19 years ago, 9/11 led a series of US government’s actions against “terrorism”, including Guantánamo Bay. We all know those stories already, but rarely are people aware that there were several Uyghurs detained there for a while — this fact changed contemporary Uyghurs’ destiny.
In a remarkable official declaration in 2001, the Chinese government for the first time clarified that East Turkistan activists were actually terrorists who originate from outside China’s territory, and that they were founded by the Taliban. This declaration wasn’t based on any solid evidence, but the false arrests of Uyghurs by the US government provided the best material to Chinese government’s propaganda. As Sean R. Roberts’s argument shows, this new narrative altered the relationship between the state and Uyghurs, since terrorists are “not merely a threat to state sovereignty but a threat to all of society” (234), and with this logic, Uyghurs became a virus that must be eradicated, quarantined, or cleansed from Chinese society.
CCP hence has uprightly persecuted for decades, and without any major criticism — until the end of 2018. Before that, the persecution measures under the anti-terrorism narrative could always be viewed as an acceptable measure of national security.
Xinjiang’s human rights crisis is undoubtedly caused by the totalitarian nature of the CCP regime, the determination to eliminate the culture of ethnic minorities, and their pure evil. However, didn’t the radicalized Islamophobia and anti-terrorism narrative after 9/11 facilitate and justify CCP’s persecution against Uyghurs? And who should take responsibility?
這篇和木蘭無關，這張圖已經說明一切。
9/11的19週年。每隔幾年，我對於這個日子就會新的批判。我知道對美國人來說這是傷痛的日子，但在這個動輒死亡數千人的世界裡，我對在這一天逝去生命的感覺，比起其他事件，並沒有特別不同，可是我對於9/11之後美國的反恐戰爭，始終抱持著巨大的敵意。
這個反恐戰爭怎麼改變中東地區我就不多說了，今天來補充它和維吾爾人命運的關聯：9/11後，中國馬上毫無根據的宣布東突厥是境外勢力，並且受到塔利班的資助，把因受到壓迫而起的漢維衝突以及維吾爾人理想中的東突厥斯坦建國運動升級成美國政府口中的「恐怖主義」，隔年，美國政府把一批出走的維吾爾人丟到關塔那摩的新聞完全坐實中國政府對維吾爾人的指控，藉此展開一連串針對維吾爾人的鎮壓。
很多維吾爾人是恐怖份子（因為穆斯林都是恐怖份子）這樣的論述，在新疆再教育營被揭露之前，幾乎是所有中文世界的印象，即使是現在，我們用電影最末的感謝名單來作為抵制木蘭的理由之一，但還是有很多人習慣做類似的聯想。此外，中國在新疆的「反恐論述」在很長一段時間裡也廣泛被國際社會接受，畢竟反恐是主流，於是中國對於維吾爾人近20年的壓迫，在2018年之前幾乎沒有什麼阻力。
簡單說，以9/11為名的反恐戰爭，形塑了一個以反恐之名行壓迫之實的世界，在這個世界裡，我們比想像中的還要沈默，而迪士尼能拍一部木蘭，只是其中一個例子罷了。
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