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Columbia Global Reports
新疆再教育營：中國的高科技流放地
在新疆，高科技監控已經成為日常生活的一部分，大城市中監視器密布宛如「天網」，每隔兩百公尺就有一個檢查站，人們必須掃描身分證，通過依族群劃分的通道。另一端，螢幕中的人臉被以綠框或黃框鎖定，方框旁是人物的基本資料，綠框代表你是「還沒問題的人」，黃框則標示出你「需要被注意」。公安可以隨時要求你交出手機，檢查是否有「可疑」的聯繫紀錄，並強制安裝官方的監測APP。
中國政府之所以有如此強大監控系統，一方面是以全民健檢的名義，蒐集新疆兩千五百萬人的生物特徵，包含臉孔、虹膜、聲紋、血液、指紋和DNA，另一方面，從美國西雅圖及矽谷移植而來的科技，也成為國家監控的核心技術，不僅如此，自美國九一一事件以來的全球反恐論述，也正當化中國對伊斯蘭的壓制，即便政府宣稱對所有族群一視同仁，但只要造訪清真寺超過兩百次，就會被系統辨識為「預備犯」，穆斯林逐漸失去集體實踐宗教及文化的自由——再教育營，就是對新疆維吾爾族、哈薩克族、回族等族群進行強迫改造的具體例證。
戴倫・拜勒是全球最頂尖的維吾爾族社會與中國監控體系專家，他對新疆地區進行長達十年的研究，透過檢視官方文件及長期深入的訪談，揭露再教育營如何成為新疆的「日常」——超過一百五十萬維吾爾人被迫進入再教育營及其附屬的工廠。本書受訪者涵蓋全面，包含曾受拘禁的美國回族大學生、哈薩克族農夫、卡車司機，以及協助抓人的輔警、被迫於再教育營「教學」的老師，這些不同位置的人提供瞭解再教育營的多面視角。作者透過扎實的研究觀點與人物故事，呈現新疆再教育營的現況、中國的監控治理網絡，以及跨國的高科技產業關係。
中文版特別新增五篇文章：維吾爾記者埃賽爾．蘇萊曼（Eset Sulaiman）的導讀、維吾爾語言學家及詩人阿不都外力．阿尤普（Abduweli Ayup）的推薦序、本書簡體中文版翻譯小組推薦序、《真相製造》作者及國際新聞記者劉致昕對作者的專訪，以及戴倫・拜勒為中文版新寫的序。
中國政府之所以有如此強大監控系統，一方面是以全民健檢的名義，蒐集新疆兩千五百萬人的生物特徵，包含臉孔、虹膜、聲紋、血液、指紋和DNA，另一方面，從美國西雅圖及矽谷移植而來的科技，也成為國家監控的核心技術，不僅如此，自美國九一一事件以來的全球反恐論述，也正當化中國對伊斯蘭的壓制，即便政府宣稱對所有族群一視同仁，但只要造訪清真寺超過兩百次，就會被系統辨識為「預備犯」，穆斯林逐漸失去集體實踐宗教及文化的自由——再教育營，就是對新疆維吾爾族、哈薩克族、回族等族群進行強迫改造的具體例證。
戴倫・拜勒是全球最頂尖的維吾爾族社會與中國監控體系專家，他對新疆地區進行長達十年的研究，透過檢視官方文件及長期深入的訪談，揭露再教育營如何成為新疆的「日常」——超過一百五十萬維吾爾人被迫進入再教育營及其附屬的工廠。本書受訪者涵蓋全面，包含曾受拘禁的美國回族大學生、哈薩克族農夫、卡車司機，以及協助抓人的輔警、被迫於再教育營「教學」的老師，這些不同位置的人提供瞭解再教育營的多面視角。作者透過扎實的研究觀點與人物故事，呈現新疆再教育營的現況、中國的監控治理網絡，以及跨國的高科技產業關係。
中文版特別新增五篇文章：維吾爾記者埃賽爾．蘇萊曼（Eset Sulaiman）的導讀、維吾爾語言學家及詩人阿不都外力．阿尤普（Abduweli Ayup）的推薦序、本書簡體中文版翻譯小組推薦序、《真相製造》作者及國際新聞記者劉致昕對作者的專訪，以及戴倫・拜勒為中文版新寫的序。
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 12, 2021
69 people are currently reading
1733 people want to read
About the author
Darren Byler
7 books16 followersDarren Byler is Assistant Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the author of Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City. He writes a regular column for SupChina and his work has appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Noema Magazine, Prospect Magazine, Guernica, ChinaFile, as well as many academic journals. He received his PhD in anthropology at the University of Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 178 reviews
May 12, 2022
Review There is nothing the Chinese want more than unquestioning conformity. There is nothing they hate more than nonconformity - that implies criticism of the conforming masses leading to wanting to speak out, to free speech, to wanting political self-determination. This is anathema to the Chinese. The US is complicit in helping China control the population, production and welcoming their evil empire and technology into the west. Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, Bushes, all of them, into it up to their shoulders, Biden, Pelosi, Zuckerberg, Dorsey, McConnell et al.
There are great benefits for the conforming Chinese. They have gone from being illiterate peasants starving to death, 40 million of them, under Mao, to great prosperity now. But they must never voice a single thought that is not in agreement with what they are told is best for them and the country. A lot of people in the West feel that this is a form of capitalism that produces a good living and excellent profits. A lot of others think this is Marxism come to fruit. But those people, whether the Republican CEOs or the Democrat 'Progressives' all see themselves as the pigs in Animal Farm, not the chickens, horses and cows labouring to keep the pigs in luxury.
Many business interests have been merged. Surveillance is continual and overt, are all these privacy statements that no one reads true? Is our data 'only' being collected for advertising purposes? And even it was, isn't all that still available to potentially malign forces - police, government, insurance companies your future possible employer?
__________
Reading Notes Most of our phones are made in China. They all work on facial recognition. The software is built into the phone. And now we have phones that turn on with facial recognition, Google photos wanting to label you and all your friends. The apps and cameras were developed in China partly with Silicon Valley companies and Chinese techs who had come from there. There are many companies and police forces that use this same technology to recognise and profile us. Revlon does this so its adverts can show their lipsticks to the right audience (eg not showing a 'nude' frosty lipstick to a black girl, nor a darkest red-black one to a white one). Amazon uses it in their warehouses. Even Russell Stover.... It's not what's happening in China that is interesting, it's what's happening in China that we know of and don't know of in the West.
Before I read this book I had read another that I didn't write a proper review of (only reading notes) The Chief Witness: escape from China’s modern-day concentration camps because there was a problem I couldn't overcome. These are concentration camps, the methods of destroying the Uighyers in people's eyes by calling them rats, and controlling their education, work and locations is identical to Nazi Germany. This book makes that very clear indeed. The Chief Witness's absence of the words Holocaust, Nazi and Jews, was odd. I read a long review not on Goodreads or perhaps it is and is hidden or perhaps it was removed, or never here, I've no idea. That the Uighyer Muslims have no love for Jews and don't want to be associated with them in any way. Ironic then, that for years, the sole protestors outside the Chinese Embassy in London were Jews.
But this book does not shy away from such mentions, and quotes Primo Levi extensively. The Nazis were the first people to industrialise murder. To build factories to process people along production lines. Enter, shaved, stripped, gassed to death, burned or thrown into mass graves, all within a few hours. The Chinese are the first people building on the Nazis horrifying perversion of industrialisation, to digitize it. To process people by identification, isolation, reducing them in Han eyes, as the Nazis did in German ones, to unclean vermin, rats. What do you do with rats? You get rid of them.
But their camps are not for death, they are for brainwashing in cruel ways, and providing free and cheap labour to make the clothes and goods we buy. 52% of all sellers on Amazon are Chinese. What percentage of goods sold on Amazon are made in China? How many of those are made by slave labour, by Uighyers?
But, before reading this book I had thought that the Chinese 'War on Terror' was a euphemism for getting rid of the Muslim ethnic groups, much like Germany with Jews, Gypsies and others. But no, it really is a war on terror based on the West's experience. And to some extent the Muslims brought it on themselves. 9/11 and the prior and subsequent Muslim terrorism sparked off the Chinese on their 'war on terror'.
There were always mosques in Muslim areas, government ones, but when the internet became available, the Muslims wanted their own mosques, men grew beards, women covered their heads, and they passed around religious videos made in the West, some by extremist imams. Some went to Turkey, which as we all know is the route that those joining ISIS often used. There were protests, handled roughly by the Chinese, and with violent protests from the Muslims. And as the Muslims grew to look more like the politicised, fundamentalist ones in the UK and Europe generally, and grew more obviously devout, so did the Chinese crack down harder and harder.
The Chinese did not distinguish between those who wished merely to be religious and those who might be considering terrorist action, they just cracked down on all, in terrible, cruel, tortuous ways. Either they speak Mandarin, and are brainwashed through constant videos, singing, violence and re-education (shades of Chairman Mao) or that's it, you remain in the camps.
I haven't quite finished the book yet, so this is still reading notes. The Chinese are wicked with their Belt and Road policy in all the countries that the US is not giving aid to in their attempt to spread their dictatorship across the world. They have many sympathisers who point to how China has come from an illiterate peasant society to a booming world economy. Bill Gates among them, the Bushes, the Bidens, and so many more.
We are hanging ourselves with our own rope. We only care about human rights in countries where which aren't useful to us. The Arab states for oil, China for cheaply produced goods... There are many protests for the Palestinians against Israel, there are cadres in the US gvt seemingly devoted to this but do you ever hear of them demonstrating against China for their annexing of Tibet? We talk of the Dalai Lama in respectful tones but even Goodreads does not recognise Tibet as a country. I once tried to list an author as from Tibet but could only find China. So I wrote to them. China is the country, Tibet no longer exists.... Taiwan and Japan are ever-fearful of Chinese attacks in much the same way as Russia has attacked Ukraine in its bid to 'reclaim' Russian territory. 17 countries are Chinese targets. theweek DOT co DOT uk/news/world-news/china/955728/all-countries-china-territory-disputes/
What protests are there from the West? Are we helping to arm these countries as we should Ukraine? Are we helping them to remain free or are we sitting back and buying another new phone with lots of spying, tracking programs so that even when you go into a store like Target, Macy's et al, if you've downloaded their app (and probably if you haven't) they see how long you spend at this counter, and how long at that one and which offers they should flash up to you and then knowing your name, your address, your face, what you like, your bank (if you pay by card) and more, they sell this information.
What happens if we get governments like China? They could put up checkpoints and just scan our phones just like in China. Or is it really all happening now, our data stored by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook. And passed to the authorities?
There are great benefits for the conforming Chinese. They have gone from being illiterate peasants starving to death, 40 million of them, under Mao, to great prosperity now. But they must never voice a single thought that is not in agreement with what they are told is best for them and the country. A lot of people in the West feel that this is a form of capitalism that produces a good living and excellent profits. A lot of others think this is Marxism come to fruit. But those people, whether the Republican CEOs or the Democrat 'Progressives' all see themselves as the pigs in Animal Farm, not the chickens, horses and cows labouring to keep the pigs in luxury.
Many business interests have been merged. Surveillance is continual and overt, are all these privacy statements that no one reads true? Is our data 'only' being collected for advertising purposes? And even it was, isn't all that still available to potentially malign forces - police, government, insurance companies your future possible employer?
__________
Reading Notes Most of our phones are made in China. They all work on facial recognition. The software is built into the phone. And now we have phones that turn on with facial recognition, Google photos wanting to label you and all your friends. The apps and cameras were developed in China partly with Silicon Valley companies and Chinese techs who had come from there. There are many companies and police forces that use this same technology to recognise and profile us. Revlon does this so its adverts can show their lipsticks to the right audience (eg not showing a 'nude' frosty lipstick to a black girl, nor a darkest red-black one to a white one). Amazon uses it in their warehouses. Even Russell Stover.... It's not what's happening in China that is interesting, it's what's happening in China that we know of and don't know of in the West.
Before I read this book I had read another that I didn't write a proper review of (only reading notes) The Chief Witness: escape from China’s modern-day concentration camps because there was a problem I couldn't overcome. These are concentration camps, the methods of destroying the Uighyers in people's eyes by calling them rats, and controlling their education, work and locations is identical to Nazi Germany. This book makes that very clear indeed. The Chief Witness's absence of the words Holocaust, Nazi and Jews, was odd. I read a long review not on Goodreads or perhaps it is and is hidden or perhaps it was removed, or never here, I've no idea. That the Uighyer Muslims have no love for Jews and don't want to be associated with them in any way. Ironic then, that for years, the sole protestors outside the Chinese Embassy in London were Jews.
But this book does not shy away from such mentions, and quotes Primo Levi extensively. The Nazis were the first people to industrialise murder. To build factories to process people along production lines. Enter, shaved, stripped, gassed to death, burned or thrown into mass graves, all within a few hours. The Chinese are the first people building on the Nazis horrifying perversion of industrialisation, to digitize it. To process people by identification, isolation, reducing them in Han eyes, as the Nazis did in German ones, to unclean vermin, rats. What do you do with rats? You get rid of them.
But their camps are not for death, they are for brainwashing in cruel ways, and providing free and cheap labour to make the clothes and goods we buy. 52% of all sellers on Amazon are Chinese. What percentage of goods sold on Amazon are made in China? How many of those are made by slave labour, by Uighyers?
But, before reading this book I had thought that the Chinese 'War on Terror' was a euphemism for getting rid of the Muslim ethnic groups, much like Germany with Jews, Gypsies and others. But no, it really is a war on terror based on the West's experience. And to some extent the Muslims brought it on themselves. 9/11 and the prior and subsequent Muslim terrorism sparked off the Chinese on their 'war on terror'.
There were always mosques in Muslim areas, government ones, but when the internet became available, the Muslims wanted their own mosques, men grew beards, women covered their heads, and they passed around religious videos made in the West, some by extremist imams. Some went to Turkey, which as we all know is the route that those joining ISIS often used. There were protests, handled roughly by the Chinese, and with violent protests from the Muslims. And as the Muslims grew to look more like the politicised, fundamentalist ones in the UK and Europe generally, and grew more obviously devout, so did the Chinese crack down harder and harder.
The Chinese did not distinguish between those who wished merely to be religious and those who might be considering terrorist action, they just cracked down on all, in terrible, cruel, tortuous ways. Either they speak Mandarin, and are brainwashed through constant videos, singing, violence and re-education (shades of Chairman Mao) or that's it, you remain in the camps.
I haven't quite finished the book yet, so this is still reading notes. The Chinese are wicked with their Belt and Road policy in all the countries that the US is not giving aid to in their attempt to spread their dictatorship across the world. They have many sympathisers who point to how China has come from an illiterate peasant society to a booming world economy. Bill Gates among them, the Bushes, the Bidens, and so many more.
We are hanging ourselves with our own rope. We only care about human rights in countries where which aren't useful to us. The Arab states for oil, China for cheaply produced goods... There are many protests for the Palestinians against Israel, there are cadres in the US gvt seemingly devoted to this but do you ever hear of them demonstrating against China for their annexing of Tibet? We talk of the Dalai Lama in respectful tones but even Goodreads does not recognise Tibet as a country. I once tried to list an author as from Tibet but could only find China. So I wrote to them. China is the country, Tibet no longer exists.... Taiwan and Japan are ever-fearful of Chinese attacks in much the same way as Russia has attacked Ukraine in its bid to 'reclaim' Russian territory. 17 countries are Chinese targets. theweek DOT co DOT uk/news/world-news/china/955728/all-countries-china-territory-disputes/
What protests are there from the West? Are we helping to arm these countries as we should Ukraine? Are we helping them to remain free or are we sitting back and buying another new phone with lots of spying, tracking programs so that even when you go into a store like Target, Macy's et al, if you've downloaded their app (and probably if you haven't) they see how long you spend at this counter, and how long at that one and which offers they should flash up to you and then knowing your name, your address, your face, what you like, your bank (if you pay by card) and more, they sell this information.
What happens if we get governments like China? They could put up checkpoints and just scan our phones just like in China. Or is it really all happening now, our data stored by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook. And passed to the authorities?
May 21, 2022
I’d heard and read so much in the news about the Chinese government treatment of the Uighurs and it was about time to find out more. Darren Byler’s book was going to be my introduction, hopefully my foundation on which a could construct a better understanding of the whole situation. On the kinds of things that are happening, it certainly has merit. We are provided with eye witness account after eye witness account after eye witness account on what is happening. It’s horrifying. For me, however, these are all the kind of things I have gleaned from newspaper reports and TV News reports, and I wanted a deeper understanding. The background and deeper analysis is less in evidence here, and save for a few links to western technology, there is little here beyond those very interesting and important eye witness accounts. A good read for those who already have a clear and deep understanding of the situation and want the descriptive detail, not so satisfying for those looking for further analysis, I need to search elsewhere for that.
April 23, 2023
Після цієї книги у мене доволі суперечливі враження. Вона доволі невелика за обсягом, але... видається задовгою. Автор обіцяє розповісти про те, як сучасні цифрові технології дозволяють тримати під контролем мільярдне населення КНР, але, насправді, більша частина тексту - це опис тортур та знущань, відомих нам із Саду Гетсиманського Івана Багряного.
Тим не менше, текст вартий уваги.
По-перше, бо тут таки показано, як технологію стають на службу зла. І головне, що показано: як капіталізм, який начебто про спільне благо, допомагає КНР тероризувати власне населення. Китайські комуністи не мали б таких потужних інструментів контролю, якби не співпраця із Заходом. Взагалі, всі авторитарні та тоталітарні режими мають проблему з науковим та технологічним розвитком. Німецька промисловість солідно занепала після приходу до влади Гітлера, бо більшість "світлих умів" виїхали. Так, німецька інженерна думка була така потужна, що за інерцією ще давала Гітлеру різноманітну нову продукцію, але... Так-от, КНР, співпрацюючи із Заходом, підтримуючи в себе приватну ініціативу, змогла розвинути цифрові технології. І це такий прорив, що Захід з нього... скористався сам! Так, начебто, це лише бізнес, чому б не скористатися з нейромереж, придуманих китайцями. От тільки ці мережі "навчалися" на в'язнях концтаборів...
По-друге, в частині про тортури та знущання текст наче й не розказує нам нічого цікавого. Але для Заходу він, як на мене, важливий. Розвіює ілюзії про КНР як нормальну державу, де просто при владі комуністи. Комуністи не бувають "просто при владі". На жаль, це завжди терор. Пишу "на жаль", бо КНР з 1989 р. вдавала із себе "нормальну" державу, а західний світ повірив. Чому? Автор цим питанням не займається, але ми можемо здогадатися. Бажання завершити Холодну війну. І бізнес, звісно ж.
Тому це страшний текст. Особливо в контексті нашої війни. КНР явно не нашому боці.
П.С. Між прочитанням тексту і цим рев'ю посол КНР у Франції, власне, й заявив, що немає ніяких суверенних пострадянських країн. Здається, КНР майже скинула із себе маску.
Тим не менше, текст вартий уваги.
По-перше, бо тут таки показано, як технологію стають на службу зла. І головне, що показано: як капіталізм, який начебто про спільне благо, допомагає КНР тероризувати власне населення. Китайські комуністи не мали б таких потужних інструментів контролю, якби не співпраця із Заходом. Взагалі, всі авторитарні та тоталітарні режими мають проблему з науковим та технологічним розвитком. Німецька промисловість солідно занепала після приходу до влади Гітлера, бо більшість "світлих умів" виїхали. Так, німецька інженерна думка була така потужна, що за інерцією ще давала Гітлеру різноманітну нову продукцію, але... Так-от, КНР, співпрацюючи із Заходом, підтримуючи в себе приватну ініціативу, змогла розвинути цифрові технології. І це такий прорив, що Захід з нього... скористався сам! Так, начебто, це лише бізнес, чому б не скористатися з нейромереж, придуманих китайцями. От тільки ці мережі "навчалися" на в'язнях концтаборів...
По-друге, в частині про тортури та знущання текст наче й не розказує нам нічого цікавого. Але для Заходу він, як на мене, важливий. Розвіює ілюзії про КНР як нормальну державу, де просто при владі комуністи. Комуністи не бувають "просто при владі". На жаль, це завжди терор. Пишу "на жаль", бо КНР з 1989 р. вдавала із себе "нормальну" державу, а західний світ повірив. Чому? Автор цим питанням не займається, але ми можемо здогадатися. Бажання завершити Холодну війну. І бізнес, звісно ж.
Тому це страшний текст. Особливо в контексті нашої війни. КНР явно не нашому боці.
П.С. Між прочитанням тексту і цим рев'ю посол КНР у Франції, власне, й заявив, що немає ніяких суверенних пострадянських країн. Здається, КНР майже скинула із себе маску.
November 6, 2023
کتاب در مورد سرکوب مسلمانان اویغوریِ ساکن در شمال غرب چین توسط حکومت سرکوبگرِ شی جین پینگ نوشته شده است. تصور کنید در حال راه رفتن در خیابانی هستید که هر دویست متر ایست بازرسی دارد و تمام حرکات شما توسط دوربینهایی پردازش میشود، ناگهان شما به جرم استفاده از واتساپ، اینستاگرام، فیسبوک، رفتن به مسجد، داشتن ریش بلند، پوشیدن حجاب در گذشته، تماشا یا ارسال فیلمهای مذهبی، عدم توانایی در صحبت به زبان ماندارین و جرایمی(!!!) از این قبیل دستگیر میشوید. پس از آن چه اتفاقی میافتد؟ به ظاهر شما را به مدرسهای منتقل میکنند تا آموزش ببینید اما آنجا در حقیقت اردوگاهیست که انسانیت را از شما گرفته و تبدیل به انسانی بیرحم میشوید. شما اجازه ندارید در هر زمانی دراز بکشید، بایستید، بخورید و بیاشامید. نمیتوانید با دیگران صحبت کنید، در کلاسهای درس اجباری تنها به زبان چینی میتوانید صحبت کنید. تنها یک بار در هفته به مدت ۲ دقیقه مجاز به استحمام هستید. برای رفع حاجت باید در کلاس (سلول) خود در مقابل چشمان بقیه همسلولیها و دوربینهایی که توسط نگهبانان به طور دائم تحتنظر هستند، کارتان را انجام دهید. اگر فکر کردید توالتی برایتان در نظر گرفتهاند سخت در اشتباهید، سطلهایی که برای این کار در نظر گرفته شده به موقع خالی نمیشوند و گاهی تمام محتویات سرریز میشود! در چنین شرایطی باید تظاهر کنید که خوشحالید و تازه دارید قدر زندگی و حکومت جمهوری خلق خود را میفهمید. واقعا که چقدر ما انسانها میتوانیم سنگدل باشیم. استفاده کشور چین از فناوریای چنین پیشرفته و وسیع تعجب برانگیز است. نکته جالب اینجاست که با وجود ظلم روا داشته شده در حق مسلمانان، چین یکی از نزدیکترین دوستانِ کشور اسلامی ماست و سردمداران ایران هرگز اعتراضی نسبت به چنین نسلکشی نداشتهاند. کتاب از منظر پژوهشی نوشته شده و تقریبا تمام پاراگرافها مستند بوده و مرجع اصلیشان ضمیمه شده است. نویسنده از همکاری شرکتهای بزرگ غربی در این زمینه هم چشمپوشی نکرده و با جسارت نام شرکتهایی که به نوعی در زمینه تجاوز به حریم شخصی مردم عادی از طریق دادههای اینترنتی نقش داشتهاند، ذکر کرده است.
از آنجا که کتاب در سال ۲۰۲۱ منتشر شده است اطلاعاتی جدید و به روز دارد و خواندن آن خالی از لطف نیست.
از آنجا که کتاب در سال ۲۰۲۱ منتشر شده است اطلاعاتی جدید و به روز دارد و خواندن آن خالی از لطف نیست.
October 10, 2021
With lots of help from Silicon Valley, China now runs the most extensive, intensive and exhaustive surveillance system in the world and in history. In its northwest, it has registered every ethnic person, right down to DNA samples and iris scans, operates police checkpoints every few hundred feet, and takes in at least hundreds of thousands and likely millions for “re-education”, according to race and religion. In Darren Byler’s In The Camps, the worst of Hollywood B movies and pulp fiction are excruciatingly real and revolting. This is another in the excellent series of books from Columbia Global Reports. I have yet to read one that is even just weak.
Xi Jinping is forever putting down protests. China is a multiethnic, multicultural and multilanguage country that has been impossible to pacify totally for as long as it has been China. Xi however, long ago decided to tackle it head on by breaking ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs and Hui of their identities. He has been flooding their homeland, the northwestern province Xingjiang, with Han Chinese from the Pacific coastal areas, with a clear goal of making these ethnics a minority in their own lands. Ethnic women are forced to have birth control IUD implants, and are often required to show they are in place. To ensure success, he has also empowered the Han to hate the ethnics, disparage them, beat them, refuse to work among them, and in this book, imprison them for re-education.
Byler has interviewed several survivors/escapees from the Chinese camps, safely back in Kazakhstan or the US. Their stories are identical to those I have read elsewhere, with added details and horrors normally considered torture. There is no longer any doubt about their authenticity. Now on the outside again, they feel broken and can never return to a normal life. And obviously, they will never forget their treatment at the hands of Xi Jinping. Interestingly, many Han Chinese who participate in the system are feeling the same way.
It begins with surveillance. All ethnics in Xinjiang must come in for a “health check” where authorities take DNA samples, iris scans, fingerprints and facial photographs from every angle. Police download all the contents of phones, copying contact lists, social media posts and files received. It all goes into a gigantic database for instant (less than a second) retrieval, thanks in large part to US firms like Palantir. If facial recognition software says someone is strolling down the street outside their own neighborhood, the ubiquitous police forces pick them up and haul them in. They are automatically guilty of “pre-criminal” activity, and are shipped out to re-education centers, where their lives are ruined.
And who are the suspects? Byler says “Chinese state authorities began to circulate a list of twenty-five official signs of Islamic extremism. Things like possession of digital files with religious content, using a VPN or installing WhatsApp…. were categorized as ‘pre-crimes’ that could lead to detention.”
In communal cells of up to 60 people, with one bucket at the back that can only be used for a maximum of 60 seconds per person, and bunks that must be shared, inmates find out the hard way they cannot speak to anyone, can only answer authorities in Mandarin Chinese (which many do not speak), and when not in indoctrination classes, must sit straight and still on low plastic stools all day without moving. Ten cameras per cell monitor their every movement and word, and guards scream at them over a public address system. Beatings take place for every little infraction, or none at all. Showering is granted once a week, for all 60 inmates of the cell - in just ten minutes under five or six shower spigots – ie. only the fastest get clean. The cells therefore reek. At one center, they brought in fresh underwear after several months because the staff couldn’t stand the stench any longer.
In “classes”, inmates “learn” Mandarin Chinese, memorize patriotic songs and the sayings of Xi Jinping, and must respond and act with sufficient enthusiasm so as to avoid beatings. There is no socializing at any point, no recreation, and food – a couple of steamed dumplings and soup – means painful hunger on top of everything else.
Anywhere inmates must go, they are manacled and hooded, including hospital visits. Lights are never turned off in their cell, and anyone who tries to pull the covers over their eyes or raises a hand to block the light is screamed at over the pa, and beaten. Same goes for moving around in bunks, crammed as they are with multiple inmates positioned head to toe. Every cell has a compromised inmate, charged with reporting on defective behavior in everyone else, to provide for additional beatings.
If they get out, they are released to their neighborhood, where they are spied on by neighborhood watchers for their every movement. They must report constantly, show up for Monday flag raising and boisterous singing the praises of Xi Jinping and the Communist Party – or find themselves back inside for another year or two of re-education.
The police manage their whole lives. Anyone can be hauled in again at any time and sent to the camps. I have read in other books that while they were away, police installed cameras in their homes so they can see and hear everything at all times. And yell at them for wrong behavior, even just for the language they speak at home or secretly praying. Not smoking and not drinking alcohol are suspicious activities. So is attempting to have a private conversation.
This brings up another difference in this book. Byler goes up the chain a little (but not far enough). He finds that Han Chinese minders are grievously offended by what they have to do to these people, who have committed no crime other than being non-Han. They too are required to be boisterous supporters of Xi Jinping and the Party. They must be enthusiastic beaters. They must harass and scream at detainees all the time, with sufficient ferocity to impress their own minders. They are equipped with foot and a half long truncheons, and must use them all day. They make inmates squat and then beat their rear ends to a pulp, making it all but impossible to sit perfectly still on their stools all day, resulting in further beatings.
And they can’t quit. If they dare to complain, protest or try to leave, they will be considered just as bad as the inmates, and suffer the same fate. One low level guard thought he had found a great job, with sufficient pay to raise his family, but he soon found it to be a horror he could not escape either. He told Byler “If we were tired and wanted to quit, they would tell us: If you are exhausted, you can take a rest, but then you must come back. If you quit the job, then you will end up in ‘re-education camps’ too.” And he now had firsthand knowledge of what that meant.
All up the line, everyone works in fear. Everyone must show sufficient nationalism, pride and enthusiastic violence towards those below, be they other officers or inmates. Managers fear their bosses just as much, bur Byler doesn’t pursue this stunning structure of institutional paranoia. Clearly, the whole system works by it. Xi has built a society in which everyone is suspect, everyone is under surveillance, everyone must toe the Xi line, where the slightest infraction is a fatal weakness, and everyone is kept off balance and alone. This dystopian society is a worthy successor to Nazi Germany. And a model for future aspirants.
Another aspect that differentiates Byler’s book from others I have read is his references to Primo Levi, an Italian philosopher and Auschwitz survivor. Byler uses him to compare life in Chinese re-education camps to life in Nazi concentration camps. The Chinese camps are not killing machines as such, but life in them is at least as horrific, as inmates cite the same stresses, routines, restrictions, fears and coping strategies.
Byler says “Alienation, removing the individual from the ownership of their labor as workers and, in this case, from their autonomy as Turkic Muslim individuals, is in fact a primary feature of the re-education factory. The goal of the re-education industrial parks is to turn Kazakhs and Uyghurs into a deeply controlled, docile, yet productive lumpen class – those without social welfare afforded to the formally recognized rights-bearing working class.” In other words, the entire system is transparently farcical, even to the Chinese.
Byler’s profiles include a young woman studying urban planning In the US, who came home for a long weekend and foolishly thought she was immune. Another was a herder in Kazakhstan who was just trying to settle his affairs in China before leaving again. Another was a teacher who was offered a job at a center – an offer that could not be refused – and found herself as restricted as her “students”. They are the lucky ones because they lived to tell the tale.
Many others get “job offers” working in the new factories Xi has set up to take advantage of all the slave labor his policies produce. When journalists or human rights workers come through, the workers are directed what to say and how to say it. And always smile and be enthusiastic over the opportunity the Party and Chairman Xi have given them for a new life. When officials visit, they even get their hair dyed black to hide the scabs and scars of being beaten about the head.
It all began in 2014, when Xi Jinping declared a “war on terror”. It has of course turned out that Xi Jinping is the real terrorist, and the Chinese are his victims. In The Camps goes a long way towards proving it.
David Wineberg
If you liked this review, I invite you to read my book The Straight Dope. It’s an essay collection based on my first thousand reviews and what I learned. Right now it’s FREE for Prime members, otherwise — cheap! Reputed to be fascinating and a superfast read. https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-...
Xi Jinping is forever putting down protests. China is a multiethnic, multicultural and multilanguage country that has been impossible to pacify totally for as long as it has been China. Xi however, long ago decided to tackle it head on by breaking ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs and Hui of their identities. He has been flooding their homeland, the northwestern province Xingjiang, with Han Chinese from the Pacific coastal areas, with a clear goal of making these ethnics a minority in their own lands. Ethnic women are forced to have birth control IUD implants, and are often required to show they are in place. To ensure success, he has also empowered the Han to hate the ethnics, disparage them, beat them, refuse to work among them, and in this book, imprison them for re-education.
Byler has interviewed several survivors/escapees from the Chinese camps, safely back in Kazakhstan or the US. Their stories are identical to those I have read elsewhere, with added details and horrors normally considered torture. There is no longer any doubt about their authenticity. Now on the outside again, they feel broken and can never return to a normal life. And obviously, they will never forget their treatment at the hands of Xi Jinping. Interestingly, many Han Chinese who participate in the system are feeling the same way.
It begins with surveillance. All ethnics in Xinjiang must come in for a “health check” where authorities take DNA samples, iris scans, fingerprints and facial photographs from every angle. Police download all the contents of phones, copying contact lists, social media posts and files received. It all goes into a gigantic database for instant (less than a second) retrieval, thanks in large part to US firms like Palantir. If facial recognition software says someone is strolling down the street outside their own neighborhood, the ubiquitous police forces pick them up and haul them in. They are automatically guilty of “pre-criminal” activity, and are shipped out to re-education centers, where their lives are ruined.
And who are the suspects? Byler says “Chinese state authorities began to circulate a list of twenty-five official signs of Islamic extremism. Things like possession of digital files with religious content, using a VPN or installing WhatsApp…. were categorized as ‘pre-crimes’ that could lead to detention.”
In communal cells of up to 60 people, with one bucket at the back that can only be used for a maximum of 60 seconds per person, and bunks that must be shared, inmates find out the hard way they cannot speak to anyone, can only answer authorities in Mandarin Chinese (which many do not speak), and when not in indoctrination classes, must sit straight and still on low plastic stools all day without moving. Ten cameras per cell monitor their every movement and word, and guards scream at them over a public address system. Beatings take place for every little infraction, or none at all. Showering is granted once a week, for all 60 inmates of the cell - in just ten minutes under five or six shower spigots – ie. only the fastest get clean. The cells therefore reek. At one center, they brought in fresh underwear after several months because the staff couldn’t stand the stench any longer.
In “classes”, inmates “learn” Mandarin Chinese, memorize patriotic songs and the sayings of Xi Jinping, and must respond and act with sufficient enthusiasm so as to avoid beatings. There is no socializing at any point, no recreation, and food – a couple of steamed dumplings and soup – means painful hunger on top of everything else.
Anywhere inmates must go, they are manacled and hooded, including hospital visits. Lights are never turned off in their cell, and anyone who tries to pull the covers over their eyes or raises a hand to block the light is screamed at over the pa, and beaten. Same goes for moving around in bunks, crammed as they are with multiple inmates positioned head to toe. Every cell has a compromised inmate, charged with reporting on defective behavior in everyone else, to provide for additional beatings.
If they get out, they are released to their neighborhood, where they are spied on by neighborhood watchers for their every movement. They must report constantly, show up for Monday flag raising and boisterous singing the praises of Xi Jinping and the Communist Party – or find themselves back inside for another year or two of re-education.
The police manage their whole lives. Anyone can be hauled in again at any time and sent to the camps. I have read in other books that while they were away, police installed cameras in their homes so they can see and hear everything at all times. And yell at them for wrong behavior, even just for the language they speak at home or secretly praying. Not smoking and not drinking alcohol are suspicious activities. So is attempting to have a private conversation.
This brings up another difference in this book. Byler goes up the chain a little (but not far enough). He finds that Han Chinese minders are grievously offended by what they have to do to these people, who have committed no crime other than being non-Han. They too are required to be boisterous supporters of Xi Jinping and the Party. They must be enthusiastic beaters. They must harass and scream at detainees all the time, with sufficient ferocity to impress their own minders. They are equipped with foot and a half long truncheons, and must use them all day. They make inmates squat and then beat their rear ends to a pulp, making it all but impossible to sit perfectly still on their stools all day, resulting in further beatings.
And they can’t quit. If they dare to complain, protest or try to leave, they will be considered just as bad as the inmates, and suffer the same fate. One low level guard thought he had found a great job, with sufficient pay to raise his family, but he soon found it to be a horror he could not escape either. He told Byler “If we were tired and wanted to quit, they would tell us: If you are exhausted, you can take a rest, but then you must come back. If you quit the job, then you will end up in ‘re-education camps’ too.” And he now had firsthand knowledge of what that meant.
All up the line, everyone works in fear. Everyone must show sufficient nationalism, pride and enthusiastic violence towards those below, be they other officers or inmates. Managers fear their bosses just as much, bur Byler doesn’t pursue this stunning structure of institutional paranoia. Clearly, the whole system works by it. Xi has built a society in which everyone is suspect, everyone is under surveillance, everyone must toe the Xi line, where the slightest infraction is a fatal weakness, and everyone is kept off balance and alone. This dystopian society is a worthy successor to Nazi Germany. And a model for future aspirants.
Another aspect that differentiates Byler’s book from others I have read is his references to Primo Levi, an Italian philosopher and Auschwitz survivor. Byler uses him to compare life in Chinese re-education camps to life in Nazi concentration camps. The Chinese camps are not killing machines as such, but life in them is at least as horrific, as inmates cite the same stresses, routines, restrictions, fears and coping strategies.
Byler says “Alienation, removing the individual from the ownership of their labor as workers and, in this case, from their autonomy as Turkic Muslim individuals, is in fact a primary feature of the re-education factory. The goal of the re-education industrial parks is to turn Kazakhs and Uyghurs into a deeply controlled, docile, yet productive lumpen class – those without social welfare afforded to the formally recognized rights-bearing working class.” In other words, the entire system is transparently farcical, even to the Chinese.
Byler’s profiles include a young woman studying urban planning In the US, who came home for a long weekend and foolishly thought she was immune. Another was a herder in Kazakhstan who was just trying to settle his affairs in China before leaving again. Another was a teacher who was offered a job at a center – an offer that could not be refused – and found herself as restricted as her “students”. They are the lucky ones because they lived to tell the tale.
Many others get “job offers” working in the new factories Xi has set up to take advantage of all the slave labor his policies produce. When journalists or human rights workers come through, the workers are directed what to say and how to say it. And always smile and be enthusiastic over the opportunity the Party and Chairman Xi have given them for a new life. When officials visit, they even get their hair dyed black to hide the scabs and scars of being beaten about the head.
It all began in 2014, when Xi Jinping declared a “war on terror”. It has of course turned out that Xi Jinping is the real terrorist, and the Chinese are his victims. In The Camps goes a long way towards proving it.
David Wineberg
If you liked this review, I invite you to read my book The Straight Dope. It’s an essay collection based on my first thousand reviews and what I learned. Right now it’s FREE for Prime members, otherwise — cheap! Reputed to be fascinating and a superfast read. https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-...
December 28, 2022
«…ми мали сказати відвідувачам: «Я безробітний. Прийшов сюди добровільно чогось навчитися. Це партія дбає про нас».
Вони звернулися лише до кількох, хто сидів попереду. Чоловікові здалося, що журналістам сподобалося те, що вони побачили.».
Ну, це багато говорить про них як про журналістів…
Real-life антиутопія. Дуже коротка книжечка, яка допоможе вам розібратися з тим, що ж там китайська влада коїть з тими уйгурами. Що здивувало мене, що не уйгурами єдиними, а ще й казахами, киргизами, узбеками і навіть китайцями хвей.
Автор розмовляв з десятками тих, хто пережив і випробував на собі китайські «табори перевиховання». Контроль за тим, куди ви ходите, як довго там буваєте, з ким бачитися, які застосунки завантажуєте на свій телефон, скільки разів ходите в мечеть, якою мовою спілкуєтеся, за народжуваністю. За усім. Ми говоримо, що рф відтворює Орвелла, але, впевнена, Китай і тут, як і багато в чому, далеко попереду.
Це підводить нас до запитання: скільки ще світ закриватиме очі на все це, бо…бабло?
Я вдячна авторові за те, що провів за лаштунки, але все ж думаю, що він недостатньо глибоко копав. У підсумку, ми маємо кілька історій жертв/очевидців «таборів перевиховання», пояснення того, як потім їх використовують на фабриках як рабсилу («вони будують колоніальний фронтир у капіталістичному середовищі») і звинувачення технологічних компаній, що вони долучилися до створення цієї нелюдської сист��ми контролю. Вони, безумовно, долучилися і досі долучаються, але мені не зрозуміло, чому автор уникає чітко назвати головного винуватця – китайську владу. Він все танцює навколо, згадує це в тексті побіжно, і, коли ми доходимо до висновків, фокус уваги явно зміщено. Мені це не сподобалося.
Вони звернулися лише до кількох, хто сидів попереду. Чоловікові здалося, що журналістам сподобалося те, що вони побачили.».
Ну, це багато говорить про них як про журналістів…
Real-life антиутопія. Дуже коротка книжечка, яка допоможе вам розібратися з тим, що ж там китайська влада коїть з тими уйгурами. Що здивувало мене, що не уйгурами єдиними, а ще й казахами, киргизами, узбеками і навіть китайцями хвей.
Автор розмовляв з десятками тих, хто пережив і випробував на собі китайські «табори перевиховання». Контроль за тим, куди ви ходите, як довго там буваєте, з ким бачитися, які застосунки завантажуєте на свій телефон, скільки разів ходите в мечеть, якою мовою спілкуєтеся, за народжуваністю. За усім. Ми говоримо, що рф відтворює Орвелла, але, впевнена, Китай і тут, як і багато в чому, далеко попереду.
Це підводить нас до запитання: скільки ще світ закриватиме очі на все це, бо…бабло?
Я вдячна авторові за те, що провів за лаштунки, але все ж думаю, що він недостатньо глибоко копав. У підсумку, ми маємо кілька історій жертв/очевидців «таборів перевиховання», пояснення того, як потім їх використовують на фабриках як рабсилу («вони будують колоніальний фронтир у капіталістичному середовищі») і звинувачення технологічних компаній, що вони долучилися до створення цієї нелюдської сист��ми контролю. Вони, безумовно, долучилися і досі долучаються, але мені не зрозуміло, чому автор уникає чітко назвати головного винуватця – китайську владу. Він все танцює навколо, згадує це в тексті побіжно, і, коли ми доходимо до висновків, фокус уваги явно зміщено. Мені це не сподобалося.
November 22, 2022
дуже цікава і дуже сумна книжка про те як китайські комуністи, озброївшись сучасними технологіями, активно геноцидять мусульман у себе. загалом не народитися уйгуркою на китайщині вже непоганий здобуток у житті.
найбільше мене вразило, мабуть, наскільки відпрацьована й безлика ця система, побудована на нагляді й страху. особливий цинізм у тому, що вчителями, наглядачами, охоронцями в таборах працюють ті самі уйгури, бо знають: або ти працюєш, або опиняєшся по інший бік дроту.
дещо збентежили фінальні висновки, де виявилося, що основні винуватці ситуації - інженери й програмісти, а не китайська влада. тобто, я не заперечую думку, що корпорації пожадливі, технічні спеціалісти не зацікавлені розбиратися в етичних деталях, а оон (і інші світові організації) - абсолютні нікчеми, але я б чекала думки, що проблема полягає ще й в нелюдському ладі країни та її відбитих очільниках, які стають все відбитішими з кожним днем. з китаєм буде весело (ні), робіть замовлення на аліекспрес.
найбільше мене вразило, мабуть, наскільки відпрацьована й безлика ця система, побудована на нагляді й страху. особливий цинізм у тому, що вчителями, наглядачами, охоронцями в таборах працюють ті самі уйгури, бо знають: або ти працюєш, або опиняєшся по інший бік дроту.
дещо збентежили фінальні висновки, де виявилося, що основні винуватці ситуації - інженери й програмісти, а не китайська влада. тобто, я не заперечую думку, що корпорації пожадливі, технічні спеціалісти не зацікавлені розбиратися в етичних деталях, а оон (і інші світові організації) - абсолютні нікчеми, але я б чекала думки, що проблема полягає ще й в нелюдському ладі країни та її відбитих очільниках, які стають все відбитішими з кожним днем. з китаєм буде весело (ні), робіть замовлення на аліекспрес.
January 3, 2024
Тут ви побачите прекрасний новий світ, який здатен побудувати авторитарний порядок із допомогою технологій. Тут також є натяк, що технології вигадуються, виготовляються і застосовуються у первісно корпоративній культурі Заходу, а згодом переноситься як новий досвід у інші локальні осередки, де завдяки симбіозу із політичними порядками (у цьому випадку йдеться про авторитарний Китай) допомагають режиму чинити масове насилля над певними групами населення.
Історії живих людей, які зібрано під цією обкладинкою, нагадують і нам, українцям, наскільки близькі ми до сусідньої країни, де технології застосовують у схожий спосіб. Ані інтернет, ані смартфони, ані доступ до високих технологій не збереже нас від тиранів, які прагнуть вичавити здатність бути іншим із конкретних груп населення.
Історії живих людей, які зібрано під цією обкладинкою, нагадують і нам, українцям, наскільки близькі ми до сусідньої країни, де технології застосовують у схожий спосіб. Ані інтернет, ані смартфони, ані доступ до високих технологій не збереже нас від тиранів, які прагнуть вичавити здатність бути іншим із конкретних груп населення.
October 5, 2022
Це пизда, а не технологічно розвинена країна
April 2, 2022
Just after the title page there is a map of the Uyghur Autonomous Region with a dot for known detention centers. I have read elsewhere that 170 of these have been identified. These centers and the technology that supports them are the subject of this book.
They are designed to remove and “re-educate” potential terrorists (criminals and “pre-criminals”) from the population. While I am not clear on the legal status of the Muslim religion in China, in appears to be a crime. Evidence of Islamic leaning can land you in one of these centers. Facial recognition can determine who is going to mosques. If “as-salaam alaikum” or any trace of religion appears on your phone, maybe a text, a Facebook post or if you are connected to a “pre-criminal, etc. you can be put in one of these centers for years. Given that the Uyghur people who live in this region are Muslims, the entire population is a target. This book follows detainees and a teacher, taken into these centers for no reason.
The cruelty, on par with that of the Nazi’s, is enhanced by modern technology. There are shackles, hoods, starvation, poor /no sanitation, bright lights, etc along with surveillance systems designed to detect (and punish) any movement. Prisoners are set up to fight over food, access to a shower, etc. Cameras assure that prisoners sit up straight for hours, do not attempt to speak with other prisoners and show attention to the re-education.
Camps can have Uyghur Muslim guards, “re-educators” and other staff who are made to be afraid for their own imprisonment or that of their family. Prisoners are encouraged to betray others inside or outside the prison. This, in addition to the bio metrics taken for almost everyone, puts the entire population under surveillance.
"Model" prisoners can be moved to factory prisons which are in reality slave systems. One where gloves are made for the world market is described.
The interweaving of this system with the companies (MicroSoft, Gooogle - many other brand names) is touched on.
Fortunately for me, it was short. I couldn’t have taken much more. This is, sadly, informative on the extent of this persecution that makes the news only every now and then. It is a tough, but important read.
They are designed to remove and “re-educate” potential terrorists (criminals and “pre-criminals”) from the population. While I am not clear on the legal status of the Muslim religion in China, in appears to be a crime. Evidence of Islamic leaning can land you in one of these centers. Facial recognition can determine who is going to mosques. If “as-salaam alaikum” or any trace of religion appears on your phone, maybe a text, a Facebook post or if you are connected to a “pre-criminal, etc. you can be put in one of these centers for years. Given that the Uyghur people who live in this region are Muslims, the entire population is a target. This book follows detainees and a teacher, taken into these centers for no reason.
The cruelty, on par with that of the Nazi’s, is enhanced by modern technology. There are shackles, hoods, starvation, poor /no sanitation, bright lights, etc along with surveillance systems designed to detect (and punish) any movement. Prisoners are set up to fight over food, access to a shower, etc. Cameras assure that prisoners sit up straight for hours, do not attempt to speak with other prisoners and show attention to the re-education.
Camps can have Uyghur Muslim guards, “re-educators” and other staff who are made to be afraid for their own imprisonment or that of their family. Prisoners are encouraged to betray others inside or outside the prison. This, in addition to the bio metrics taken for almost everyone, puts the entire population under surveillance.
"Model" prisoners can be moved to factory prisons which are in reality slave systems. One where gloves are made for the world market is described.
The interweaving of this system with the companies (MicroSoft, Gooogle - many other brand names) is touched on.
Fortunately for me, it was short. I couldn’t have taken much more. This is, sadly, informative on the extent of this persecution that makes the news only every now and then. It is a tough, but important read.
May 10, 2022
I don't know if it is the best book covering the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs of Xinjiang, but it is very, very good.
Byler goes well beyond superficial emoting about the horror and injustice of the camps (though that, too, has its place) and gets into the international network of corporations that make it possible, either through active cooperation and passive consent.
Byler goes well beyond superficial emoting about the horror and injustice of the camps (though that, too, has its place) and gets into the international network of corporations that make it possible, either through active cooperation and passive consent.
December 25, 2024
Ця книга точно не на різдвяний період
August 29, 2021
As I write this, it is about six weeks before the scheduled publication date of this book, which I received a free advance review copy of. So far, the only reviews here on Goodreads are serious evaluations written by people who also got advance copies. However, eventually this book will receive a wider distribution and more publicity.
When it does, I will be interested to see if this Goodreads page is visited by “wumao”, who will post critical reviews of this book. If you've been paying attention to Chinese affairs, or have Chinese heritage yourself, you probably know what a wumao is already, and you may skip over the next bit. However, I hope that this book will attract the attention of some people who are not otherwise regular consumers of news and analysis about China, and so may not be aware of the existence of wumao and their activities on the Internet. If this is you, here is a few paragraphs about them.
“Wumao” is Chinese for “fifty cents”, and is allegedly the price that an army of Chinese flacks and trolls receive for each posting they make in defense of the Chinese Communist Party. Both the quality and tactics of wumao vary greatly – a lot are simply lazy and bad at what they do, some of them launch sophisticated and aggressive attacks. Wumao writing in English is sometimes (not always) identifiable by stilted phrasing, outdated idioms, and comically bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
In my opinion, the appearance, or lack of appearance, of wumao on this page may be something of a barometer of the importance of Goodreads in the world at the intersection of geopolitics and social media. If they fail to appear, it may indicate that the time has past when a mere book could alter a conversation or harm a great power. If a rash of poorly-written one-star reviews of this book appear, clearly written by people who have not actually read it, Goodreads (and those responsible for writing and publishing this book) can take heart in the fact that a book with solid research and good writing can still comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
This year, the wumao army has been busy advancing the absurd accusation that the COVID virus was created at Fort Detrick in Maryland. Read about it here.
If you are interested in knowing a “wumao” posting when you see it, there's a good 2015 article from Foreign Policy here.
About the book itself:
If the newspaper is (as the cliché has it) the first rough draft of history, then this book is an excellent attempt at a second draft. It attempts to collate recent book-length and specialized-journal scholarship on China's mass incarceration of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities with first-hand testimony of the few individuals who were first unfortunate enough to be scooped up and then chewed up by the berserk totalitarian penal bureaucracy, strong enough to live through the experience, and finally lucky enough to escape or be set free to tell the tale.
Many of those who found themselves ensnared in this lunatic nightmare were jailed as “pre-criminals”, a concept that only a few short years ago seemed only to belong in particularly unbelievable science fiction movies. Using certain popular apps of foreign origin (like Whatsapp) might get you branded a pre-criminal. Using a Virtual Private Network likewise. Visiting a mosque or taking an interest in Muslim spirituality also might put you into the pre-criminal class, as might wandering out of the neighborhood where the Public Security Bureau has confined you (and tracks your movements using AI, biometric, and facial recognition technology).
In these camps, pre-criminals and others are forbidden for hours to speak or clean up the communal bucket in which they and their cellmates relieve themselves. They must sit in a single position for hours on end, sing songs in praise of the Chinese Communist Party without ceasing, and repeatedly “confess” their own failings in sessions of “self-criticism”. If you are co-operative and fortunate enough, you may be chosen for the relative comfort of factory work at slave wages, perhaps making gloves for the export market. This will at least get you out of the re-education camp and, maybe, even allow you, on your day off, to visit your family in the place where you used to live. But of course the visit is likely to be stressed and unrelaxing, as everyone in attendance will be afraid of saying or doing something that will get more members of the family delivered into the nightmare of re-education.
The author makes a very good point at the end of the book: The newly-improved instruments of Chinese oppression used platforms developed at Microsoft tech incubators. Now, these instruments are returning to us in an “improved” fashion to help us respond to the coronavirus pandemic. We should remember that this benefit for us has been achieved in part through the oppression of others.
The book ends like this: “To counteract the increasing banality, the everydayness, of automatic racialization, the harms of biometric surveillance around the world must first be made apparent. The lives of the detainable must be made visible at the edge of power over life. Then the role of world-class engineers, investors, and public relations firms in the unthinking of human experience, in designing for human reeducation, must be made clear. The webs of interconnection – the way Xinjiang stands behind Seattle – must be made thinkable.”
Read a 2019 article by the author of this book about forced labor in China here. Much of the information in the article appears in the book in a modified form.
I received a free advance electronic copy of this book from Colombia Global Reports via Netgalley.
When it does, I will be interested to see if this Goodreads page is visited by “wumao”, who will post critical reviews of this book. If you've been paying attention to Chinese affairs, or have Chinese heritage yourself, you probably know what a wumao is already, and you may skip over the next bit. However, I hope that this book will attract the attention of some people who are not otherwise regular consumers of news and analysis about China, and so may not be aware of the existence of wumao and their activities on the Internet. If this is you, here is a few paragraphs about them.
“Wumao” is Chinese for “fifty cents”, and is allegedly the price that an army of Chinese flacks and trolls receive for each posting they make in defense of the Chinese Communist Party. Both the quality and tactics of wumao vary greatly – a lot are simply lazy and bad at what they do, some of them launch sophisticated and aggressive attacks. Wumao writing in English is sometimes (not always) identifiable by stilted phrasing, outdated idioms, and comically bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
In my opinion, the appearance, or lack of appearance, of wumao on this page may be something of a barometer of the importance of Goodreads in the world at the intersection of geopolitics and social media. If they fail to appear, it may indicate that the time has past when a mere book could alter a conversation or harm a great power. If a rash of poorly-written one-star reviews of this book appear, clearly written by people who have not actually read it, Goodreads (and those responsible for writing and publishing this book) can take heart in the fact that a book with solid research and good writing can still comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
This year, the wumao army has been busy advancing the absurd accusation that the COVID virus was created at Fort Detrick in Maryland. Read about it here.
If you are interested in knowing a “wumao” posting when you see it, there's a good 2015 article from Foreign Policy here.
About the book itself:
If the newspaper is (as the cliché has it) the first rough draft of history, then this book is an excellent attempt at a second draft. It attempts to collate recent book-length and specialized-journal scholarship on China's mass incarceration of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities with first-hand testimony of the few individuals who were first unfortunate enough to be scooped up and then chewed up by the berserk totalitarian penal bureaucracy, strong enough to live through the experience, and finally lucky enough to escape or be set free to tell the tale.
Many of those who found themselves ensnared in this lunatic nightmare were jailed as “pre-criminals”, a concept that only a few short years ago seemed only to belong in particularly unbelievable science fiction movies. Using certain popular apps of foreign origin (like Whatsapp) might get you branded a pre-criminal. Using a Virtual Private Network likewise. Visiting a mosque or taking an interest in Muslim spirituality also might put you into the pre-criminal class, as might wandering out of the neighborhood where the Public Security Bureau has confined you (and tracks your movements using AI, biometric, and facial recognition technology).
In these camps, pre-criminals and others are forbidden for hours to speak or clean up the communal bucket in which they and their cellmates relieve themselves. They must sit in a single position for hours on end, sing songs in praise of the Chinese Communist Party without ceasing, and repeatedly “confess” their own failings in sessions of “self-criticism”. If you are co-operative and fortunate enough, you may be chosen for the relative comfort of factory work at slave wages, perhaps making gloves for the export market. This will at least get you out of the re-education camp and, maybe, even allow you, on your day off, to visit your family in the place where you used to live. But of course the visit is likely to be stressed and unrelaxing, as everyone in attendance will be afraid of saying or doing something that will get more members of the family delivered into the nightmare of re-education.
The author makes a very good point at the end of the book: The newly-improved instruments of Chinese oppression used platforms developed at Microsoft tech incubators. Now, these instruments are returning to us in an “improved” fashion to help us respond to the coronavirus pandemic. We should remember that this benefit for us has been achieved in part through the oppression of others.
The book ends like this: “To counteract the increasing banality, the everydayness, of automatic racialization, the harms of biometric surveillance around the world must first be made apparent. The lives of the detainable must be made visible at the edge of power over life. Then the role of world-class engineers, investors, and public relations firms in the unthinking of human experience, in designing for human reeducation, must be made clear. The webs of interconnection – the way Xinjiang stands behind Seattle – must be made thinkable.”
Read a 2019 article by the author of this book about forced labor in China here. Much of the information in the article appears in the book in a modified form.
I received a free advance electronic copy of this book from Colombia Global Reports via Netgalley.
January 7, 2022
This was an extremely strong read.
Parts of this book were really difficult for me to read - very upsetting and unsettling.
Great accounts of the Uyghur work camps and the struggle they have to live day-to-day in China.
Some really harrowing moments in this book, and also many really sad realizations.
Byler is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors on China. Byler's journalism skills are great, the writing is precise and the stories are memorable.
I really liked the writing style.
For such a short book, it had a lot of impact, and I would highly recommend it.
4.9/5
Parts of this book were really difficult for me to read - very upsetting and unsettling.
Great accounts of the Uyghur work camps and the struggle they have to live day-to-day in China.
Some really harrowing moments in this book, and also many really sad realizations.
Byler is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors on China. Byler's journalism skills are great, the writing is precise and the stories are memorable.
I really liked the writing style.
For such a short book, it had a lot of impact, and I would highly recommend it.
4.9/5
July 11, 2021
Erbaqyt Otarbai, a middle aged Kazakh man who called Tacheng, a town six hours away from Urumchi, was unloading his truck in an ore yard. It was the 18th of August 2017. Chinese security guards pounced on him and before he could even fathom what was unraveling, they started interrogating Otarbai about the WhatsApp and Facebook applications on his mobile phone. Inspite of his fervent entreaties that all the supposedly ‘offending’ apps were downloaded while he was in Kazakhstan and was primarily for the purposes of communicating with his friends back home, Otarbai was dragged away by the cops and made to undergo a “physical.” Photos of his face from every conceivable angle were followed by blood samples, fingerprinting and voice recording. In the dead of the night, at around 2.00 A.M he was deposited in a ‘detention’ camp, upon entering which there was delivered a welcoming blow to the top of his head with an iron club. A bloodied Otarbai spent ninety eights in what can only be described as the Chamber of horrors. Hundreds of similar detainees occupied cramped and unhygienic cells. Shackled by manacles, the ‘prisoners’ were repeatedly whacked on their posteriors with clubs 1.5 metres long. The lights in the cells were never turned off and before every meal, the inmates were required to sing full throated patriotic songs in Chinese. “Thank You Uncle Xi (xiexie Xi dada)” was a common refrain.”
“In The Camps” by Darren Byler, a postdoctoral researcher in the ChinaMade project at the University of Colorado Boulder, and an authority on research focusing on Uighur dispossession, infrastructural power and “terror capitalism” in the Xinjiang province of Central Asia, is a harrowing collection of the repression and unimaginable torment experienced by the minority Uighurs as a result of their internment by the People’s Republic of China. Under the garb of “reeducation” and trumpeting a purging of “religious extremism” and “fundamentalism”, Xi Jinping’s China has established a sophisticated surveillance driven military-industry network in whose murky complexes more than 1.8 million helpless and hapless Uighurs, Kazhaks and Huis are imprisoned and brainwashed.
As Byler writes, post the 9-11 cataclysm, China embarked on a project titled ‘Golden Shield.’ Active state participation and encouragement combined with the aspirations of face and voice recognition technology companies, led to the creation of an extraordinarily complicated and convoluted structure of surveillance that discriminated people on the basis of their religious affinities. Xinjiang that became an epicentre of discrimination where the Uighurs inhabiting Urumchi and other provinces had their passports snatched before being subject to a round the clock intrusive surveillance. The camps themselves are euphemisms for monstrosity. Walls are plastered with slogans exhorting the camp inmates to abhor religious extremism. The detainees trudge into classrooms while they are still handcuffed and spend the entire day learning the hagiography of the Party and the Premier Xi Jinping. The ‘dehumanization’ processes are beyond the vilest of Orwellian imaginations even. Uighur women of childbearing age not submitting to either mandatory sterilization or Intra Uterine Device implantations are deemed “untrustworthy” and banished to these camps.
Within the cell, people young and old are required to sit absolutely ramrod straight for hours without moving a muscle. If they dare to move, which inevitably and eventually they indeed do, they are subject to severe beatings. As Baimurat, a former ‘camp enforcement’ personnel now taking refuge in North America recalls in an interview given to Byler, “They sat between these beds on plastic stools, reciting the rules. You had to recite, whether you knew Chinese or not. And because the people had to sit there for such long hours, there were many people whose intestines ‘fell down’.” Byler paraphrases a moving quote by the Auschwitz concentration camp survivor and best selling author Primo Levi, “some of them beat us from pure bestiality and violence, but others beat is when we are under a load almost lovingly, accompanying the blows with exhortations, as cart drivers do with willing horses.”
The Chinese also follow a dastardly practice of ‘family segregation’. Children are separated from their parents and are admitted to camps ridiculously named “Kindness Kindergartens.” As Byler writes close to 70 *percent of kids aged around five are held in these Kindergartens. Their mothers are detained at times only because of the fact that they wear a veil and upon taken to the camps, get their heads shaved.
Co-opting and co-operating with the Chinese Governments are the who’s who of the global technology conglomerates. The Intercept laid its hands on a 52 gigabyte dataset representing internal police documents from Xinjiang. Constructed using a software peddled by Oracle, Ken Glueck, the Executive Vice-President of Oracle, exclaimed that almost every major technology behemoth in the United States found themselves a firm part of the Chinese surveillance machinery. The list included IBM, Amazon and Google. The entire surveillance mechanism is a well-oiled machine lubricated by the sustained contributions of high end technology companies that are beholden to both the diktats and largesse of the Communist Party. Face recognition software and voice recognition software comprise the touchstone behind the success, or failure of any expansive and intrusive surveillance system. Beijing had both the components covered in the form of two high flying companies. Hikvision, a camera manufacturing giant in every sense, took care of the facial recognition software. Hikvision in fact is the world’s biggest manufacturer of surveillance cameras and the entity liberally exports its surveillance devices to likeminded regimes. iFlyTek, supplied twenty five voiceprint systems in the province of Kashgar to capture the unique signatures of a person’s voice in order to help identify and track people.
Another high flying technology company with their hands deep in the surveillance technology pie is Megvii. Pioneers of the ‘Face++’ algorithm. Using incredulously complex deep learning systems, Face ++ represented the intrusive and oppressive tool that found itself embedded in every smart phone held by a Uighur, Kazhak and Hui. However in October 2019, just when Megvii was preparing itself for a listing, the United States blacklisted Megvii along with Yitu, Sensetime, Hikvision and Dahua. The Public Relations machinery at Megvii worked overtime in a damage mitigation exercise. Hiring a public relations firm named Brunswick Group, the company tried to downplay its involvement in the activities at Xinjiang. In fact Byler himself wrote an indicting piece against the company for the Centre for Global Policy. Megvii immediately responded through Brunswick Director Matt Miller and a Hong Kong based partner at Brunswick, Ginny Wilderming. Megvii contended that they made meagre revenues of less than US$2 million in Xinjiang (a sum that represented < 1% of the total entity’s turnover). The company also denied any ethnic group centred ‘solutions.’
Byler has the last word in his poignant and conscience inducing book. He brings to the attention of his readers, historian Jason Moore’s immortal turn-of-phrase: “behind Manchester stands Mississippi.” As Nancy Fraser, the Henry and Louise A Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research explains, this turn of phrase means that “the highly profitable textile industry of Manchester that Engels wrote about would not have been profitable without the cheap cotton supplied through enslaved labour from the Americas. I’m tempted to add a third M for Mumbai by the way, to signal the important role played in Manchester’s rise by the calculated destruction by the British of Indian textile manufacturing. Here is a case where expropriation is a condition for the possibility of profitable exploitation. Capitalism plays a double game with people, assigning some to “mere” exploitation while condemning others to brutal expropriation, a distinction that has been associated historically with empire and race.”
In a similar vein, behind Seattle lies the Xinjiang and its ostracized, oppressed and subjugated populace.
(In The Camps" is published by Columbia Global Reports and will be published on the 12th of October 2021)
“In The Camps” by Darren Byler, a postdoctoral researcher in the ChinaMade project at the University of Colorado Boulder, and an authority on research focusing on Uighur dispossession, infrastructural power and “terror capitalism” in the Xinjiang province of Central Asia, is a harrowing collection of the repression and unimaginable torment experienced by the minority Uighurs as a result of their internment by the People’s Republic of China. Under the garb of “reeducation” and trumpeting a purging of “religious extremism” and “fundamentalism”, Xi Jinping’s China has established a sophisticated surveillance driven military-industry network in whose murky complexes more than 1.8 million helpless and hapless Uighurs, Kazhaks and Huis are imprisoned and brainwashed.
As Byler writes, post the 9-11 cataclysm, China embarked on a project titled ‘Golden Shield.’ Active state participation and encouragement combined with the aspirations of face and voice recognition technology companies, led to the creation of an extraordinarily complicated and convoluted structure of surveillance that discriminated people on the basis of their religious affinities. Xinjiang that became an epicentre of discrimination where the Uighurs inhabiting Urumchi and other provinces had their passports snatched before being subject to a round the clock intrusive surveillance. The camps themselves are euphemisms for monstrosity. Walls are plastered with slogans exhorting the camp inmates to abhor religious extremism. The detainees trudge into classrooms while they are still handcuffed and spend the entire day learning the hagiography of the Party and the Premier Xi Jinping. The ‘dehumanization’ processes are beyond the vilest of Orwellian imaginations even. Uighur women of childbearing age not submitting to either mandatory sterilization or Intra Uterine Device implantations are deemed “untrustworthy” and banished to these camps.
Within the cell, people young and old are required to sit absolutely ramrod straight for hours without moving a muscle. If they dare to move, which inevitably and eventually they indeed do, they are subject to severe beatings. As Baimurat, a former ‘camp enforcement’ personnel now taking refuge in North America recalls in an interview given to Byler, “They sat between these beds on plastic stools, reciting the rules. You had to recite, whether you knew Chinese or not. And because the people had to sit there for such long hours, there were many people whose intestines ‘fell down’.” Byler paraphrases a moving quote by the Auschwitz concentration camp survivor and best selling author Primo Levi, “some of them beat us from pure bestiality and violence, but others beat is when we are under a load almost lovingly, accompanying the blows with exhortations, as cart drivers do with willing horses.”
The Chinese also follow a dastardly practice of ‘family segregation’. Children are separated from their parents and are admitted to camps ridiculously named “Kindness Kindergartens.” As Byler writes close to 70 *percent of kids aged around five are held in these Kindergartens. Their mothers are detained at times only because of the fact that they wear a veil and upon taken to the camps, get their heads shaved.
Co-opting and co-operating with the Chinese Governments are the who’s who of the global technology conglomerates. The Intercept laid its hands on a 52 gigabyte dataset representing internal police documents from Xinjiang. Constructed using a software peddled by Oracle, Ken Glueck, the Executive Vice-President of Oracle, exclaimed that almost every major technology behemoth in the United States found themselves a firm part of the Chinese surveillance machinery. The list included IBM, Amazon and Google. The entire surveillance mechanism is a well-oiled machine lubricated by the sustained contributions of high end technology companies that are beholden to both the diktats and largesse of the Communist Party. Face recognition software and voice recognition software comprise the touchstone behind the success, or failure of any expansive and intrusive surveillance system. Beijing had both the components covered in the form of two high flying companies. Hikvision, a camera manufacturing giant in every sense, took care of the facial recognition software. Hikvision in fact is the world’s biggest manufacturer of surveillance cameras and the entity liberally exports its surveillance devices to likeminded regimes. iFlyTek, supplied twenty five voiceprint systems in the province of Kashgar to capture the unique signatures of a person’s voice in order to help identify and track people.
Another high flying technology company with their hands deep in the surveillance technology pie is Megvii. Pioneers of the ‘Face++’ algorithm. Using incredulously complex deep learning systems, Face ++ represented the intrusive and oppressive tool that found itself embedded in every smart phone held by a Uighur, Kazhak and Hui. However in October 2019, just when Megvii was preparing itself for a listing, the United States blacklisted Megvii along with Yitu, Sensetime, Hikvision and Dahua. The Public Relations machinery at Megvii worked overtime in a damage mitigation exercise. Hiring a public relations firm named Brunswick Group, the company tried to downplay its involvement in the activities at Xinjiang. In fact Byler himself wrote an indicting piece against the company for the Centre for Global Policy. Megvii immediately responded through Brunswick Director Matt Miller and a Hong Kong based partner at Brunswick, Ginny Wilderming. Megvii contended that they made meagre revenues of less than US$2 million in Xinjiang (a sum that represented < 1% of the total entity’s turnover). The company also denied any ethnic group centred ‘solutions.’
Byler has the last word in his poignant and conscience inducing book. He brings to the attention of his readers, historian Jason Moore’s immortal turn-of-phrase: “behind Manchester stands Mississippi.” As Nancy Fraser, the Henry and Louise A Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research explains, this turn of phrase means that “the highly profitable textile industry of Manchester that Engels wrote about would not have been profitable without the cheap cotton supplied through enslaved labour from the Americas. I’m tempted to add a third M for Mumbai by the way, to signal the important role played in Manchester’s rise by the calculated destruction by the British of Indian textile manufacturing. Here is a case where expropriation is a condition for the possibility of profitable exploitation. Capitalism plays a double game with people, assigning some to “mere” exploitation while condemning others to brutal expropriation, a distinction that has been associated historically with empire and race.”
In a similar vein, behind Seattle lies the Xinjiang and its ostracized, oppressed and subjugated populace.
(In The Camps" is published by Columbia Global Reports and will be published on the 12th of October 2021)
February 26, 2023
Povinná jízda pro všechny, kteří gratulují Číňanům k úspěšnému boji s islámským terorismem. Na přibližně sto stránkách se velmi detailně seznámíme s něčím, co si vůbec neumíme představit; digitální totalita, kde stačí zajít o ulici dál nebo se připojit přes vpn a expresně skončíme v base. Nebo si jen tak okopáváte krumple a šup do převýchovného tábora, protože jste kdysi kamarádovi poslali třeba fotku mešity. Nižší hodnocení za trochu roztříštěný styl psaní.
January 21, 2023
Після прочитання книги трішки інакше дивишся на речі, які тримаєш в руках. Адже ці речі цілком могла виготовити поневолена в Китаї матір 3 дітей. Поневолена лише через те, що має не підходящу владі національність.
У ці хвилини мільйони людей перебувають у таборах в Китаї. Їх катують, морять голодом і змушують перепрошиватись. А ще – працювати на державу за умовами кріпацької системи.
Ці табори – аналоги нацистських. Людей голять, одягають в однавий одяг і позбавляють будь-якої ідентичності. Змушують відректись від релігії, мови, досвіду та життя загалом.
І світ дозволяє цьому відбуватись у 2023 році.
У ці хвилини мільйони людей перебувають у таборах в Китаї. Їх катують, морять голодом і змушують перепрошиватись. А ще – працювати на державу за умовами кріпацької системи.
Ці табори – аналоги нацистських. Людей голять, одягають в однавий одяг і позбавляють будь-якої ідентичності. Змушують відректись від релігії, мови, досвіду та життя загалом.
І світ дозволяє цьому відбуватись у 2023 році.
October 3, 2021
One cannot truly envision the horrors of a Chinese camp without visiting or seeing one through the eyes of another person. This book accomplishes the latter.
This book details what goes on in the Chinese camps (termed centralized controlled education training centers) where more than a million people (primarily Uyghers and Kazakhs) have been sent away for “reeducation,” many of them arrested for things they never committed but guilty under a shadowy net of “pre-crimes.” Author Darren Byler informs readers of these camps and their inhabitants through the eyes of people who have been residents of one of these camps. They all have a trial (of sorts) and you can imagine their chances when Chinese courts have a 99+ per cent conviction rate.
There are many scary aspects included, one of the worst being the use of facial recognition technologies. Coupled with information about behaviors that are considered to be illegal (or potentially illegal in the future), the entire situation seems like the movie “Minority Report” come to life. Once people are arrested, they are physically and mentally tortured and may eventually find themselves in a camp where they are nothing more than slave labor.
Anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Philip Bourgois offer a telling description: “Violence can never be understood solely in terms of its physicality – force, assault, or the infliction of pain – alone. The social and cultural dimensions of violence are what gives violence its power and meaning.” This book will flesh out exactly what that description can mean. Five stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Columbia Global Reports for a complimewntary electronic copy of this book.
This book details what goes on in the Chinese camps (termed centralized controlled education training centers) where more than a million people (primarily Uyghers and Kazakhs) have been sent away for “reeducation,” many of them arrested for things they never committed but guilty under a shadowy net of “pre-crimes.” Author Darren Byler informs readers of these camps and their inhabitants through the eyes of people who have been residents of one of these camps. They all have a trial (of sorts) and you can imagine their chances when Chinese courts have a 99+ per cent conviction rate.
There are many scary aspects included, one of the worst being the use of facial recognition technologies. Coupled with information about behaviors that are considered to be illegal (or potentially illegal in the future), the entire situation seems like the movie “Minority Report” come to life. Once people are arrested, they are physically and mentally tortured and may eventually find themselves in a camp where they are nothing more than slave labor.
Anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Philip Bourgois offer a telling description: “Violence can never be understood solely in terms of its physicality – force, assault, or the infliction of pain – alone. The social and cultural dimensions of violence are what gives violence its power and meaning.” This book will flesh out exactly what that description can mean. Five stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Columbia Global Reports for a complimewntary electronic copy of this book.
December 14, 2023
Якщо ви колись задумувалися, як ми могли б жити в час технологічного розвитку в радянському союзі, то прочитайте цю книгу і зрозумієте наскільки ж нам пощастило, що срср розвалився
Страшно навіть уявити, якою ціною впроваджуються новітні технології
Після прочитання цієї книги я видалила додаток AliExpress і щиро рада, що ніколи не користувалась іншими китайськими програмами (так, в мене ніколи не було TikTok). Десь читала, що така реакція на книгу (видалення додатків з телефону) це якась печерна поведінка. Ні - це відповідальна реакція, бо, як то кажуть - море складається з крапель. Одна людина в мільярдному населенні лише піщинка, але разом ми можемо створити бурю. Тому завжди потрібно робити навіть такий маленький та незначний крок, який стане початком реального впливу
Читайте і позбувайтеся китайського впливу)
Страшно навіть уявити, якою ціною впроваджуються новітні технології
Після прочитання цієї книги я видалила додаток AliExpress і щиро рада, що ніколи не користувалась іншими китайськими програмами (так, в мене ніколи не було TikTok). Десь читала, що така реакція на книгу (видалення додатків з телефону) це якась печерна поведінка. Ні - це відповідальна реакція, бо, як то кажуть - море складається з крапель. Одна людина в мільярдному населенні лише піщинка, але разом ми можемо створити бурю. Тому завжди потрібно робити навіть такий маленький та незначний крок, який стане початком реального впливу
Читайте і позбувайтеся китайського впливу)
February 5, 2023
Сильна річ. Усвідомити, що в 2019му році з людьми поводяться як зі скотом виключно через етнічну приналежність, трохи виносить мозок. Технологічність такої дегуманізації привносить ще більше сюрреалізму в цей процес. Тепер товари на аліку здаються бридкими, подорож до Китаю не увійде в плани...
Єдине, сам стиль автора і побудова тексту, особисто мені не зайшли, але це не відміняє важливості теми.
Єдине, сам стиль автора і побудова тексту, особисто мені не зайшли, але це не відміняє важливості теми.
February 23, 2024
Сюр.
Попри емоційно складність, ця книга дуже "на часі", бо висвітлює важливі питання (і тяжку реальність) свободи, справедливості і влади (буквальної та метафоричної).
Коротко, чітко і переконливо автор викриває системний расизм і дегуманізацію в китайських таборах "перевиховання" і показує абсудрну сторону боротьби КНР з "інакшістю" під соусом евфемістичних лозунгів і підміни понять (шо особливо емоційно сприймається в теперішньому контексті війни з росією).
Тут про розмиту лінію етичності технологічного прогресу і влади - і який нищівний і масштабний вплив нагляд і контроль можуть мати на людство.
І багато моторошних історій зламаних ж��ттів. Відчувала себе дуже безпорадно.
Попри емоційно складність, ця книга дуже "на часі", бо висвітлює важливі питання (і тяжку реальність) свободи, справедливості і влади (буквальної та метафоричної).
Коротко, чітко і переконливо автор викриває системний расизм і дегуманізацію в китайських таборах "перевиховання" і показує абсудрну сторону боротьби КНР з "інакшістю" під соусом евфемістичних лозунгів і підміни понять (шо особливо емоційно сприймається в теперішньому контексті війни з росією).
Тут про розмиту лінію етичності технологічного прогресу і влади - і який нищівний і масштабний вплив нагляд і контроль можуть мати на людство.
І багато моторошних історій зламаних ж��ттів. Відчувала себе дуже безпорадно.
July 3, 2024
концтабори, перевиховання, тортури - нема слів 🤯 якби нічого нового, та все ж. книга коротка, всього 150 сторінок, тому тут не надто багато деталей + історії людей перемежовуються з даними, але основну ідею і весь жах вхопити можна
February 18, 2024
Закінчила січень надзвичайно емоційно складним текстом. Мозок просто вибухнув як на дуже тоненьку книжечку в 140 сторінок.
Байлер постійно згадує Прімо Леві («Чи це людина?») в цьому тексті, я ж не можу припинити думати про те, що весь цей концтабірний жах відбувається не в минулому столітті, а просто зараз, у цю саму хвилину.
«…простори фабрик здебільшого функціонують як архіпелаги тотальних інститутів на периферіі китайського соціального контракту – імпліцитноі угоди про те, що держава захищатиме своіх громадян в обмін на іхню лояльність. Для уйгурів, казахів и хвеів, мешканців Сіньдзяну, цей соціальний контракт втрачає силу»
Перефразовуючи Орвелла: «Усі тварини рівні, але деякі тварини рівніші за інших»
Не погоджуюсь с багатьма відгуками що автор переклав відповідальність за злочини з держави на технологічні кампанії – протягом тексту обвинувачення влади Китаю стверджено неодноразово і чітко.
Можливо в книзі є недоліки, але це справді вражаюча книга про страшну долю цілої нації. Як українці мені моторошно це читати, але на мою думку з цим текстом варто ознайомитись усім. Україну автор не згадує, він пише про Китай, але паралелі очевидні та кричать зі сторінок на багатьох рівнях
Варто пам’ятати, що апробовані Китаєм сучасні концтабори вже готові до експорту до ще однієї тоталітарної країни, кишенькової тваринки Сі Цзіньпіна, яка століттями намагається «остаточно вирішити українське питання»
Байлер постійно згадує Прімо Леві («Чи це людина?») в цьому тексті, я ж не можу припинити думати про те, що весь цей концтабірний жах відбувається не в минулому столітті, а просто зараз, у цю саму хвилину.
«…простори фабрик здебільшого функціонують як архіпелаги тотальних інститутів на периферіі китайського соціального контракту – імпліцитноі угоди про те, що держава захищатиме своіх громадян в обмін на іхню лояльність. Для уйгурів, казахів и хвеів, мешканців Сіньдзяну, цей соціальний контракт втрачає силу»
Перефразовуючи Орвелла: «Усі тварини рівні, але деякі тварини рівніші за інших»
Не погоджуюсь с багатьма відгуками що автор переклав відповідальність за злочини з держави на технологічні кампанії – протягом тексту обвинувачення влади Китаю стверджено неодноразово і чітко.
Можливо в книзі є недоліки, але це справді вражаюча книга про страшну долю цілої нації. Як українці мені моторошно це читати, але на мою думку з цим текстом варто ознайомитись усім. Україну автор не згадує, він пише про Китай, але паралелі очевидні та кричать зі сторінок на багатьох рівнях
Варто пам’ятати, що апробовані Китаєм сучасні концтабори вже готові до експорту до ще однієї тоталітарної країни, кишенькової тваринки Сі Цзіньпіна, яка століттями намагається «остаточно вирішити українське питання»
October 17, 2021
I received an advance reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
In the Camps should be required reading for anyone interested in technology’s ever-expanding encroachment into our daily lives or global issues. The book is very readable and recounts stories of Uyghurs and Kazakhs who have been sent to reeducation camps in Northwest China in recent years. The dehumanizing effects of the camps and the surveillance state in Xinjiang are amply presented here and the implications beyond China’s borders are briefly discussed. The stories are heartbreaking, but they return to the victims their humanity and should help the rest of us take seriously their plight.
Read this book.
In the Camps should be required reading for anyone interested in technology’s ever-expanding encroachment into our daily lives or global issues. The book is very readable and recounts stories of Uyghurs and Kazakhs who have been sent to reeducation camps in Northwest China in recent years. The dehumanizing effects of the camps and the surveillance state in Xinjiang are amply presented here and the implications beyond China’s borders are briefly discussed. The stories are heartbreaking, but they return to the victims their humanity and should help the rest of us take seriously their plight.
Read this book.
December 30, 2022
Цифровий сад гетсиманський для уйгурів.
Я майже впевнений, що якби ми посипалися цієї весни, то нові лагєря для українців виглядали б десь так само як табори для підкорених народів в північно-західного Китаю. І той же умовний майкрософт так само і тут запросто долучався б цього фестивалю жорстокості технологічно.
"Витираючи сльози рукавом і тяжко зітхаючи він зізнався: "Так складно було триматися за життя, коли тобі не давали права говорити, розповідати, що з тобою відбувається."
Я майже впевнений, що якби ми посипалися цієї весни, то нові лагєря для українців виглядали б десь так само як табори для підкорених народів в північно-західного Китаю. І той же умовний майкрософт так само і тут запросто долучався б цього фестивалю жорстокості технологічно.
"Витираючи сльози рукавом і тяжко зітхаючи він зізнався: "Так складно було триматися за життя, коли тобі не давали права говорити, розповідати, що з тобою відбувається."
September 20, 2021
Review to come closer to publication! A very thoughtful, important, truly horrifying read. I would recommend it to anyone looking to read more about current events or uses of technologies, though do be aware that it is a brutal, heartbreaking book at times, and hard to read of these atrocities.
December 26, 2022
Корисна книга, щоб розібратись в тоталітарній сутності Китаю, системі їхніх концентраційних таборів та тому що чекає цю країну в найближчі роки. Спойлер - тотальне стеження й світ Орвела в реальності.
З того, що не сподобалось: загравання автора з лівацтвом, перша половина книжки доволі хаотична.
З того, що не сподобалось: загравання автора з лівацтвом, перша половина книжки доволі хаотична.
January 27, 2023
Не сподобалось те, що в кінці книжки в усьому (концтабори для етнічних меншин Китаю) виявилися винними програмісти, а не їх замовник (держава).
А так повчальний опис сучасного технологічного концтабору. Дуже актуально.
А так повчальний опис сучасного технологічного концтабору. Дуже актуально.
October 5, 2024
Я довго відкладала рецензію на цю книгу.
По-перше, тому що на 145 сторінках вмістила з десяток стікерів та ще більше підкреслень.
По-друге, бо просто хотіла освіжити в памʼяті статті та розслідування щодо використання китайських систем відеоспостережень в Україні. Ось, як, наприклад, це від "Схем" (Радіо Свобода). Якщо коротко: китайські системи спостереження вже давно заборонені до використання в США бо загрожують нац. безпеці. А от в Україні вони функціонують масово, і навіть складають основу державних програм на кшталт "Безпечне місто". А от щоб зрозуміти рівень мого свіжого обурення цим новинам та розслідуванням – треба таки читати книгу))
В самій же книзі – через історії декількох людей, що пройшли через так звані китайські "табори перевиховання", окреслюються реалії сучасних цифрових концтаборів – катування, цілодобове стеження, приниження та все те, що хотілося б бачити лише на сторінках антиутопій. Не хочу вдаватись в деталі, лиш напишу, що книга багато разів робить боляче, хоч і не перегинає з художніми перебільшеннями. Натомість, робить це сухо – через замальовки про вошей в одязі або цитати з державної статистики:
А, і так – після неї починаєш гірше думати про Дію з її скануванням обличчя. Ну і більш тверезо сприймати світ, який чхати хотів на наші внутрішні проблеми. Бо в цьому ж світі ніхто нічого не може зробити з китайськими концтаборами, а всі провідні технологічні гіганти (від Amazon до Google) долучились до розвитку китайських технологій стеження – тих самих технологій, які уможливили саме існування китайських таборів.
По-перше, тому що на 145 сторінках вмістила з десяток стікерів та ще більше підкреслень.
По-друге, бо просто хотіла освіжити в памʼяті статті та розслідування щодо використання китайських систем відеоспостережень в Україні. Ось, як, наприклад, це від "Схем" (Радіо Свобода). Якщо коротко: китайські системи спостереження вже давно заборонені до використання в США бо загрожують нац. безпеці. А от в Україні вони функціонують масово, і навіть складають основу державних програм на кшталт "Безпечне місто". А от щоб зрозуміти рівень мого свіжого обурення цим новинам та розслідуванням – треба таки читати книгу))
"Коли технології починають думати замість людей, їхню владу над щоденним життям починають сприймати як норму"
В самій же книзі – через історії декількох людей, що пройшли через так звані китайські "табори перевиховання", окреслюються реалії сучасних цифрових концтаборів – катування, цілодобове стеження, приниження та все те, що хотілося б бачити лише на сторінках антиутопій. Не хочу вдаватись в деталі, лиш напишу, що книга багато разів робить боляче, хоч і не перегинає з художніми перебільшеннями. Натомість, робить це сухо – через замальовки про вошей в одязі або цитати з державної статистики:
Згідно з деержавними документами Китаю, у деяких заселених уйгурами регіонах аж 70% дітей до 5 років нині утримуються в китайськовмовних "садочках доброти", бо їхні батьки перебувають у таборах, тюрмах, або примусово працюють на заводах
А, і так – після неї починаєш гірше думати про Дію з її скануванням обличчя. Ну і більш тверезо сприймати світ, який чхати хотів на наші внутрішні проблеми. Бо в цьому ж світі ніхто нічого не може зробити з китайськими концтаборами, а всі провідні технологічні гіганти (від Amazon до Google) долучились до розвитку китайських технологій стеження – тих самих технологій, які уможливили саме існування китайських таборів.
August 7, 2024
5 зірок за підняття і висвітлення цієї теми. В мене прозріння від того, що я дізналася, що зараз переживають мільйони людей в комуністичному Китаї. Тільки завершила для себе тему єврейських концтаборів і в процесі читання про ГУЛАГ, як про історію, якщо вже пройшла... А тут попадається історія, яка триває прямо зараз на очах у всього світу...
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