Gulja Massacre: What it was and how it relates to Tibetan Independence...

In the wake of the surprisingly strong international outcry against the recent local demonstrations and brutal government repressions in Tibet, it seems increasingly important to me that the international community make efforts to greater understand the complexity of the terrorities that make up what is understood as China. The historical political and cultural distinctions in the entire Northwest of China, known as the Xinjiang Uigher Autonomous region to the Chinese government and East Turkestan to the Uigher people, greatly parallel those of Tibet. Shown above is a video made by the grassroots East Turkestan independence movement, detailing the Gulja Massacre.

In my opinion, in order to exert enough pressure on both the Chinese government and international governing bodies, multiple diasporic organizations and Chinese dissenters abroad must began to work in solidarity internationally. Tibet will only find independence in tandem with the independence of East Turkestan and the freedom of other Chinese political and social prisoners. Additionally, such organizations main purpose should be supporting the grassroots movements within China mainland and using IT to begin to fascilitate greater connections and solidarity between these various grassroots independence movements within China. The intensity of Chinese government repression and control of media is so that local Uigher and Tibetan independence movements, despite bordering each other, have little understandings of each groups internal, parralleled conflcits with the Chinese governement. Such organizations abroad have one thing to offer, which is perspective. From greater media access, as well as the visibility of such organizations internationally, diasporic advocacy organizations have the potential of visualizing change on much larger scale. Grassroots organizations within China are very much products of the social environment; their actions are isolated within their own communities.

The Tibetan issue of independence, rightly so or not, has become the pet issue of "Western" media. We must begin to ask ourselves, why is this? It is amazing to me that many progressive activists and organizations in the past few weeks that would never trust mainstream media to report properly on national issues willingly eat up the black-and-white isolated representations of the Tibetan issue of independence.

On February 1st of last year, almost ten years since the Gulja Massacre, Amnesty International reported on the atrocity, also providing a basic summary of the political and culture realities of East Turkestan. Referenced in this article is Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uigher human rights activist. I think it's important to ask ourselves why such atrocities have never been reported in mainstream media in the larger context of human rights crisis in China. Or, rather, that we must seek out alternative, local medias within China, blogs primarily, to begin to unravel the complexities of the China's "ethnic minorities" and how they might relate to one another. Under such controls of freedom of press, blogs should be the primary media sources explored. International wire services in China are arguably unable to provide informed and nuanced perspectives in such an environment. International human rights organizations and diasporic advocacy organizations can do a service to the international community by regularly translating these blogs into English.

Remember the Gulja massacre?
China’s crackdown on peaceful protesters

Another Tiananmen-style crackdown on peaceful protesters happened 10 years ago. But this time, the Chinese authorities were able to keep the events hidden from the world.

Rebiya Kadeer, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, exposes the tragedy

I have never seen such viciousness in my life...military dogs were attacking peaceful demonstrators. Chinese soldiers were bludgeoning the demonstrators……bodies, some alive, others dead, were being dragged across the ground and dumped all together into dozens of army trucks.

Rebiya Kadeer describes scenes of footage taken at the bloody Gulja massacre on 5 February 1997 and subsequent days. She believes she was shown the footage by the prefectural police chief to intimidate her into stopping her investigation.

Watching the police footage, Rebiya Kadeer realized that this massacre had been another Tiananmen-style crackdown on peaceful protesters. But this time, the Chinese authorities were able to keep the events hidden from the world.

I am speaking out so that we do not forget those who lost their lives in Gulja and to call for accountability on the part of the Chinese authorities.
- Rebiya Kadeer

Ten years later, Rebiya continues to tell the story of the massacre in Gulja; and she continues to fight for the rights of China’s mainly Muslim Uighur community who have been systematically persecuted since the 1980s.


Read Rebiya’s vivid testimony on the immediate aftermath of the Gulja massacre [Link to ASA 17/001/2007]

Rebiya Kadeer, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, is a Uighur human rights activist and former prisoner of conscience. In November 2006, she was also elected president of the World Uighur Congress (WUC) in Munich. She lives in exile in the US.

In 1999, before her sentencing to eight years in prison on charges of “"leaking state secrets”", Rebiya was a prominent businesswoman and member of the Chinese National People’s Congress After nearly six years, she was released from prison on medical parole in March 2005 and allowed to leave China.

While still in custody, Rebiya was warned that if she engaged with members of the Uighur ethnic community or spoke publicly about "sensitive issues" after her release, her "businesses and children will be finished". Despite numerous threats, she continued her human rights work.

Consequently, Rebiya’s family members who stayed in China were targeted by the Chinese authorities. In November 2006, three of her sons were made to pay heavy fines on politically motivated charges. One of them received a prison sentence of seven years after he was reported to have been severely beaten, with risk of further torture or ill-treatment. Take action! [http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa170602006]

Uighur community

Uighur’s are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority who are concentrated primarily in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Since the 1980s, the Uighurs have been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations. This includes arbitrary detention and imprisonment, incommunicado detention, and serious restrictions on religious freedom as well as cultural and social rights. Uighur political prisoners have been executed after unfair trials.

In recent years, China has exploited the international “"war on terror”" to suppress the Uighurs, labelling them “"terrorists”", “"separatists”", or “"religious extremists”".

Gulja massacre
On 5 February 1997, peaceful demonstrations took place in the city of Gulja (Yining) in XUAR.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, lost their lives or were seriously injured. Large numbers of people were arrested during the demonstrations and their aftermath. Many detainees were beaten or otherwise tortured. An unknown number remain unaccounted for.

During the crackdown, the Uighur community living in the XUAR was targeted. Read more [http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa170052005]

According to local sources, the demonstration was sparked by growing levels of repression of Uighur culture and religion in and around Gulja. This included the banning of traditional Uighur social gatherings, called meshreps, which were organised from 1994 in an attempt to revive cultural and Islamic traditions. Uighur community leaders in and around Gulja also organised local Uighur football teams in an unofficial league, but these were also closed down by the authorities and sports facilities were destroyed.