Comments on: How did a protest become mass murder?

By: Lessons from Xinjiang: the Media | CHINAYOUREN

Lessons from Xinjiang: the Media | CHINAYOUREN — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:02:39 +0000

[…] the events, and to my despair he announces that he leaves on holidays. Like blogger B&W Cat noted, almost all the others soon followed suit and, to this day, nobody has told us what really happened […]

By: Don’t you ever look back, cause it just might catch you | 工商法

Don’t you ever look back, cause it just might catch you | 工商法 — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:17:11 +0000

[…] And that, in turn, would mean this entity is quite powerful to have successfully carried out a murderous mass incident despite government […]

By: Luisetta Mudie

Luisetta Mudie — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:13:29 +0000

I work for RFA’s English Web site, and we are often called by listeners with all manner of stories during big events (tibet, earthquake, urumqi). it is impossible to verify what they tell us. some of it is hearsay, but even when it’s not, there is the problem of unreliability. It has to do with the way the brain edits and organises what it sees unconsciously. All we can do is create an archive of their comments. It might be interesting to create an online repository of witness statements so people can make up their own minds. I was thinking of a Wiki page, but that’s probably too volatile. You might get people deleting each other’s comments all the time. Any thoughts I can take to my editors? I just think such an archive might be at least a useful resource for people trying to research urumqi after the event.

By: TwoCents

TwoCents — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:12:51 +0000

http://www.deluxzilla.com/DeluxZilla/Writers_Block/Entries/2009/7/7_Uyghurs_Lost_in_Newsfeed.html

By: ABfool

ABfool — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:09:45 +0000

i believe that someone like ai weiwei, who dug the story of student-death-toll of the 5.12 earthquake out, might come up with a story with more details.

that someone(s) may or may not be a journalist in profession….

By: Achinese

Achinese — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:10:46 +0000

Great questions but given the racial tension between the hans and the uighurs I don’t think you will ever get a clear, unbiased view of exactly what had happened.

Then there is the press. For the Chinese press, there would be no incentive whatsoever to write a story which would remotely stray from the official story. From the Western press point of view, to write anything too close to the official story, even if true, would bring the accusations that the press is caving to the Chinese government.

One can only hope that the Western media can highlight related issues which info can be readily found, such as hiring practices and affirmative action programs in China. After all, the issue of discrimination seem to be the catalyst which started this all. I have yet to see any concrete reporting on 1)how han chinese are discriminating against its minorities 2)what is the government doing to help out the minorities 3)whether the policies are effective 4)what more can/should the government do?

By: Global Voices Online » China: How did a protest become mass murder?

Global Voices Online » China: How did a protest become mass murder? — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:12:32 +0000

[…] and white cat urges more investigation on how the student protest in Urumqi suddenly turned into a mass murder on July 5? Cancel this […]

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:01:40 +0000

You are absolutely right, of course. I have been so damn frustrated reading articles that are essentially articles on other articles….

By: Rhodo Zeb

Rhodo Zeb — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:34:58 +0000

You are asking the right questions:

Why did the protest happen? What was the grievance of those people?

What turn it into an angry, murderous mob?

The answer to the first question might be easy. The answer to the second might be explosive.

By: Dav_ZY

Dav_ZY — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:22:34 +0000

Why some people simply believe that there was a ‘peaceful’ protest before the massacre conducted by a few out-lawers, mainly uyghurs?

I see many protests turned into violences around world, but none of those protesters carried knives and cut passers-bys’ heads off after the so-called protest.

Obviously, they, some of the uyghurs, planned the massacre. They don’t care about humanity and violated the most fundamental human rights of us all, rights of living. Those who committed such serious crime should be prosecuted according to law.

May those who died in the horrible massacre rest in peace…