Party Time!

Since 2014, millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minorities have been locked up in China and subjected to torture and forced labour. Some of those freed talk about trying to rebuild their lives in neighbouring Kazakhstan.

Photography by Robin Tutenges

A Chinese course book

Saliman Yesbolat used to live in Ghulja county, Xinjiang. After she refused to denounce her Uyghur neighbours to the police, she was forced to perform the raising of the Chinese flag every Monday at dawn, and to attend Chinese lessons twice a week in the basement of her building, where she would learn the Chinese language, patriotic songs and Xi Jinping's discourses by heart. This is her exercise book.

Forced to leave China

At 65, Imam Madi Toleukhan is one of the oldest refugees in Bekbolat, Kazakhstan, where more than 100 families took shelter after fleeing the Chinese regime. 'We were richer back there. I owned a herd, but I was too afraid for my sons, my grandchildren and their future: I came to Kazakhstan to save them. I didn't want them to be the fourth generation to suffer at the hands of the Chinese government, he says.

Remembering Uyghur culture in exile

Two members of the Dolan Ensemble, a Uyghur dance troupe based in Kazakhstan, get ready before performing a traditional dance to mark 40 days since the birth of a baby. Founded in 2016, the troupe performs at festivals or private events that bring together members of the Uyghur community, some of whom have had to leave Xinjiang.

Torture, infertility and damaged genitalia

In Kazakhstan, medical care for camp survivors is poor. Most victims can barely afford to see a family doctor. Anara*, an endocrinologist in a Kazakh hospital who has examined about 50 camp survivors since 2020, noticed recurrent infertility problems among her patients. 'Men or women, many have damaged genitalia. Some told me they'd been given drugs, others said they'd been raped. As they didn't come to us right after being released from the camps, it's impossible to know what kind of drugs they were administered in Xinjiang, she says. *Not her real name

The tiger chair

Ospan* spent a year in a re-education camp. He says his mind and body were crushed by the tortures he experienced in a tiger chair - a steel apparatus with handcuffs that restrains the body in painful positions. Aged about 50, this former shepherd, who took refuge with his family in eastern Kazakhstan, is no longer fit for work. Physically wrecked and prone to headaches, he mourns the loss of his memory above all. 'I used to know a lot of songs and I loved to sing; I also knew poems by heart ... Now, I can't sing any more, I can't remember the words,' he says. *Not his real name

Broken families and imprisonment

Aikamal Rashibek saw the dreadful efficiency of the CCP's brainwashing on her husband, Kerimbek Bakytali, after he was released from a Chinese psychiatric hospital. 'He disappeared for a year. When he came back, he didn't tell me anything about what happened to him. He was highly unhinged, always nervous, and got angry whenever I asked questions. He couldn't stop repeating that he hated Kazakhstan now, and that he wanted to go back to China with the kids to give them a Chinese education, says Aikamal. They are now separated.

Missing loved ones in China’s camps

In March 2017, Miyessar Muhedamu, left, a Uyghur woman, was arrested in Xinjiang under the pretext that she had studied Arabic in Egypt when she was young. Her husband, Sadirzhan Ayupov, right, and her three children have not seen her since. Now that Miyessar has left the camp, Sadirzhan receives a short call every few months. He suspects she might have suffered abuse, yet Miyessar can’t speak freely. ‘She told me she’d been in a re-education camp, and that she’d been released. When I ask her what she went through there, she doesn’t answer,’ says Sadirzhan.

Life after fleeing China

Sent to a re-education camp in 2018 at the age of 64, Yerke* saw her health quickly deteriorate. Locked a tiny cell with dozens of other women, she almost lost the use of her legs due to the cold floor she had to lie on. She was in the camp when she learned of her son’s death: pressured by the Chinese authorities, he took his own life. After her release, Yerke fled to Kazakhstan with some family members, but two of her children remain in China. *Not her real name

Forced labour and confessions

Dina Nurdybay, 32, was arrested in Nilka county, Xinjiang, because her traditional Kazakh clothing business made her a separatist, according to the Chinese authorities. She spent 11 months between two re-education camps, a CCP school and a forced-labour sewing factory. After proving she was capable of being ‘well behaved’ and having performed a self-criticism in front of the whole village, Dina was released and managed to escape when she obtained a week’s leave to visit her ailing father in Kazakhstan.

Cultural genocide

China’s repression of ethnic minorities also involves cultural genocide. As Muslim rituals are forbidden in Xinjiang, people are trying to keep their traditions alive across borders. Here, a family is praying together in Kazakhstan after the death of one of their relatives in Xinjiang. They could not repatriate the body because the border between the two countries was closed at the time.

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My entry for the #swoyodtiys! It was pretty fun to draw as it wasn't boring or too difficult. Thanks, @/swoyo.o (on Instagram), for hosting this dtiys!

I think I've found some ideas of how to color which I like... I'm happy about it!

✨️

Моя участь у #swoyodtiys! Малювати було досить весело, оскільки завдання не було нудним чи надто важким. Дякую, @/swoyo.o, за проведення цього dtiys!

Гадаю, я тепер маю кілька ідей для розфарбовування, які мені подобаються... Радісно через це!

Please help the family of a non-verbal autistic child (who has been losing weight because he only eats certain kinds of food, largely unavailable during this time) leave Gaza!

gofundme.com

Help Aser and his family evacuate Gaza, organized by Mohammed Alassar

Hello, my name is Mohammed Alassar, currenlty living in Sweden and I am fundra… Mohammed Alassar needs your support for Help Aser and his fa

Мої знайомі стали вулицями, Імена на пам'ять залишені.

Мої знайомі стали петиціями, Підписи поставлено стишено.

Мої знайомі стали стрічками, Синьо-жовті стяги опущені.

Мої знайомі стали книгами, В кінці читачі засмучені.

Мої знайомі стали зорями, Далекими й трохи млявими.

Мої знайомі стали спогадом, Живими, але вже примарами.

@ukrfanficshn

Babyn Yar, 82 years past.

Last year, I walked there a lot - and couldn't help but cry, every time. You always knew the Holocaust happened, and what it happened to Ukraine as well, but there, in the memorial park, you see the photos, read the text describing it, you see these ravines, you walk along the graves/monuments of the Jewish cemetery, you listen to the prayers and memorial songs... Can you not cry?

And then there's the rocket attack on Babyn Yar last year. And there's the occupation, execution of civilians, mobile crematoriums. The theater, inscription "KIDS". "Filtration camps". Deportation of children. Blowing up the prisoners' barrack. The damn. The market. The train station... No, I couldn't.

82 years later, and the only thing that changed is the language of the invaders.

So if you go downthread on the linked tweet here, people are saying there were up to 300,000 people at one night of protests in Tbilisi:

That's wild. Rooting for them.

Happy Independence Day 🇺🇦

UKR🇺🇦 -> ENG🇬🇧

Щороку 23 серпня моя кохана Україна святкує День Державного Прапора, 24 серпня — День Незалежности. Сьогодні нашій сучасній державності виповнюється 33 роки, хоча насправді українська історія сягає тисячоліть. Це — роки здобуття Майбутнього, Волі, Незалежности. Це — роки Віри, Самоусвідомлення, Шляху.

Україна — це Боротьба. Вічна боротьба за долю.

Дякую кожному та кожній, завдяки кому ми можемо святкувати цей День. Дякую всім, хто боронив, боронить і боронитиме нашу Державу.

Слава Україні! Героям слава!

🇺🇦

Every year on August 23, my beloved Ukraine celebrates the Day of the National Flag, and Independence Day on August 24. Today, our modern statehood turns 33 years old, although in fact, Ukrainian history goes back thousands of years. These are years of gaining Future, Freedom, Independence. These are years of Faith, Self-awareness, Path.

Ukraine means Fighting. Eternal fighting for destiny.

I thank everyone, thanks to whom we can celebrate this Day. Thank you to everyone who defended, defends, and will defend our State.

Slava Ukraini! Heroyam slava!

🇺🇦

OCs in their nationalities' folk clothes: Ian (Ukrainian) and Alim (Crimean tatar).

INKTOBER

Day 27: Road.

Zhytomyr highway.

Day 28: Jumbo.

Then negotiate a peace. Stop trying to save a shred of territory because doing so is resulting in mass slaughter of incompetent barely trained Ukrainians. You fuckers are gonna capitulate at this rate, then Russia can do whatever they want. Negotiate. A. Peace.

1. Negotiating wouldn’t help.

We had the Budapest memorandum in 2014 when we got “security guarantees” from russia, USA and the UK in exchange for our nuclear arsenal and some other weapons. Did that help us in 2014? Nope.

Now, the year of 2014. Russians took our Crimea, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. We tried to negotiate with them and signed the Minsk Agreement. Did it ever help us in 2022? No.

Peace treaties with russia are worthless.

2. Giving up this “shred of territory” (which is the size of two Belgiums, by the way) would never stop the “mass slaughter of Ukrainians”.

Every day with russians on our land creates more torture chambers, mass graves, rape, forced deportation of Ukrainian children and concentration camps.

3. Does russia want to negotiate right now? No, unless all of Ukraine surrenders.

If all of Ukraine surrendered and became a part of russia, it would result in a complete genocide. Those Ukrainians who manage to survive will be sent by moscow as cannon fodder to Poland or Moldova. Is this the “mass slaughter of incompetent Ukrainians” you meant?

By the way, this is already happening with Ukrainians from the occupied territories who are sent by russians to the frontlines with no equipment, no training or even a health check.

If you mean “peace” as in a ceasefire, and letting russia keep the land it controls, it wouldn’t work either. Russians do not want to negotiate right now. If they did, they wouldn’t have started a new counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region.

Even if russia agreed to a ceasefire, and stopped bombing us (which would be a miracle), it would not last. They would use some time to regroup, train more soldiers, produce more weapons and ask for reduce of sanctions. In a few months or years they will attack Ukraine again, using the occupied territories. Just like in 2022.

4. Historically, we’re looking at the Third Reich annexing Sudetenland right now. Or even attacking Poland - if we remember Ukraine in 2014, Georgia in 2008 and two Chechen wars in the 1990s.

I’m sure you’ve heard of wwii but here’s a quick recap: everyone tried to appease hitler, no one cared when the third reich swallowed Austria, Czechia, Slovakia and only when the nazis attacked Poland, the people were like ‘OH MY GOD HITLER IS TRYING TO CONQUER EUROPE! This is unbelievable, why haven’t we stopped him before???’

(Well, not everyone was like that. Many people said “why should we fight for Poland, who cares about that hitler guy”)

5. Do you want a russian war with NATO? Or would you prefer to just send Ukraine some old weapons (that you don’t use anyway) and let us stop russia by ourselves?

NATO either helps Ukraine win now, or they will have to really fight russia in a few years. Do you want to send boys from NATO countries to die in Warsaw, Riga or Tallinn? Do you want russians to come to your country, to bomb your house, to kill your mother and rape your kid?

6. And for fuck’s sake, don’t talk to me like that. I wasn’t born in a first world country, yes. But that doesn’t make me inferior to you.

24.02.2022.

The day that changed my life forever.

24th of February 2022 should have been my usual day. No, not usual. A wonderful day. I should have been checked with a doctor, gave notice to teachers in high school of my absence, and then fly away on vacation, my parents wanted it so much.

On 23rd of February 2022 I felt happy. I had a secure, happy life, preparing to finals, hanging out with my friends, already having an offer from university.

Until 5AM 24.02.2022.

I had not a single class in my school since then.

I haven’t seen my friend group in 2 years.

I didn’t have my finals.

We did not have that vacation.

“Daughter, wake up. This old psychotic man attacked us. We are leaving.”

That was my first photo of the day, trying sarcastically keep myself normal. I remember that actual emptiness, reading my classmates texts about how their windows were shaking because of explosions, the sky was orange. They sent that video.

He called it “a special military operation”.

I collected random clothes, some hobby stuff just to keep my sanity, grabbed my pet, emptied my safety locker. I was scared that russians would intrude into our home and steal all my savings, so I throw away key to that lock. This key became my symbol of war, I have never found it even after return.

When I with my parents and pet got out of flat to car we heard for the very first time air raid siren. We would hear so many more of them, we would learn to differentiate them, but then we were confused.

It was my second photo. People were going away. Foot, cars, bicycles. I remember such a surreal picture. Some moms were carrying their toddlers, one woman was carrying a bucket of water with turtles, other people were carrying cages with parrots, with dogs, with cats, with exotic pets despite air raid siren, temperature, rain. Everyone was so confused and scared.

Few days later the road we were riding was occupied. Bridges destroyed. Factories burnt. Supermarkets demolished. Houses in ruins. Road in holes. On the side of the road burnt cars with “DO NOT TOUCH, POSSIBLY EXPLOSIVE”. That gut wrenching feeling seeing photos of dead bodies and recognising the place.

But back then it was still lively, not a road of death. I remember reading news then. First victims, first shelling. Invasion from East. Invasion from Kharkiv region. Invasion from Crimea. Invasion from Chernihiv. Invasion from Zhytomyr. And we were in Zhytomyr region at that moment. Explosions in Kyiv. The border was destroyed.

I felt nothing. Just emptiness.

This precious girl was keeping my head cool all the road. She was also scared and irritated, but she was so strong, such an amazing girl. I am so proud of her.

We were heading to my grandparents who lived closer to West Ukraine, so we would be safer. The road that takes usually just 4 hours but that time it took 13 hours. 13 hours of driving exhausted and nerved. We saw soldiers, trucks, jets, how barricades were built, signs were removed.

But we made it. We were lucky. Lucky to be alive, to have family alive and mostly close to West, further from russia. Even though, part of my extended family still was under occupation in Chernihiv region, suffering from such close border with belarus.

When we arrived, we were just silent. Then collected mattresses for shelter, asked grandpa to grab some patrol (we knew that they would definitely destroy reservoirs and literally next day the started doing that), and just fell asleep in something that we arrived in, being so scared.

That day I also cut ties with russian friend who I am shamed to admit having. He was proving me that this is just a military operation, no one would be harmed.

Then, arrived spring that I will never forget but at the same time never remember. I remember 10 people in one floor house. I remember the whistle of rocket that woke us up. I remember sirens. I remember news. I remember losing hope. I remember first photos after deoccupation of Kyiv region. I remember how forgotten friend of my dad suddenly called him saying that his city is fully destroyed, his neighbour right on his eyes was exploded attempting to get into the car and evacuate.

I remember my first mental breakdown. How I was crying in the darkness, but quietly so no one would notice.

We were able to return home three months later. But we are just lucky. Someone would never return. Someone is not even alive to see their home again. Someone’s home is forever destroyed.

I was lucky that I have secured my place at foreign university before war, but my whole family is still in Ukraine.

War is not over at all. 20% of Ukraine is occupied. So many displaced civilians, so many deaths. No one could even count, we do not have any access to bodies. Only way to identify is to deoccupy and find mass graves. No other means. Children are suffering from PTSD even in such a young age. Almost in every city, big or small, you would find graveyards covered in Ukrainian flag, grave of the soldier.

Maybe media does not talk that much of us, but it doesn’t mean that everything is alright. Avdiivka is destroyed, right now operation searching for people under debris of the civilian house after attack is undergoing.

And this is happening all the time.

Who was punished for Olenivka? Who was punished for destruction of Kakhovka Dam? Who was punished for all fully destroyed cities? Who was responsible for all that absolutely atrocious videos torturing Ukrainian soldiers?

Please, remember, Ukraine is still on fire. People are still dying. Soldiers cannot even counterattack because they do not have enough ammo, just for protection. Information war is also waging, sharing all that misinformation, Nazi narratives, russian propaganda.

Remember.

Help.

Share.

russia is a terrorist state.

Glory to Ukraine.

Glory to the Heroes.