Join us for this special virtual Iftar gathering with three Uyghur human rights activists working to end the genocide against Uyghurs in China.
Iftar is the traditional breaking of the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan in the Islamic faith. Since Iftar begins at sundown, we will gather at 8pm PT/11pm EST so that our west coast friends will be able to break their fast on time.
East Turkestan is the homeland of the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs and other Central Asian peoples such as Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tatars, and Tajiks.
Since April 2017, millions of Uyghurs have been rounded up by Chinese authorities and sent to large modern-day concentration camps. A document quoted the party secretary Chen Quango on detention centers stating the camps should “teach like a school, be managed like the military and be defended like a prison” and “must first break their lineage, break their roots, break their connections and break their origins.” These chilling words stated in an internal document, reported by the media, only touch on Beijing’s harsh policies towards the Uyghurs.
REGISTER:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-iftar-uyghur-storytelling-tickets-148824685641
Ms. Nurgul Sawut is the Director of Oceania Outreach at Campaign for Uyghurs. Based in Canberra, Australia, Nurgul regularly debriefs Parliamentary members and committees on the current Uyghur crisis. Her activism began by supporting Uyghur refugees and community capacity building in early 2000. She is part of international consultation group formed by prominent psychologists who are working on and assessing the impacts of current genocidal crisis on the Uyghur community’s mental health and wellbeing in the Diaspora. Currently she works in the community health sector as a counsellor, coach and therapist in ACT of Australia. Ms. Sawut earned her Master of Social Work at ACU in 2013, and holds a BA in Economics and Business Management from Nankai University in China.
Ms. Arzu Gul is Uyghur and was born and grew up in East Turkestan. She studied Business Management in a Chinese university and worked at local government for two years. After the mass concentration camps for Uyghurs started, she began working as a Uyghur human rights activist, educator, organizer, and humanitarian worker. She is a bridge-builder for communication between Uyghur Muslims and other communities.
Mr. Babur Ilchi is a Program Director at Campaign for Uyghurs and host of the Tarim Talks podcast, interviewing people across the diaspora and sharing their knowledge with Uyghurs around the world. Babur is Uyghur, born in Hotan. As an activist and advocate for his people, he has found this to be a deeply personal calling. He is passionate about working with Campaign for Uyghurs to help his people and end the horrific genocide being perpetrated in East Turkestan today.
Join us for this special Iftar gathering to hear from these Uyghur activists about the genocide against the Uyghur people in East Turkestan/Xinjiang.
*Trigger Warning: The stories shared in this call may contain graphic detail about physical, sexual, mental, and emotional abuse.
Co-hosted with Campaign for Uyghurs.