"As Uyghur people, we are used to having others tell us who we are. That is why we have created this book, to tell our stories in our own words."
Nuria Khasim | Editor
Why are we self-publishing?
We have chosen not to partner with a publisher to retain full editorial independence. This includes our vocal solidarity with Palestine. As a consequence, we don’t have access to the institutional power of a traditional publisher. Instead, we are relying on the power of people. We are a fully independent, volunteer-led crew of ordinary people dedicated to getting this book into as many hands as possible.
Our goal is to have thousands of people finally hear our stories of defiance.
Your support will enable this book to be distributed, marketed, and read by thousands of people.
A note from Nuria Khasim | Editor
As Uyghur people, we are used to having others tell us who we are.
My childhood was consumed by trying to square what the CCP told me about my people, and what I myself knew about my people.
I remember visiting family in East Turkistan as a child and staring with awe at the armed police in riot gear who patrolled the streets of Urumqi — a sight I had never witnessed while growing up in Beijing. That told me that we Uyghurs are unruly, violent people.
I remember learning that Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur professor at the university where my mother worked, was jailed for being a ‘separatist’. I struggled to understand how the university I loved like a home — where my toddler brother had soccer training and where auburn leaves would carpet the sidewalk in autumn — was the breeding ground for separatism. That told me that no Uyghur is trustworthy, no matter how respected by institutions and society.
The year I graduated high school, news broke that the CCP had arbitrarily detained millions of Uyghur people. That told me that the apparent problem with Uyghurs is something inherent in who we are — our problem is our Uyghur-ness. Through the criminalisation of Uyghur identity, the CCP has ‘justified’ its genocide.
Meanwhile, China has facilitated the mass migration of Han Chinese people to occupied East Turkistan through the erasure of Uyghur humanity — our homeland is frequently portrayed as a vast and empty repository of untapped resources and opportunities, ripe for the taking by Chinese migrants.
Outside of China, Uyghurs are subject to the same imposition of external narratives onto our experiences. Genocide-deniers cast Uyghur people as liars and paid actors, commentators describe us as one-dimensional victims of atrocity crimes, politicians treat us as an irritating barrier to their attempts to build economic, diplomatic and military relationships with the state that has ordered our systemic annihilation.
That is why we are making this book. To tell our truth: on our terms.
Uyghur Resistance is a collaborative project that unravels the individual and diverse threads of Uyghur resistance to tell our story.