... Tohti is not a separatist or even a political dissident. He's a Communist Party member and a teacher at a top Chinese university who sees himself as a bridge between Hans and Uighurs. <...> Tohti is an animated speaker, more preacher than teacher. A slideshow running behind him in a continuous loop flashes images of Urumqi in the days after the riots: burned-out cars, police and soldiers patrolling the city, weeping Uighur women begging Chinese security forces for information about their detained relatives, angry Han marching in protest against the violence. He uses the classroom to build ethnic pride. <...> In China, these are topics not usually talked about in public. Hearing them in class is exhilarating for young Uighurs who say discrimination is a daily fact of life. <...> Instead, he urges students to use Chinese law to protect themselves, and to avoid overseas Uighur rights activists. "I tell them, 'You need to engage with the Han in Beijing. Stop looking to the West," Tohti said with a barking laugh during an interview in his Beijing apartment. "The West isn't going to send troops to fight a war against China for you.'" Yet officials lump him together with the overseas activists and accuse him of inciting the July riots. ...
... Tohti is not a separatist or even a political dissident. He's a Communist Party member and a teacher at a top Chinese university who sees himself as a bridge between Hans and Uighurs.
<...>
Tohti is an animated speaker, more preacher than teacher. A slideshow running behind him in a continuous loop flashes images of Urumqi in the days after the riots: burned-out cars, police and soldiers patrolling the city, weeping Uighur women begging Chinese security forces for information about their detained relatives, angry Han marching in protest against the violence.
He uses the classroom to build ethnic pride.
In China, these are topics not usually talked about in public. Hearing them in class is exhilarating for young Uighurs who say discrimination is a daily fact of life.
Instead, he urges students to use Chinese law to protect themselves, and to avoid overseas Uighur rights activists.
"I tell them, 'You need to engage with the Han in Beijing. Stop looking to the West," Tohti said with a barking laugh during an interview in his Beijing apartment. "The West isn't going to send troops to fight a war against China for you.'"
Yet officials lump him together with the overseas activists and accuse him of inciting the July riots. ...
"The West isn't going to send troops to fight a war against China for you."
Hell, you tell the average American that the Uighur situation could lead to higher prices at Walmart and you'll see Tea Parties calling for carpet bombing of them. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
