Agreed. It’s clear that western media lies a great deal about Xinjiang; and the reeducation centers are obviously not analogous to the Holocaust as is so frequently suggested. But the official motivations and policies for them resemble those of North American Indigenous Residential schools far too much for me to feel comfortable defending. And past readings through article on The Gray Zone, or that big Google Doc posted here months backhas done nothing to dissuade me from that view.

This is particularly true because both China’s line, and many of it’s defenders, have adopted a very unmaterialist view of why tensions exist in Xinjiang in the first place. As though “radical Islamic Terrorism” just appeared there one day; and is not the result of decades of rising discontent among Uighur’s in the face of deprivation and state policy percieved as actively hostile. As well as clearly inflammatory Chinese actions like setting up training camps for Uighur mujahideen in Xinjiang during the Soviet Afghan war .

Though admittedly; certain policies now pursued by the Xinjiang government do recognize that this is a conflict rooted in past and present deprivations of an ethnic group; and providing better access to decent jobs better living standards, and more equal representation in government will do more to end this tragic conflict than any civics lesson possibly could.