Riots and protests over burning of the Qur’an in Denmark and Sweden but few protests about China’s dreadful treatment of the Uyghurs

August 2023

Various individuals in Sweden and Denmark have sparked serious unrest and violence as a result of burning the holy book and a considerable degree of opprobrium has been heaped on both countries. The prime minister of Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador last month. News of the burnings have featured in the media for some time. The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was stormed and the country’s flag was burned in Pakistan. Although the burnings have been carried out by a small number of individuals, they have generated considerable fury among Muslims and caused a degree of concern in the Nordic countries who wish to maintain the right to free speech and protest.

Clearly it is upsetting for Muslims to see a book they cherish being treated in this way.

Uyghurs

In China the appalling treatment of the Uyghur people continues apace. There is no word to describe the actions of the Chinese since the Uyghurs are not subject to genocide. Mostly, they survive the treatment they are subject to. However, the persecution has intensified over the past few years. There is forced sterilisation, the demolition of thousands of mosques, and children taken from their parents. They have been isolated from the rest of the world and the only means of communication was shortwave radios and these too have been seized. The Qur’an is seized wherever it is found. The entire population is subject to repression and detention in so-called ‘re-education’ centres where torture and physical violence is routine. Over a million are held in these camps and access to the region is strictly controlled by the Chinese government. Thousands are arrested on spurious grounds for ‘crimes’ of being a Muslim, sending messages or texts with quotations from the Qur’an or for having more than three children.

There is an attempt – seemingly a successful attempt – to extinguish the culture of the Uyghurs in what amounts to cultural genocide. Children are not allowed to be given names such as Fatima or Aisha because they are deemed ‘too Muslim’. The region is subject to heavy surveillance making any kind of social contact almost impossible.

What has been surprising however is the relative silence from the very same countries who are angry about the book burnings and who made a huge fuss about the Satanic verses. It would be expected that in the face of the appalling treatment of mainly Muslims in Xinjian, there would be an outcry of deafening intensity. Indeed, in 2019, when mainly western countries tried to get a UN motion to allow independent observers into Xinjiang, it was countries – mostly Moslem countries – like Saudi, Algeria and Egypt who blocked it. The contrast between the response to the burning of a handful of Qur’an in Stockholm and the seizing of what may be tens of thousands of copies in Xinjiang is remarkable. It is difficult to explain it. Some suggest it is China’s increasing investment in these countries which is leading to a reluctance to make much noise. This hasn’t prevented these same countries engaging in critical activities against western countries who are also significant investors so that explanation seems unlikely.

It is astonishing that in the 21st Century we are witnessing one of the world’s biggest crimes against humanity, yet very little is made of it. Countries who might be thought to have sympathy through a shared religion with the Uyghurs, are strangely silent. A huge fuss is made of a few individuals burning the holy book but the much more systematic attempt to annihilate a kindred culture and incarcerating over a million individuals in the process, engenders little protest.

Testimony from survivors in this piece from Substack [added 21 August 2023]

Sources: Observer, Time, Washington Post, International Bureau of Investigative Journalists, CAAT, BBC

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[Readers might wish to know of a recently published book Waiting to be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide, by Tahir Hamut Izgil, published by Jonathan Cape]