It's time for BDS to come to Beijing

In Xinjiang, the northwesternmost province of the People’s Republic of China, over one million people belonging to ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities — most of whom are Muslim Uyghurs — have been interned in so-called “re-education camps.” Countless reports allege that the camps are hotbeds for ideological brainwashing, slave labor, torture, rape, and attempts to curb minorities’ birth-rates — including forced sterilizations and abortions.

Increasingly, these atrocities are being recognized for what they are: attempts to exterminate all non-Han people in China and eradicate all evidence of their various languages, religions, cultures, and ways of life. In other words, Beijing is committing genocide.

Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army training in Kashgar, Xinjiang.

Satellite image of a "re-education camp."

“When the Nazis were exterminating Jews, the world did not believe until [it saw] the liberated camps,” said Kayum Masimov, a former teacher and resident of Xinjiang. “Today the Chinese Communist Party are holding Uyghurs in concentration camps and killing them. Yesterday ’s Jews are today’s Uyghurs.”

The CCP is not unaided in its subjugation of noncomforming citizens. Some of the world’s largest corporations profit from slave labor exported from Xinjiang. Apple, BMW, Samsung, Sony, and Volkswagen represent just a handful of the 80-plus companies whose supply chains rely on factories wherein tens of thousands of Uyghurs removed from their homes are subjected to indoctrination, surveilled incessantly, and forced to work in conditions resembling slavery.

Xinjiang is also the source of some 20%, or one fifth, of the world’s cotton. In an eerie echo of American slavery, at least half of a million ethnic-minority people are currently being coerced into picking cotton there by hand. According to a coalition of human-rights groups, “[v]irtually the entire apparel industry is tainted by forced Uyghur and Turkic Muslim labour.” This includes the likes of Adidas, Calvin Klein, Gap, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, Patagonia, and — you guessed it — Nike.

The supply chain of O-Film Technology, which uses forced Uyghur labor.

There is no place in this world for genocide or slavery. The only humane thing to do is to boycott every brand, make, and company complicit in these unconscionable crimes.

Here is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s list of all 82 slave-driving companies:

Abercrombie & Fitch. Acer. Adidas. Alstom. Amazon. Apple. ASUS. BAIC Motor. Bestway. BMW. Bombardier. Bosch. BYD. Calvin Klein. Candy. Carter’s. Cerruti 1881. Changan Automobile. Cisco. CRRC. Dell. Electrolux. Fila. Founder Group. GAC Group. Gap. Geely Auto. General Motors. Google. Goertek. H&M. Haier. Hart Schaffner Marx. Hisense. Hitachi. HP. HTC. Huawei. iFlyTek. Jack & Jones. Jaguar. Japan Display Inc. L.L.Bean. Lacoste. Land Rover. Lenovo. LG. Li-Ning. Marks & Spencer. Mayor. Meizu. Mercedes-Benz. MG. Microsoft. Mitsubishi. Mitsumi. Nike. Nintendo. Nokia. Oculus. Oppo. Panasonic. Polo Ralph Lauren. Puma. SAIC Motor. Samsung. SGMW. Sharp. Siemens. Skechers. Sony. TDK. Tommy Hilfiger. Toshiba. Tsinghua Tongfang. Uniqlo. Victoria’s Secret. Vivo. Volkswagen. Xiaomi. Zara. Zegna. ZTE.

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