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How much does sth have to “resemble the Holocaust” for ppl to take it seriously as a genocide? asked @SamanthaJPower. i looked into this question wrt to Uyghurs, amid a surge in expressions of concern and Holocaust comparisons by Jewish communities https://qz.com/1892791/a-consensus-is-growing-that-chinas-uyhgurs-face-genocide/
among those who were outspoken on the abuses against Uyghurs in the Jewish community or invoked Holocaust comparisons: @BoardofDeputies, @rabbisacks, @GilTaieb, while @RianThum highlighted the importance of @JewishNewsUK putting the Xinjiang hair seizure story on their frontpage
according to @j_smithfinley, what really moved the needle on using the word “genocide” was the timing of the @AP forced sterilisations story and then the hair seizures. on top of that, the train video geolocated by @Nrg8000 went viral. @AuschwitzMuseum alluded to it in a tweet.
the train video became part of the broader UK-China spat after the Chinese ambassador was grilled about it by @AndrewMarr9. i detailed the rapidly growing interest in Xinjiang in the UK in this thread partly as a result of that exchange https://twitter.com/stegersaurus/status/1285037370140528640?s=21 https://twitter.com/stegersaurus/status/1285037370140528640
lawyer @philippesands has written abt the importance of not getting bogged down in definitions lest it stop ppl from focusing on the response. Peter Irwin of @UyghurProject: “The intl community has an obligation to respond, irrespective of whatever label one might want to apply”
while @RayhanAsat acknowledged the difficultly of getting countries to adopt the G-word. “once they do they have to act on it.” the US in Rwanda is one historical example, tho she said it seems that a sort of a Western consensus on the genocide definition is starting to form.
and this is what Hannah Arendt had to say about the point or lack thereof of Holocaust comparisons (h/t @maryhui)
thank you to @JAFU709 for their help and diligent work collecting Jewish responses from around the world to the Uyghur issue, which has spread steadily from UK Jewry now to the US and beyond
https://twitter.com/lukedepulford/status/1296150566176010240?s=21 https://twitter.com/lukedepulford/status/1296150566176010240
Biden and Trump both using “genocide” to define the abuses against Uyghurs https://twitter.com/MattSchrader_DC/status/1298369199719489537
"Mike Pompeo has been unwilling to declare the Rohingyas’ case a genocide...Pompeo worries that leveling a genocide accusation against Myanmar could lead its government to tighten its embrace of China" https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/25/trump-administration-china-genocide-uighurs-401581
"Genocide is a very serious crime," says gbl tms, and "whatabout whatabout whatabout whatabout" http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1198978.shtml
a new development https://twitter.com/lukedepulford/status/1301471321675763712
Boris Johnson is asked whether what’s happening against Uyghurs amounts to genocide https://twitter.com/lukedepulford/status/1306288612858888195
illuminating intvw w @robertsreport who argues that the main driver of action to stop a genocide against Uyghurs shouldn’t come from or rely on the US, or states in general, but “consumer advocacy” as part of a global grassroots mvmt https://podcasts.apple.com/hk/podcast/new-books-in-east-asian-studies/id426133640?l=en&i=1000490928670
The Economist doesn't call the abuses vs Uyghurs the g word, but categorically says its a crime against humanity. as per @PeteCIrwin, we shouldn't get bogged down in legal definitions and labels and shd instead focus on bringing perpetrators to justice https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/10/17/the-persecution-of-the-uyghurs-is-a-crime-against-humanity
a US official moves closer to using the g word https://twitter.com/JChengWSJ/status/1317291994490654721
China is strongly indignant https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1319177995752407040
Rabbi Sacks was one of the most prominent people in the Jewish community who spoke up for the Uyghurs https://twitter.com/rabbisacks/status/1285916334010834945 https://twitter.com/JGreenblattADL/status/1325219182871519232
i’m indebted to @j_smithfinley for her research into the Uyghur genocide that formed a core part of my story from earlier this year - now read her journal article on the matter https://twitter.com/j_smithfinley/status/1329731184935514118
US uses the G word https://twitter.com/ewong/status/1351576427674677248
a good thread on how the UK Commons debate on the genocide amendment went https://twitter.com/chinastream/status/1351559478647394304
