Click here for the introduction and link to the e-book of this book
Many people do not believe in “forced labor” and believe that the reports are driven by strong political motives. At the same time, the local Chinese media has been overwhelmingly promoting the mechanized harvesting of Xinjiang cotton, the modern operation of textile factories, and the clean and bright working environment of the workers. “Where does the forced labor come from?” a group friend questioned, “Those who believe in forced labor must have deep prejudices against China and Xinjiang.”
In April 2021, the Xinjiang cotton incident was in the making, and a debate also occurred in a WeChat group we were in. At that time, thanks to the exposure of international media, the existence of the Xinjiang re-education camp was no longer the focus of debate, but everyone still did not know the situation inside the re-education camp, and believed that the Western reports were exaggerated. Many people do not believe in “forced labor” and believe that the reports are driven by strong political motives. At the same time, the local Chinese media has been overwhelmingly promoting the mechanized harvesting of Xinjiang cotton, the modern operation of textile factories, and the clean and bright working environment of the workers. “Where does the forced labor come from?” a group friend questioned, “Those who believe in forced labor must have deep prejudices against China and Xinjiang.”
Of course, we can easily link his indignation with the government’s propaganda, blockade, and censorship, but at the same time, the incoherence, inconsistency, and lack of in-depth reporting of news reports outside the wall also make it impossible for people to accurately and comprehensively understand such a large-scale and complex event. For example, in the absence of detailed and in-depth reports, even if the reader has the ability to think independently, it is still difficult to understand the reasons, motives, meanings, and impacts of “forced labor”, not to mention giving sympathy, understanding, and assistance to the victims.
For this reason, the publication of “Xinjiang Re-education Camp” (translated as “Chronicles in the Camp” in simplified Chinese) has become an important node. In this book, the author carefully analyzes the regional history and background of the event, uses in-depth investigations and personal interviews to cut into the texture of the problem, and lets us experience the pain of the parties involved. Most importantly, he provides a series of frameworks for us to understand the meaning behind all this. This book directly and eloquently answers the question of the group friend: “forced labor” in Xinjiang is a non-free state under the re-education labor system. Some people were forced to work in the camp, and some people were “released” and embedded in the management of the street government, sent to factories connected to the re-education camp, unable to resign at will, unable to leave the street area, and continuously monitored and exploited.
Therefore, translating this book into Chinese has become an urgent matter.
We are a group of social issue observers, writers, and activists from China, Hong Kong, and overseas. Since the situation of the re-education camp was exposed, Xinjiang has become one of our common concerns. So we came together and translated the simplified Chinese version of Darren Byler’s work.
Perhaps for many ordinary readers in the simplified Chinese world, the mobile phone scanners, checkpoints, detention camps, beatings, electric shocks, and forced labor described in the book are far from life. It seems that what happens in Xinjiang will only happen in Xinjiang, and it is difficult to imagine that they will happen to themselves.
But in fact, what happened in Xinjiang is not only in Xinjiang. Many similar situations have happened around us, even to ourselves. During the three years of the new crown epidemic, the methods used against the Turkic Muslims were replicated on the new crown patients and close contacts. They were identified by nucleic acid tests, thermometers, and other technologies, and were taken away by the police (auxiliary police) or the Big White 1, and were detained in the Fangcang and other temporary isolation points. And more ordinary people were trapped by the city closure, their families were broken up, unable to live normally, without income, lacking food, and even dying due to lack of care or inability to see a doctor. Everyone is in a state of unfreedom to varying degrees. Similar to the Xinjiang re-education system, the epidemic is promoted by the government as a broader state of exception, and the people are forced to accept it, but by combining the two, we can more clearly understand the way and purpose of this system.
Even though the epidemic is basically over now, our lives are already filled with the technologies and systems left over from these exceptions, from facial scanning to large-scale camera surveillance. And the “telephone disaster” described in the book is also deeply integrated into the lives of almost every Chinese citizen through the Alipay and WeChat platforms of Internet giants, through health codes, travel codes, and place codes. Although the “network disconnection” method used in Xinjiang has not appeared in areas outside of Xinjiang, the identity of protesters was identified and arrested through mobile phone base station positioning, which made its debut in Shanghai during the “White Paper Revolution”. Just like what is described in the book, the mobile phone has truly become a tracking device.
The control of online communities is even more strict and pervasive. Using the technology and manpower provided by Internet giants, the government can monitor in real time all content published online, including text, images, audio, and even video. Once there is illegal content, including criticism of the Party, leaders, and the national system, discussing sensitive historical events (such as the Tiananmen Square incident) and figures, especially the dissemination of images and video materials of sudden events, it will be subject to speech bans, account deletion, 2 and even serious consequences such as being summoned for questioning, 3 detention, being accused and imprisoned.
Therefore, the large-scale surveillance and re-education camp system in Xinjiang is not far away and unimaginable, and the logic that produces it and its consequences are deteriorating around us. For readers in the simplified Chinese world, the book “Xinjiang Re-education Camp” tells us about its seriousness and urgency.
However, we also sadly found that, in another sense, what happened in Xinjiang still only remains in Xinjiang. No matter how widespread, shocking, and cruel these things are, they still cannot become the focus of attention in the simplified Chinese world. Undoubtedly, the propaganda and blockade of the state machine is the main reason for this lack of focus, but this cannot be used to cover up our cognitive defects, nor can it be used as an excuse for our inaction.
For example, as mentioned earlier, everyone always feels that Xinjiang will not happen to them, so they hold a fluke mentality and put it aside. But the Hong Kong anti-extradition movement, the Xinjiang re-education camp system, and the new crown epidemic have shown us that this is a process of boiling the frog. In addition, although there is a certain degree of danger in talking about Xinjiang, which makes us afraid of account deletion, afraid of being summoned for questioning, and afraid of violating the law and leading to imprisonment. But in fact, apart from “rushing the tower” (directly criticizing the government), many people are still exploring the red line, finding a certain space in the community to talk about Xinjiang, and still being able to grasp the reality in the blockade. However, the reason for the alienation of most people from Xinjiang is that Xinjiang is still regarded as a “frontier”. In our deep-rooted chauvinistic consciousness, Xinjiang is still a “backward area” that needs to be helped with “advanced culture and advanced technology”. This perspective, on the one hand, puts ethnic groups on the ladder of “different stages of development”, which directly leads to discrimination and harm, and on the other hand, it also leads to the attitude of “we cannot protect ourselves, where is the time to manage Xinjiang”.
Thus, on this land, people who are deprived of their rights and dignity are alienated from each other. Workers and women, sexual minorities and political dissidents, ethnic minorities and vulnerable groups, either look at themselves with self-pity and do not know the existence of the other, or they are in opposition and do not trust each other. Even if there is a “comfort zone” to keep warm, in this increasingly atomized society, the circle will only become smaller and smaller. People cannot reach out to each other, cannot make meaningful connections, and cannot unite.
And this book also gives us some enlightenment about connection and resistance. The author, Darren Byler, conducted in-depth anthropological research in the Xinjiang region and developed a deep friendship with his Uyghur students and friends. When the detention camp system threatened the entire Xinjiang, he not only personally helped the characters in the book escape, but also assisted in establishing the “Xinjiang Documentation Project” to preserve evidence and inform the world. More importantly, through the writing of this book, he has shown the suffering of the Uyghur, Kazakh, and Hui people to the world, and pointed out the crimes of the perpetrators, encouraging the world to hold them accountable. From his words, we can see the author’s feelings for Xinjiang and its people, and his belief in humanity and justice. As he said in the book, it is this act of showing humanity that breaks through the high wall of the totalitarian system.
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