Terrorist Explosions Hit China In Xinjiang

Image:original pierrej/graphic from @tibettruth

Our thoughts go out today to the reported 31 people killed REPORT and many injured in the series of explosions in Urumchi, the capital of occupied East Turkestan, known to China’s regime as Xinjiang.

China’s authorities have swiftly determined ‘terrorism’ as the cause and laid blame firmly upon elements within the Uyghur population. If we are to accept Beijing’s claims then the flames of dissent are being fanned by external extremist forces, its a familiar account which is being uncritically reported as fact by western media.

The details and perpetrators will no doubt be difficult to independently establish, and we should assess such events against the ever present reality that China’s regime is notoriously censorial and manipulative on the issue of East Turkestan, like Tibet and Southern Mongolia a land which has suffered decades of oppression and violence courtesy of Chinese rule.

What is known however is that China is waging an ideological war on the subject of East Turkestan and for years has been actively  portraying Uyghurs as Islamic terrorists, a charge that is backed more by a cynically constructed narrative than objectively established facts.

It may well be that people in the region have decided to launch an armed campaign against China, the resulting suffering is a cause of deep concern, yet a reactionary response, reliant upon a regime that specializes in terror itself, should be tempered with an understanding of the context of vicious colonization, oppression and exploitation which Uyghurs have endured. What terrorism will they again suffer as China places Urumchi under a military lock-down?