On 5 July the Uyghur Solidarity Campaign held a public meeting to commemorate the Urumqi massacre of Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese state in 2009, with a range of labour movement speakers. Labour left MPs John McDonnell and Kate Osamor couldn’t make it but sent solidarity messages. This is what they said. Please get involved in the campaign.
John McDonnell:
I am sending solidarity to the Uyghur Solidarity meeting today, on the anniversary of the massacre. It is an opportune time to remind people of the suffering the Uyghur people have gone through, in recent years in particular.
The savage repression by the Chinese state, the internment, the brutality meted out to the Uyghur people, the long sentences for those illegally imprisoned, and the whole attempt to wipe out the culture of the Uyghurs – it is appalling.
We have to stand up in solidarity, in condemning the brutality of the Chinese state; and we have to build now among workers’ movements across the globe that campaign of solidarity – exposing what’s going on, supporting wherever we the vidtims and the families of victims of this repression, and then doing everything we can to urge our governments to act. And that does mean making sure the Chinese government is aware that the mass of the population in the UK will be outraged, when they learn about the repression, outraged about what’s happening.
This is something we have to condemn and continue to campaign against. This is a message of solidarity from me, but also I give this commitment, I will do all I can in the campaign to expose the repression and oppose the repression and to build this movement to secure the long-term future of the Uyghur people and their culture. Solidarity.
Kate Osamor:
Hello comrades. I’m sending this message to everyone meeting online today to protest the repression of the Uyghurs. The Chinese state is engaged in a systematic attack against its own people. The international community needs to step up, to demand the closure of all concentration camps and the immediate release of all prisoners. I stand in solidarity with the Uyghur people.
• See USC’s Twitter for videos from/sent to the meeting.
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