China discloses prostest in Muslim region

Emily Mader/2 March 2008/7:15pm/Human Rights

This past Wednesday, Chinese officials disclosed their struggle with the northwestern region of Xinjiang, which has a high Uighur Muslim population. The ethnic Muslim group protested in the town of Hotan on March 23, 2008, an event which many say was spurred by the unrest unfolding in the Tibetan region to the south. Reports from Hotan residents stated that the protestors were objecting to restrictions on traditional Islamic dress, but Chinese officials asserted that it was linked to a terrorist/separatist movement connected to Pakistan. Uighurs state that the arrival of Han Chinese to their region has economically marginalized their ethnic group, much like the complaints of their southern neighbors in Tibet; furthermore, Uighurs feel that the Han-run government body is systematically undermining their religious and cultural practices.

I have been reading about separatist movements in Ireland and Spain recently, and in those situations there was a dominant state power vying for control over an ethnic/religious minority; both of those situations also had violence. This is not a new story in the world. The ethnic minorities in China are expressing their discontent with the economic and cultural marginalization that they feel the Chinese government and culture are imposing upon them; these efforts at marginalization violate the human rights to freedom of thought, religious expression, peaceful protest/gathering, and economic stability. It is curious to note that these human rights violations were also cited in the Basque and Northern Ireland separatist movements. It is also interesting that China waited so long to publicly acknowledge this conflict zone.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/02/asia/china.php