
A Week in Xinjiang’s Absolute Surveillance State - crunchiebones
https://palladiummag.com/2018/11/29/a-week-in-xinjiangs-absolute-surveillance-state/
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RileyJames
> I have no agenda, I love China.

> Yet again, the Chinese government congratulates itself in having solved
> terrorism without war, and credit where it’s due, it has.

“The People’s War on Terror” and sending a million people to jail...

> Xinjiang appears to have no criminality whatsoever, and the police in the
> streets are unarmed. Meanwhile France has soldiers, not police, patrolling
> the streets of Paris.

This level of naivety is absurd. He seems to have an incredible ability to
look without seeing. Or lacks the capability to think critically.

Let’s summarise the entire article:

\- people go to xinjian as tourists

\- people are treated as tourists

\- people see xinjian as a tourist would, while being treated as a tourist.

I was in Turkey shortly after the latest coup. I wasn’t stopped by ANY police.
I wasn’t arrested even ONCE. There’s obviously no problems there for those in
the political minority, because I had such a nice time....

~~~
throwaway565r
That million number gets thrown around but from what I’ve read, it’s just a
guess.

For perspective, the US has about 2.3 million in “rehabilitation centers” so a
million doesn’t seem outlandish I suppose.

~~~
RileyJames
You’re right, it’s an estimate.

Considering there are approx 10M Uighur people in Xinjiang, even a
conservative 500k in detention is 1 in 20.

He mentioned not seeing many young Uighur men on the streets. I wonder where
they’re hanging out...

~~~
brorfred
While this estimate is eye opening it has to be compared to the ratio of black
men in prison in the US, which is about 7%. One could argue that both high
incarceration rates are results of policies to keep certain ethnic groups in
control. (war on drugs as a continuation of Jim Crow laws in the US)

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tomohawk
> before some stupid white guy tries to be a hero, provokes the Chinese
> government, and this beautiful region gets the Tibet treatment.

Way to denigrate by gender and race!

Aside from that, the architect of the police state in this region developed
these techniques in Tibet, and the understanding is that once they are
perfected here, they will be applied to the rest of the country.

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c1yd3i
I think you're overreacting. I'm a white guy, and this didn't stand out to me
one bit. He actually makes a good point.

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tomohawk
Let's try the substitution test

"before some stupid black girl tries to be a hero"

It's usually best to not pair gender and race with a pejorative.

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throwaway565r
Isn’t the author a white male?

If the author was a black woman, I think your substituted statement would be
more of a commentary on how she perceives her own role in society.

There are many Black, Latino, Asian, and White writers that will comment on
their own ethnic and cultural background in their writing.

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walrus01
Considering the recent Reuters research:

[https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-
report/muslims-...](https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-
report/muslims-camps-china/)

> "One other thing that is very visible in its absence. Young men. You see
> plenty of people in the streets: lots of children, lots of mothers of
> children, and many young women, especially running restaurants and small
> shops. Old people in their typical Uyghur garb, men with their hats and
> beards, and women with their head coverings. Oddly, many middle-aged ladies
> covered their hair, but wore high-heeled shoes. But very few young men. The
> ones we did see were the mellow kind, the sort of boy who was a good student
> in class. I’ve traveled extensively around the world, and everywhere you can
> see groups of strong, tall, young men just hanging around, sort of looking
> for trouble. Young men do that. Young men hanging around doing nothing but
> looking intimidating exist everywhere, including China, even Japan or
> Singapore. But not in Xinjiang. As for where they are, your guess is as good
> as mine."

I think Reuters found where they are located.

~~~
chewz
It is due to Chinese intolerance of drugs which comes from their XIX century
experience. In West you achieve the same means (mind control and social
stability) with video games and legalized marijuana.

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vondur
I can't imagine how expensive it must be to keep this type of omnipresent
security running 24/7\. I'm guessing if the Chinese economy ever starts to
take a downward hit, it'll be something like this that gets the axe.

~~~
RileyJames
You don’t need to imagine. $9b per year (USD).

[https://www.ft.com/content/aa4465aa-2349-11e8-ae48-60d3531b7...](https://www.ft.com/content/aa4465aa-2349-11e8-ae48-60d3531b7d11)

This chart helps too:
[https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/htt...](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/http%3A%2F%2Fcom.ft.imagepublish.upp-
prod-
us.s3.amazonaws.com%2Faf3b497c-25f4-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0?source=next&fit=scale-
down&quality=highest&width=490)

~~~
vondur
Wow. That’s far less than I imagined.

