Glenn Greenwald asks an important question about the current riots in China's Xinjiang province.
And that is, what if the Uighurs were Christian and not Muslim?
Sing it Glenn:
Just imagine if the Uighurs were a Christian -- rather than Muslim -- minority, battling against the tyrannical Communist regime in Beijing, resisting various types of persecution, and demanding religious freedom. They would be lionized by America's Right, as similar Christian minorities, oppressed by tyrannical regimes, automatically are. [...]
But the Uighurs are Muslim, not Christian, and hostility towards them thus easily outweighs the opportunity they present to undermine the Chinese Government. Rather than support and venerate them, we instead spent this decade declaring them to be "enemy combatants" and locking them up in Guantanamo -- despite the fact that they have never evinced any interest in doing anything other than resisting Chinese persecution, and have certainly never taken actions against the U.S. (as even the Bush administration ultimately admitted). [...]
For all the Serious analysis about the War on Terror, so much of it has been driven by nothing more complex or noble than sheer hostility towards Muslims. [...]
Another obvious question then, is what if the Uighurs were Tibetan Buddhists, followers of the Dalai Lama, and not Muslim? How would we in the US feel about their cause then?
The US relationship with China is plenty complicated, before human rights equivalencies even enter into the picture. It seems to me, at the very least, we should be aware of our own assumptions, agendas and even outright bias when we consider what is happening there.
I don't know what we can or should do for the people swept up in the riots in Xinjiang, except bear witness for now... This is a tragedy that affects all people there: Uighur, Han, and Hui. There may be more violence in the days weeks and months to come.
Today we watch and wait to see... We are not world cop. We do not always know. We cannot always act. We cannot always make others do what we say (but not as we do.) But we can always try to give a damn beyond making domestic political points.
Not everything is best viewed through the lens of our own politics. Knowing that is the beginning of wisdom.