Rushan Abbas is one of the most eminent international defenders of the rights of ethnic Oighours. His memories, “Unbroken: One Ughur’s Fight for Freedom”, will be published on June 10.
The book explores its personal career of its pro-democracy activism as a student in China in the 1980s, to its move to the United States in 1989, and its efforts to draw attention to the fate of Uighurs in the face of mass interns and other serious abuses which, according to the American government, constitute a genocide.
Among those for whom she spoke is her sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, who was imprisoned by China in 2018. Her father, Abbas Borhan, an eminent Uighur Boursier, was forced to leave his work as president of the Council of Sciences and Technology of the Xinjiang because of the activism of her daughter.
Rushan Abbas is currently executive director of a human rights group, the United States based campaign for Uighurs. She says that her book, published by Optimum Publishing International, is intended both as a personal testimony and a political call for action for governments and citizens around the world. She spoke to the journalist Uyghur from RFA Shahrezad Ghayrat. The interview was published for duration and clarity.
RFA: Your book is entitled “Unbroken”. What does personally uninterrupted after all that you have experienced and seen?
Rushan Abbas: The interpreted means that despite all that my people and my family have experienced – separation, suffering, oppression and mass detention – our spirit and our dignity and our hope have not been broken. It is a testimony to resilience and the idea that even in the most difficult conditions, Uighur people will not be defeated, we will fight. We will fight with uninterrupted will and courage.
RFA: You share parts of unpublished memories of your late father. How did her story influence your fight for Uighur freedom today?
Rushan Abbas The story of my father, what he went through during the great cultural revolution, is at the heart of my own fight for Uighur freedom. And his brief was written in the brief period he was in the United States. He therefore experienced an unimaginable oppression, and he and my mother and my grandparents and my grandfather, during the cultural revolution, but kept the hope of future generations. He always had hope for future generations and paved the way for the next generation to defend human rights. So I’m here today because of him. I am as I am very young. I put my people and my dedication to the cause because of him. It is therefore not only a political story that I wrote with this book, and it is not only my own story or not only the story of my family, but it is a story for all the Nauds at home.
RFA: You describe uninterrupted both a personal history and a political call for action. Who do you hope to hear this strongest call: decision-makers, the public or both?
Rushan Abbas: The two in fact – the decision -makers and the public. I want the public to understand the human cost of what is going on and will be held with us. And I want political decision -makers to feel the urgency to act. And understand the cost of what will happen to the world if we do not hold responsible Chinese government. And governments must act by applying pressures and holding the Chinese government responsible because we are talking about the future of the free world, not just what happens to Uighurs or that China does inside their borders.
RFA: Son Holiness the Dalai Lama, (eminent scholar on the persecution of the Uighurs), Dr. Adrian Zenz, and others approved your book. What is the importance of international solidarity, including votes from different communities, to counter the repression of China?
Rushan Abbas: International solidarity is essential. It is very important. China’s repression is a global question about human rights and affects the future world … (it is) not only a Uighur problem. So, we are not talking about something that simply happens to Uighurs, but (on) how China will have an impact on the world if we do not speak, if we do not hold responsible China. Because our future generations will be (confronted) with the consequences of an illiberal world if we do not stop the PCC (Chinese Communist Party) at the moment. Thus, when voices of different communities such as Tibetans, Hong Kongers, militants of Chinese democracy, Muslim communities, academics and legislators meet, it shows the world that injustice requires action everywhere.
RFA: Your book covers painful subjects such as detention camps, forced sterilization and surveillance. What was the most difficult to write chapter and why?
Rushan Abbas: As you mentioned, all these atrocities, detention camps, forced sterilizations, forced marriages, surveillance, kidnapping of children – all these elements are very difficult to think (on). But the last chapter was particularly difficult to write. The last chapter is entitled “Light of Hope” and reflects some of the achievements that we have made in recent years as an organization or as an activist. Writing on the accomplishment has been particularly difficult and difficult to know that even today, reality on the ground for the Ughour remains unchanged. The genocide is still in progress. I continued to speak with Uighours in (the) diaspora daily from the horrible experience that our employees live at home. It was therefore difficult to write about the achievements of the achievements and try to give hope to people when the situation is so, you know, it’s still so horrible.
RFA: You have been a fierce defender on the world scene. How do you see the role of diaspora communities – not just Uighurs, but others in the defense of human rights worldwide?
Rushan Abbas: The diaspora communities have a crucial role. We carry the stories that oppressive regimes try to silence by speaking, organizing and building alliances. We help maintain human rights violations on the world scene, in global conversation and to put pressure for the responsibility and freedom of all people under the brutal rule of the CCP. It is therefore extremely important.
RFA: With the publication of Unbroken, what specific action do you hope that the international community, in particular governments, will then take?
Rushan Abbas: I hope that governments will go beyond empty words and declarations. I hope they will start to take measures by imposing sanctions on companies that carry out forced work and that they impose sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for these atrocities, prohibiting products manufactured with Uighur slave work; And prioritize human rights in their foreign policy with China, whenever there is a conversation with trade or with any type of diplomatic commitments with China, the question of Uighur should be at the front and center. The Uighur people deserves to live in freedom and with full respect for their human dignity.
RFA: Transnational repression is a major theme that you highlight. How did you personally experience China’s attempts to silence you beyond its borders?
Rushan Abbas: I faced constant harassment, attacks, death threats and defamation by online threats … tries to intimidate me. But the most devastating example of transnational repression is the case of my sister. Dr. Gulshan Abbas, retired doctor. And she is unfairly imprisoned by the Chinese government in reprisal for my plea as an American citizen and exercising my freedom of expression in the United States, even if, you know, I have lived outside China for 36 years. They still continue … to target my sister to try to silence me while keeping her in prison. It is therefore the most difficult example of transnational repression that I feel under the attempt of China to be silent. But they make a huge mistake, continuously holding my sister as a hostage, giving me not only the strength to fight stronger, but also the reason for international stages, forums and summits and all these platforms inviting me to speak because I am a sister of the direct victim who is in prison with false accusations made. Thus, this attempt by the Chinese government turns against them. It doesn’t work, but it actually gives me more opportunities to speak.
RFA: By thinking about your decades to advocate, what gives you the most hope today for the future of the Uighur people?
Rushan Abbas: What gives me the most hope is the resilience of the Uighur people and increasing global conscience and understanding that CCP is a threat to all humanity, freedom and democracy. Despite everything, our culture, our identity and our mind is continuing today, and more people in the world are with us when more people have started to recognize and understand the intention of the Chinese Communist Party to export its oppressive and authoritarian model on a global scale.
RFA: If you could transmit a message directly to young Uighurs who feel frightened or silenced, what would it be?
Rushan Abbas: You are not alone, your voice counts. Our history, our identity and our future lives through you. And no matter how much the CCP tries, they cannot erase who we are. Let us beat with an uninterrupted inner force and the mind against the totalitarian system with everything we have. Justice will prevail. We have to express themselves. Unless we are talking today, the only remaining words will be a regret.
Edited by Mat Pennington.