Teaching Uyghur in America
See Something Say Something
Ahmed Ali Akbar
4.8 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2019
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Over the past few years, China has increased its internment and surveillance of the Uyghur people for expressing their culture and Muslim religion. This has spread to the diaspora, where the community lives in fear of retaliation for family members back home, even for something as basic as teaching the Uyghur language itself. So, Ahmed talks to journalist Megha Rajagopalan about her groundbreaking reporting and the context for China's growing surveillance state. Then, he talks to activist and teacher Irade Kashgary, co-founder Ana Care and Education, a Uyghur cultural and linguistic after-school program for kids and young adults in Northern Virginia.
Special thanks to Munawwar Abdulla for production support and guidance on this episode.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, I'm Amidali Yukber, and this is See Something Say Something. |
| 0:04.9 | This week we're talking to a Uyghur activist about the work she's doing preserving the Uyghur language |
| 0:09.2 | in diaspora, despite China's crackdown and international surveillance. |
| 0:16.3 | So the Uyghurs are an ethnic group that are generally Muslim. |
| 0:19.5 | The Chinese province that they live in is called Xinjiang, which is a pretty massive swath of land that is a population of over |
| 0:25.6 | 25 million. And in the last half decade or more, Uyghurs have increasingly been thrown into camps, |
| 0:31.6 | surveilled, police for teaching their language and practicing their religion. Even folks who are |
| 0:36.7 | recorded doing so abroad have seen their family face punishment at home. |
| 0:40.3 | So today we'll talk to journalist Megha Rajagabalan, who has covered Xinjiang for a while |
| 0:44.3 | and has given us a lot of information about China's crackdown over the years. |
| 0:48.3 | And then activist Iraa Kashkari, who's been teaching Uyghur children in America |
| 0:52.3 | the language with the help of her mother, despite those risks. |
| 0:55.2 | If you see something, you better, you better say something. |
| 1:03.4 | Nothing at all, nothing at all. |
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| 1:29.2 | and into September you can expect a postcard from me as we had a special offer that ended this |
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... |
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