PolyGlobal Event Recap: Uyghurs in Xinjiang

By Atticus V-G ’26

On April 17, PolyGlobal hosted an event on the Uyghurs. Alex L. ’25, the Global Scholar who organized the meeting, opened by sharing her passion for history, particularly the study of genocide, which ultimately led her to connect with the guest speaker, Dr. Lina Lenburg. Dr. Lenburg introduced herself as an academic—or more accurately, an activist with an academic background—who advocates for the Uyghur people and raises awareness on their behalf. She explained that the Uyghurs are a Muslim ethnic group indigenous to the East Turkestan region, with their own language, script, dances, cuisine, and traditions. Today, they are losing their culture. They are enduring an ongoing genocide. 

Dr. Lenburg explained that the roots of this genocide trace back to the 1950s, when Maoist China took control of East Turkestan. Although Mao implemented oppressive policies against the Uyghurs, they still retained a relative degree of freedom. That changed in the 1990s. During this period, the Chinese government began to assert its dominance over the Uyghur region, recognizing it as valuable due to its rich mineral and natural resource reserves. As a result, the government actively encouraged non-Uyghur Chinese people, specifically Han Chinese, to migrate to the area by offering them labor opportunities. With the influx of new residents, the government began constructing new developments, many of which displaced Uyghur communities and physically segregated them from the rest of the population. These actions marked the early stages of the severe oppression the Uyghurs would later endure, as the government continued to implement policies that favored the Han majority while systematically marginalizing the Uyghurs. 

The Uyghurs resisted this growing oppression. In April 1990, in Baren Township, thousands took to the streets to protest government repression. Seven years later, in 1997, they gathered in the city of Ghulja to demand an end to discrimination. Once again, in 2009, they protested in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang. Each of these demonstrations was met with brutal retaliation by the Chinese government. Each time, hundreds of men, women, and children were imprisoned. Each time, thousands of innocent people were killed.

However, the brutality did not end there. Since 2017, the Chinese government has removed nearly three million Uyghurs, out of a population of twelve million, from their homes and placed them in so-called reeducation camps simply because of their Uyghur or Muslim identity. There, they are “reeducated” in an attempt to erase their culture, their religion, their traditions, even their language. This reeducation often comes in the form of psychological and physical torture. Prisoners are forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, foods strictly forbidden in Islam. They are physically and sexually assaulted and face brutal sterilization policies. Women are placed on birth control against their will, forcibly sterilized, and even made to undergo abortions. Outside the camps, conditions are not much better. The government has passed laws banning Muslim names, beards, burqas, mosques, and homeschooling. Even children are not spared. The state has forcibly taken over one million Uyghur children from their families and placed them into state-run boarding schools—effectively cultural prisons—where they are indoctrinated into Han Chinese culture.

The Chinese government’s actions toward the Uyghur people represent a textbook case of genocide. It is attempting to erase an entire people from the face of the earth—by any means necessary. This includes not only physically eliminating them through forced sterilization and mass imprisonment, but also erasing their identity by censoring their traditions, language, and religion. Even online, the government is trying to erase their existence. It spreads disinformation, claiming that the Uyghur genocide is a Western fabrication designed to undermine China. In some cases, it goes even further, outright denying that the genocide exists at all. 

What I took away from this event is that, as people living outside of China—free from its control—we have a responsibility to support the Uyghur people in any way we can. This includes celebrating and uplifting Uyghur culture by attending cultural events where their traditions are shared and honored. We can also combat the disinformation spread by the Chinese government by fact-checking the sources we rely on and challenging false narratives. We can raise awareness, just as Dr. Lenburg does, by speaking at events and informing others about the atrocities that are still happening. Even small actions, like refusing to buy products made in China—products that help fund the very regime oppressing the Uyghurs—can make a difference. We must do what is in our power to help, because China has sealed the Uyghurs off the world. That means it is up to us, on the outside, to advocate for them.