The Urumqi Massacre In Occupied East Turkestan

140+ Dead In Government-Versus-Civilian Violence

[caption id="attachment_2995" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Xinhua photo of July 5, 2009"][/caption]

I'm blogging this for my friends at the COTO crew. I expect that this post may be hot headed; after I calm down, then I will try a level headed statement for the China Support Network to issue and release.

A massacre of civilians has taken place in Occupied East Turkestan. That's a place which is under the thumb of Communist China, and they call the place "Xinjiang province, a western region of China." This is also the home of Uighur Muslims. When 9/11 occurred, China took the opportunity to demonize Uighur Muslims, but they are probably the most pro-American Muslims around the world. They want freedom, democracy, and human rights.

[caption id="attachment_2992" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Xinhua photo of July 5, 2009"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2993" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="World Uyghur Congress photo of July 5, 2009"][/caption]

They are like Tibet -- they were invaded by Communist China, and they have suffered persecution and been kept like a colony ever since.

Businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer became a high profile prisoner, arrested for sending newspaper clippings to her husband in the United States. She was imprisoned from 1999-2005. Later, she became President of the World Uyghur Congress. If I can get WordPress to cooperate, I will upload a recent photo of her, because we were in the same press conference on June 3 this year.

[caption id="attachment_2994" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rebiya Kadeer in John Kusumi photo of June 3, 2009"][/caption]

Now, we can compare American propaganda with Chinese propaganda (and Iranian propaganda!), and I'll sprinkle in some truth, too, from sources I trust.

MSNBC, making use of Western news wires, reports that "apparently" "a peaceful protest...spun out of control."

MSNBC included the tidbits that 140 people were killed and 828 injured.

Xinhua, the Communist mouthpiece news wire, offered these tidbits:

190 buses were burned (of 261 total vehicles, including ten taxis and two police cars);

203 shops were destroyed (and 14 homes).

The MSNBC (American) propaganda says that the violent scene began as a peaceful protest of 1,000-3,000 people. Conspicuously, the GE drivel (General Electric owns MSNBC) does not immediately say why 1,000-3,000 people were protesting. What was that about? Well, the article first insinuates that "militant Uighurs have waged sporadic, violent separatist campaign."

A couple of paragraphs later, MSNBC finally admits, "The protest started Sunday with demonstrators demanding a probe into a fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese workers at a southern China factory last month."

I'm going to have more to say about that cause of action shortly; but before the in-depth analysis, we can pause already to observe and acknowledge that a massacre of civilians has taken place. Remember, this place is occupied by Communist China. Between the people and the government, which side owns all the guns? The government. So when I read "140 dead" I don't wonder which side was shooting. There may be such a thing as non-lethal crowd control, but the Chinese government is known for the opposite.

Indeed, East Turkestan has been so persecuted that the Chinese military has literally nuked the place -- conducting open-air, above-ground nuclear tests with no concern for the lives and safety of nearby civilians, 200,000 of whom died as a result.

Alright, so now let's get to the backstory on Sunday's riot. In recent days, the World Uyghur Congress has asked all related organizations to protest at Chinese embassies and consulates around the world -- for the same grievance as the protestors in Urumqi. Their press release of July 1 says,

In the early morning of Friday, June 26, 2009, thousands of Han Chinese workers attacked the ethnic Uyghur workers in an electric toy factory in Guangdong province, southern China. By carrying metal pipes, knives and bricks in their hands, the Han Chinese workers in mass numbers entered the Uyghur workers dormitory to attack the Uyghurs, who have been newly recruited to the factory. According to official Chinese media, a massive mob attack on Uyghur at the factory in the city of Shaoguan, Guangdong, China; on June 26, left two Uyghur workers dead and 118 workers injured. By the news reports, the majority of the injured were Uyghurs. Unconfirmed reports indicate that more Uyghurs were killed in the attack than the two reported in the official media. In addition, according to a report posted on a Shaoguan (in Guangdong Province) government website which report now has been taken down, 81 Uyghur workers were injured, 66 of whom were in critical condition in the hospital.

During the racist mob attack, the Chinese government failed to protect the Uyghurs from violent perpetrators. Adding to this concern are unverified reports that local security forces did not take an active role in stopping the violence. The Chinese workers were able to raid the dormitories of Uyghur workers.

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Okey dokey. MSNBC didn't tell you that. There is a grievance, a cause of action, and it is blowing out into civil unrest. The government has responded with one of its trademark massacres of the protesting civilians. The situation has parallels with last year's Tibet unrest, and parallels with Tiananmen Square and with the recent Iranian government crackdown. Here's more from MSNBC:

Xinjiang's government accused Uighur exiles led by a former businesswoman now living in America, Rebiya Kadeer, of fomenting the violence via the Internet.

"The violence is a pre-empted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad and carried out by outlaws in the country," said a government statement carried by Xinhua.

Kadeer's spokesman, Alim Seytoff, said by telephone from Washington, D.C., that the accusations were baseless.

"It's common practice for the Chinese government to accuse Ms. Kadeer for any unrest in East Turkestan and His Holiness the Dalai Lama for any unrest in Tibet," he said.

On Twitter, weava77 (an account with a green picture saying "Stand With Free Iran") said, "Xinjiang Riots 'instigated and directed from abroad'. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah- #iranelection. Uighurs are peaceful."

There are more parallels to Iran. Cell phones and internet service were turned off by the government.

MSNBC ended its article by comparing the situation to "last year's unrest in Tibet, when a peaceful demonstration by monks in the capital of Lhasa erupted in riots that spread to surrounding areas, leaving at least 22[*] dead. The Chinese government accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the violence — a charge he denied.

"Seytoff also read a brief statement from Kadeer: 'The real cause of the problem lies with the Chinese government's policies toward the Uighurs. It's not alleged instigation by me or some outside forces.'"

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* One thing to watch for is the incredible shrinking death toll. This has happened before. Tiananmen Square's death toll was originally reported as 3,000, until the minister of propaganda decided that he wanted it to be 300. The Associated Press obliged, soon reporting that "hundreds, probably thousands" were killed at Tiananmen Square, and then changing the word "probably" to "possibly," and that is the origin of the news media standard these days in which they say hundreds were killed, and "perhaps thousands" is sometimes included, sometimes omitted.

In the case of the MSNBC report, do not believe that 22 Tibetans were killed. In March 2008, CSN estimated 110-117 killed, and in April 2008, the Dalai Lama's office concluded that 203 were killed.

On Saturday June 20, 2009 in Iran, the death toll was by some reports between 30 and 40. CNN was saying 19. The next day on CNBC, Erin Burnett tried to pass it off, saying "ten people were killed." She is always eager to get back to business as usual. She doesn't like non-financial stories. By minimizing Iran's story, she could shrug it off and move on to something that she found more interesting to talk about. (Also, when faulty Made-In-China products have been killing Americans and there was a rising death toll, she famously chirped that safety would increase costs. So, if you are an Iranian protestor, or an American consumer, death for you is fine by her.)

For the sociopathic American news media, there is a wrinkle this time: The death toll of 140 is from China's official news agency. Therefore, they cannot reduce the death toll and dishonor the dead yet (but journalists can't wait to do so). My prediction: They will wait until Xinhua reduces its death toll, and then in the spirit of "Yah boss, what you say," U.S. journalists will follow their communist masters in Beijing and immediately reduce the death toll.

U.S. journalists, and Erin Burnett, are as predictable as clockwork.