the campaign of displacing Uyghurs has not stopped. It has instead grown and been added onto as China continues to "develop" the region by removing the native population. With one way the Uyghur population is being displaced is through the forcible relocation of young Uyghur girls.

In official propaganda the state tells Uyghur women that the process of moving to Eastern China to work in factories is both "enjoyable" and "rewarding". In reality the Uyghur women face absolutely no security as they are placed in areas without social networks to help them adjust to the abrupt deportation from their homeland. Girls who are relocated are given little to no education about where they are being sent to. Religious, social, and cultural concerns are not addressed once the Uyghur girls are shipped to factory jobs that pay them less than their Han counterparts.

Wage Disparity

While income in the West is dictated by the relationship between the employer and the employee the income for the Uyghur is dictated by the relationship between the ethnic group and the state. This is most painfully obvious when we look at the Uyghur people who are subjected to inhumane working conditions in Chinese factories. While employment is relative to their ethnicity in areas more directly state controlled economic regions those who do find employment are restricted to jobs the state finds suitable for their "ethnic class". 

In studies done in 2008 researchers found that the "informal economy" of Xinjiang was segmented not by what a person could achieve or their level of education in a field but rather their given ethnicity. This showed that ethnic Han were given the highest paying jobs while Uyghur workers were only permitted to perform menial task and lower levels of employment. There was not one single career field shown that could prove this given rule of employment in Xinjiang wrong. Across the board Uyghur workers were being forced to work beneath Han (who at times had less education and/or training). 

These economic studies showed that despite any apparent equality that China claimed existed in their schools that Uyghur were limited in their own "autonomous region". No matter how hard a Uyghur student tried they would not be permitted by the current economic system to advance to the top of their career field simply due to their ethnicity. 

For the Uyghur who worked at the top level permitted to them in this bias system there was the added reality that income was slanted in favor of Han workers. The same studies showed that Uyghur who held the same job and did the same work as a Han citizen earned considerably less. This once again served the Chinese goal of repression in both economic and social standings for the Uyghur community. 

Social Inequality

Religious and ethnic prejudice against the Uyghur people in China is both an institutionalized and social mechanism.

Religious 

While the state officially recognizes the Uyghur as "racially and culturally distinct" (thus making them a recognized minority) they do little to respect the culture of the Uyghur people. This is based in the constitution of China in the aspect that the official religious status of the state is that it is atheist. However, religious tolerance is achieved (minutely) through the lose wording which states that China has the right to regulate "normal religious activities". The wording is measured in such that it permits the state the right to dictate to a given faith what is "normal" and what is not. Therefore giving China permission to deny religious observances, practices, and organizations at any time for any reason.

The willingness on China's part to accept Islam as a "normal" part of Muslim culture has broadened over the past couple decades as China has grown in both its economy and materialistic needs. With exploitative relationships with Middle Eastern countries came the desire on China's part to show that it can tolerate Islam... to an extent. This allows China the ability to play it's hand with trading partners while at the same time telling Western nations that it is becoming more religiously tolerant.

In reality the religious tolerance that China shows toward Muslim minorities is limited only to what it views is beneficial to the state. When political pressure is mounted by the outside the Chinese either give a token of goodwill or simply block access to regions like Xinjiang all together. In the end the religious rights of the repressed minority never truly grow but are simply loaned for a time before being taken away again.

As for the cultural aspect of religious discrimination the nature of the problem arises through long held prejudices against Muslims in Western China. From the very moment that Islam arrived there have been distinctions made between the faith and its followers and the rest of Chinese society. One of the main reasons has been the fact that Islam first arrived by traveling up the "silk road".

The fact that Islam arrived in China through the mouths and books of merchants has damaged the relationship between Muslim minorities and the Han majority every since. This is in part due to the class system found in China at the time of Islam's arrival. It was a class system that placed merchants at the bottom of the totem pole for the fact that they were seen as "leeches". This meant that Chinese society viewed merchants as contributing the least to society while benefiting the most from it. Thus when Islam arrived in China through the economic trade with the West it was immediately viewed as barbaric.

The stigma that Muslim minorities face can still be traced back to the class system of the Han Dynasty. Today Muslim minorities are still traditionally portrayed as greedy, underhanded, manipulative, and as liars. These prejudices are often applied by the less educated masses of Western China and have shown no signs of leaving the society as education levels rise amongst the citizens of Xinjiang province. The fact that they are so interwoven with the social fabric of China's Han majority has proven to make these prejudices hard to displace.

Ethnic

Ethnic differences in China are difficult to navigate around. While it is at times seen as beneficial to be classified as an ethnic minority it has proven more often than not damning for the Uyghur people. From the moment they are born the Uyghur people are subjected to discrimination due to the given ethnicity they were born as. It is not a far leap for us to suggest that large portions of the opportunities in their lives are shut out by the state simply based upon ethnic classification.

The government of China is structured so rigidly on ethnic lines that Uyghur children face their first encounter with ethnic discrimination from their first day of school. Even in schools that flaunt their "mixed" ethnic student body the Uyghur children can face both physical and mental abuse by their Han classmates and teachers. This is only amplified as Uyghur children work their way from lower levels of education to higher levels. 

Once out of the government's schools the Uyghur youth are barraged by social standards that reiterate the supposed superiority of the Han ethnicity to that of their own. Employment, communal participation, and social standings are all regulated by one form of ethnic discrimination or another. Even in an "autonomous" region, where government is supposed to reflect the given ethnic group, those in charge are chosen by their loyalty to the Han majority. 

This persistent reminder of a person's lack of supposed value shows the willingness of the Chinese state to subjugate it's own citizens. Of course after a certain point it would be arguable that given the perception of the state, and the way it views it's own people, that China does not see the Uyghur people as Chinese citizens. 

For this reason the Chinese government can look forward to the harvest of these vile seeds it has sown. No people should have to live with this sort of barbaric heathenism shown by the Beijing. No people, if history is the best indicator of future behavior, will forever bear this sort of abuse.

(Note: The use of "jihad" in the title is in response to China's misuse of the word when reporting on ethnic violence committed in Xinjiang. We here at Alder's Ledge would like to clarify that jihad is a word that, though misunderstood due to misuse, has a rather beautiful meaning. The word jihad can best be defined as to strive to live a life pleasing to G-d (Allah). This means that it is a term which encourages the believer to strive for a life or morality and greater understanding of their duty to serve the L-rd. However, through it's misuse and misunderstanding over time the term has been associated with "holy war". This misuse of the word was not intended by Alder's Ledge in the aspect that it would further perpetrate this misunderstanding.)

Want to learn more about the Uyghur people and their plight? 

Follow us on Twitter: @Alders_Ledge

Follow us on Facebook: Alder's Ledge

Source Documents
(note: not all sources listed)

Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/attack-07292013171133.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uchturpan-08052013173737.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/scholar-07312013173204.html

The Diplomat
http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/04/xinjiang-reassessing-the-recent-violence/2/

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/07/07/DI2009070701491.html

Forced Migration

http://www.forcedmigration.org/podcasts-videos-photos/podcasts/uyghur-women

University of Washington Tacoma 

http://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=ppe_prize

Other Sources

http://www.tonyjhowell.com/papers/Minority_income_disparity_in_Xinjiange.pdf

Don't Drink The Tea

China's Response To Uyghur Dissidents

(Image via The Diplomat)

In a nation that represses even the most basic of human rights what can we honestly define an activist as? Is it not somebody who seeks the liberties that social media and television flaunt before them every day? Is it not a person who asks of his/her government why they cannot say or write what they wish to express to the world at large? Is it not a person who seeks the freedom to pursue their own happiness over that of the “greater good”… especially in a nation that dictates just what the greater good is?

For the supporters from both the Uyghur community in China and those from the outside the definition is unclear. It isn’t until a government official ask them to “drink tea” that they realize that they are considered activist by Chinese standards. But by that time it is too late. The government has already cast its judgment. False charges are already being drawn up and indefinite detention is already a reality. For the supporters of the Uyghur in China the mere appearance of activism is a crime.

After the ethnic violence in Xinjiang over the past two months the government of China has been increasing it’s military presence in the region. Paramilitary units meant to reinforce the police state have been deployed in Uyghur neighborhoods to create a permanent police presence. Curfews are imposed in areas where China’s police have deployed riot vehicles and stockpiled tear gas. This drastic response to 35 deaths in June would indicate at very least a tinge of fear on China’s part. It most certainly would instill fear on the targeted community, the Uyghurs of Western China.

This response is the largest such response in four years since the 2009 riots in Urumqi. It was in that massive riot that 200 plus citizens were killed, hundreds were arrested, and an untold number were found to be missing after China deployed it’s dragnet approach to policing it’s citizens. After the Urumqi tragedy the state cut off Internet for an entire year. In addition the Uyghur, blamed by the state for the violence imposed against them, were left with a police state where constant surveillance and police harassment became the new normal.

This latest round of ethnic violence in the region shows that at least on some level the Uyghur people have grown tired of being forced to work for China’s “greater good”. While the Eastern portion of China has prospered off the sweat of Uyghur youths’ brows the Uyghur people themselves have been left out of the economic growth. Their villages, their cities, and their “autonomous region” has watched as the natural resources they posses have been shipped eastward. Uyghur parents have watched as their children have been forcibly stripped of their culture and ethnic heritage. All that has been left for the Uyghur community living in China’s shadows is resentment.

Now as the youth of the Uyghur community show an interest in advancing their own prosperity the state has shown it’s willingness to utilize it’s iron fist. Students who have spoken out in the most moderate of fashions have been told by Beijing’s agents in Xinjiang to go with them to “drink tea”. This is an informal way of arresting the student and forcing them to go along with the state agent. What happens next can vary in many ways. At times the student arrested can end up in official jails to be detained for crimes they clearly did not commit. At other times the state can make these “dissidents” disappear by taking arrested Uyghur “activist” to black prisons. All connection to the outside world is cut off and the student is not heard from again till the state decides to release it’s victim. For Mutellip Imin this is exactly what happened on July 15^th. Imin, 24 years of age, has not been heard from yet. His cellphone has been shut off and the last message received from him was “SOS”.

This strategy is just one more way China has followed the West in an unholy war on terror. For the past decade China has been labeling Uyghur groups and individuals as “jihadist” to excuse the excesses of government officials and police agents. When China overreaches and, if for a moment, the media begins to pick up on the state’s abuses the magic word “terrorism” appears. It is China’s new method of spreading Beijing’s authority further westward as economic growth fuels ethnic cleansing.

In the past four years China’s iron fist has shown the Uyghur that if they will not work as slaves for the greater good they will be expected to leave the country all together. Any that stay in their homeland are expected to accept the religious and ethnic discrimination imposed by Beijing. Those who stay are expected to work themselves to death for a country that views them as permanent outsiders.

As for the West, the reality of what the Uyghur community in China faces has been covered up by the obsession with a romanticized “Arab Spring”. In our attempts to view the Middle East as “coming over to our side” or “becoming more secular” we have ignored the plight of ethnic minorities across the globe. While Egypt fights to determine it’s own fate the Uyghur people struggle to throw off a fate imposed upon them by a nation that has rejected them. While Iran toys with the notion of moderating the role of religion over the state the Uyghur have their religion banned by a state that touts it’s authority over them. And yet for the past four years we have heard little to nothing about the Uyghur people who are fighting for their dignity, their culture, and their heritage.

Want to learn more about this subject or others covered by Alder's Ledge?

Follow us on Twitter: @Alders_Ledge

Or follow us on Facebook: Alder's Ledge

Source Documents 

(note: not all sources listed)

The Diplomat 

http://thediplomat.com/2013/07/15/chinas-wild-west/

Epoch Times

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/199116-chinese-police-detain-uyghur-student-at-airport/

Alder's Ledge

http://aldersledge.blogspot.com/2013/06/beneath-heel-peoples-republic.html