Tibetan Producers Jailed by Communist China, Uighur Women Gang Raped in Concentration Camps, and Hong Kongers Unite
Representatives of twenty organizations launched a campaign in Washington on March 17 calling on the Biden administration and the American people to rise up and boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. (Courtesy of the organizers)
Representatives of twenty organizations launched a campaign in Washington on March 17, calling on the Biden Administration and the American people to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. (Courtesy of the organizers)
Representatives of twenty organizations launched a campaign in Washington on March 17, calling on the Biden administration and the American people to rise up and boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The banner calls for the closure of the Xinjiang concentration camps. (Courtesy of the organizers)
Representatives of twenty organizations launched a campaign on March 17 in Washington, D.C., calling on the Biden administration and the American people to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and the event attracted a large media presence.
Among the participants were many survivors of brutal persecution by the Chinese Communist Party, including Dohondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker and author of the documentary “No More Fear,” who was imprisoned in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“The only reason I was imprisoned in 2008 was because of my strong opposition to the Chinese Communist Party’s staging of the Olympics and my documentary.” Dohondup said, “Now in 2021, people are allowing the Chinese Communist Party to host the 2022 Olympics again. It’s not just about us Tibetans anymore, it’s also about Uighurs, Hong Kong people and Taiwanese people. This is about human rights, a universal issue. I’m asking the Biden administration and Secretary Blinken to take some responsibility in defending human rights.”
Uighur woman Zia Udun was gang-raped in a Chinese Communist concentration camp. She spoke at the March 17 event. (Courtesy of organizers)
Another Uighur woman, Tursunay Ziawudun, who also attended the event, spoke in a recent BBC interview about her horrific experiences in Xinjiang concentration camps, including torture and three gang rapes.
“I had my head shaved, was sexually abused, raped and politically brainwashed.” She said, “Not only did women experience these cruelties, but men were also raped and tortured. This is all what I saw with my own eyes. Even if you survived the camps, you went crazy or developed mental problems. I’m no longer in the camps, but I still suffer physically …… I can’t believe that this genocidal country is still allowed to have the Olympics, and I can’t believe that so many other countries are willing to go to the games.”
Pema Doma of Students for a Free Tibet, one of the leaders of the campaign, said the purpose of the movement is to “bring all people and all backgrounds together to work with Tibetans, Uighurs, Hong Kongers and the Chinese people who are being persecuted by the evil Chinese government.”
“Secretary Blinken and the Biden administration should make the U.S. position clear to the Chinese Communist Party on behalf of the American people.” She said, “To defend the freedom, rights and dignity of all people, as they say, genocide will not be tolerated, and that is a red line.”
Frances Hui, a representative of the Hong Kong-based organization We The Hongkongers, said they formed the movement not to pick on the athletes, but to demand that the country hosting the Olympics be reselected.
“We are asking for the Olympics to be moved to a country that is free of genocide, free of censorship and human rights violations.” She said, “We are now asking the American public, Secretary Blinken, to stand with us, to stand with the millions of Uighurs who faced systematic rape and ethnic cleansing in concentration camps. We are here today because we believe in the conscience of man, we believe in justice, we believe in humanity.”
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