♪ ("LAST WEEK TONIGHT" THEME
PLAYS) ♪
Moving on. Our main story
tonight concerns eyelashes.
Among other things, the reason
that camels are so sexy.
Look without those
luscious lashes they'd just be
lumpy horses with
furry back boobs
but then you see those eyes
and remember,
"Oh yeah, I'd totally fuck
a camel."
And by the way, I'm serious,
we're gonna talk
about eyelashes.
Look, it's the summer,
there's a pandemic raging.
and frankly, I think we've
all earned a deep dive on how to
best make your eyelashes pop.
And to that end,
there's a TikTok makeup
tutorial,
that I'd like you to take
a look at.
Hi guys, so I'm gonna teach
you guys how to get long lashes.
So the first thing you need
to do is grab your lash curler,
curl your lashes obviously,
then you're going to
put them down, and use
your phone that you're using
right now to search up
what's happening in China,
how they're getting
concentration camps,
throwing innocent Muslims
in there,
separating their families
from each other--
Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Hold on.
That took quite a turn there.
She went from promising
longer lashes to
discussing concentration camps
in just 12 seconds,
and that's genuinely impressive.
Look, I'm a bit of an expert
at taking something fun,
and quickly ruining it.
So, this is game recognizing
game here.
But she is right,
a lash curler is a vital tool
in anyone's beauty arsenal
and, there's an ethnic group
in China being systematically
surveilled and imprisoned
in an attempt to essentially
wipe their culture off the map.
You know what, let's hold
the eyelash story
for another week and instead,
let's talk about this.
Because, the people in question
are the Uighurs.
They're a mostly Muslim,
ethnic minority
in a region of China called
Xinjiang.
And the Chinese government
has been treating them
absolutely terribly.
REPORTER: A U.N. panel says
 the region resembles
 a massive internment camp.
 Where more than one million
 Muslim minorities
have been rounded up, detained,
 and forcibly indoctrinated
 by the Chinese regime.
 Witness accounts,
 satellite imagery,
 and communist party documents
 reveal what appears to be
 the largest imprisonment
 of people
 on the basis of religion
 since the Holocaust.
Wow.
Saying anything is
the largest,
"since the Holocaust"
automatically makes
whatever you just said worse.
The largest collection of shoes?
Fun!
The largest collection of shoes
since the Holocaust?
Oh boy, all of a sudden,
really, really, not fun.
And if this is the first time
that you're hearing about
an estimated million people
who've been held
in detention camps, mostly
Uighurs but also Kazakhs
and other ethnic minorities,
you are not alone.
And it's probably because,
China has done it's level best
to keep this story from
getting out.
But it may be getting harder
to ignore.
Just this week, we learned
that you may actually have
a personal connection to this,
without even knowing it.
'Cause it turns out,
Uighurs are being shipped
and not always willingly,
to work in factories
across China.
And some of the products
they've been making, may be
right in front of your face.
NYT NARRATOR: If you are
 one of the millions of people
 around the world
 wearing a face mask
 because of the coronavirus
 pandemic,
 this footage may concern you.
 It shows a group of Uighurs
 arriving at a textile company
 that started producing masks
 in response to the pandemic.
 We identified several Chinese
companies that use Uighur labor
to produce PPE. And, we tracked
 some of their shipments
 to consumers in the US,
 and around the world.
Yeah, it's true. The very masks
that some in this country see
as unacceptable infringements
on their personal liberty,
may be getting made by people
who would absolutely love
for their worst infringement
to be, getting politely asked
to leave a fucking Costco.
And while there is clearly
nothing new
about horrific practices
being hidden
deep in the supply chain
of global capitalism,
what is happening to the Uighurs
is particularly appalling.
So tonight, let's talk
about them.
Who they are, what's been
happening to them, and why.
And let's start,
with a bit of context.
About eleven million Uighurs
live in Xinjiang
in the far Northwest corner
of China.
It's resource rich, and it's
strategically important.
But Uighurs, have always had
an uncomfortable relationship
with the authorities in Beijing.
They have their own language,
and are culturally
and ethnically distinct from
the rest of China's population.
Which is more than 90 percent
Han, Chinese.
On top of which, there's
the fact the Uighurs are Muslim
In a country that is
aggressively secular.
So much so, that a few years ago
a Chinese reality show
went to Dubai, and state TV
centered all depictions
of a woman in a head scarf
in the weirdest possible way.
Covering it with
a cartoon helmet
 and a shock of yellow hair
 with a ghost in it,
 and covering her hijab
 by obscuring her completely
 with a cactus in a Santa hat.
 Even doing that
 when she's reflected in
 another person's sunglasses.
And look, setting aside
the issue of religious freedom
for a second. That's
and amazing way to censor
someone out of a TV show.
I'm just saying,
watching old episodes of
 House of Cards
would be much less uncomfortable
if it looked like this instead:
Why did you ask him to leave?
Because I just wanted to look
in your eyes
one more time...
before we do this.
Francis.
We're doing this.
See?
That's just objectively
much better.
And now you can enjoy
 House of Cards,
just as much as you used to.
Which was, a bit.
So there was that base line
difference there.
On top of which,
some Han Chinese have held
bigoted views about the Uighurs.
In fact, just listen
to this interview
from back in 2008.
NARRATOR: Here in Beijing,
 Uighurs are dispersed
 across the city.
 Many work at restaurants
 and street stalls.
They stand out because of their
 different features and dress.
 Some Han Chinese are blatantly
 prejudice against them.
(SPEAKING MANDARIN)
TRANSLATOR: The people from
 Xinjiang are not very good.
 Robbers, and thieves.
Wow. Robbers and thieves.
That is not an acceptable way
to describe
an entire ethnic group.
It's barely an acceptable way
to describe all raccoons.
I mean, yeah,
they are essentially just
kleptomaniac possums,
who steal your trash
with their spooky little
doll hands,
but that's not all
that they are.
And all of this was exacerbated
by the Chinese Government
encouraging Han people
to migrate to Xinjiang
with them often being favored
over Uighurs for top jobs.
And these tensions
and resentments,
amid an overall atmosphere
of extreme discrimination
finally boiled over in 2009,
with riots in the capital
that killed 200 people,
mostly Han Chinese.
But, rather than address
the complex underlying factors
behind those riots
and other incidents,
the Chinese government
simply painted them
as religious terrorism,
beginning a decade long
crackdown
that's escalated steadily,
especially after
China's president, Xi Jinping
came to power,
and instituted what was called
the "Strike Hard Campaign,"
against violent terrorism,
in 2014.
And think of it as
the Patriot Act on steroids.
Because, all of a sudden,
Uighurs started being treated
like they were all
potential terrorists.
In fact, Xinjiang is now one of
the most heavily policed areas
in the world.
With the authorities surveilling
things that most people
would find, utterly meaningless.
If you go through
Uighur neighborhoods
 or suburbs, you see cameras
 over literally
 every house entrance,
 so the government can see
 who enters and who leaves.
How low is the bar for being
highlighted by the system?
Are you socializing more
or less with your neighbors?
Have you put gas in somebody
else's car?
Are you going out the front door
of your house
instead of the back door
of your house?
That's how low the bar is.
Oh, it goes even further.
The government has a list
of 75 behavioral indications
of religious extremism.
With some as vague as,
"people who store large amounts
of food, those who smoke
and drink
but quit doing so
quite suddenly,
and those who buy or store
equipment such as dumbbells
without obvious reasons."
Although that last one,
clearly would not be an issue
for me.
'Cause, I got two pretty obvious
reasons for dumbbell ownership
right here. It's not called
a workout,
if you don't put the work in,
brosef Bronrad.
Trust me, they call me
"The Lunch Lady,"
'cause from the hours of
eleven to one,
I don't stop stacking plates.
I call this one John,
and this one Tapper
because together,
they lift up bars.
But look, China doesn't just
collect this information
it feeds it into a predictive
policing system that monitors
that monitors for
potential threats. In one week,
it flagged the names of
24,000 people as suspicious,
15,000 of whom, were then
sent to reeducation camps.
And when pressed on whether
any of this
is strictly necessary,
Chinese officials will argue
that they are simply
being proactive.
TRANSLATOR 2: Some people,
 before they commit murder,
 already show they're capable
 of it.
 Should we wait for them
 to commit a crime,
 or prevent it from happening?
Okay, that is both insane logic
and also, the exact plot
of minority report. Which,
if you haven't seen it,
very briefly-- The year is 2054.
Tom Cruise's John Anderson
is Chief of Washington DC's
Pre-crime Police Department
where murders are stopped
before they happen.
Now ethically, there are
some questions about the system.
For instance, can you really
be sure an individual
will commit the crimes
the precogs say they'll commit?
Oh yeah, the precogs.
They are bald freaks
who sleep in an indoor
swimming pool
and they scream whenever
they visualize a future murder.
I think they're all siblings,
or aliens, or babies.
I can't remember. But basically,
the murder rate in the city
is zero, Anderson's doing well,
and so the status quo remains.
Now one day, the pre-cogs
generate a prediction.
John Anderson will murder a man
he doesn't even know
in just 36 hours. But it
couldn't be!
That's out hero, isn't it?
So, he stages an escape,
gets an eye transplant
so he can't be detected
by the cities eye-based
surveillance system,
finds out he's being framed,
then, finds out that
Max Von Sydow--
oh yeah, by the way,
he's in this too--
is gonna kill Anderson,
but decides not to
and Anderson doesn't the kill
the person that he supposedly
was going to, disproving
the very basis of
the pre-crime system,
and proving
that people do have free choice.
So, in the end,
they shut down the program
and send the precogs away
to live on a farm,
but not the death kind,
we assume. Anyway, it's scary,
but it's pretty good.
I'd say three stars.
(CHIMES PLAY)
But the bigger point is,
people in Xinjiang have been
arrested and thrown in camps,
despite having committed
no crimes. Which is chilling.
A million Uighurs were
at one point being held
extra-judicially,
many for acts as innocuous
as growing a beard,
fasting, or applying for
a passport.
And this is a very sore subject
for the Chinese government
which initially, denied
the existence of the camps
at all, before shifting
to arguing that they are merely,
vocational training facilities.
Although, even the heavily
orchestrated media tours
suggest their primary purpose
might be something else.
CNN REPORTER: Authorities
 recently took some diplomats
 and journalists
 on a carefully supervised tour
 of some of these facilities.
Some detainees told journalists
 the camps re-educate them.
TRANSLATOR 3:
 All of us found that we have
something wrong with ourselves.
 And luckily enough,
 the Communist party
 and the government
 offer this kind of school
 to us for free.
(SINGING)
Holy shit.
That might be the single
creepiest sing-along
I've ever heard
that doesn't involve Barnie.
A dinosaur who is clearly aware
of clothing, he's wearing
a hat,
and yet still actively chooses
to go bottomless
around children.
You are an absolute monster.
And for all the Chinese
governments talk
of "vocational training,"
these camps
sure seem prison-like.
Leaked classified documents
have shown that staff
at these facilities
were told to prevent students
from freely contacting
the outside world,
and that they should...
(READS PROMPT)
And the phrase,
"prevent escapes,"
is something of a tell there.
If your employee handbook says,
"prevent escape,"
you're probably working
at a prison, or at
the very least,
a Scientology picnic.
"Hey, we're just here
to grill some dogs,
play some tunes, and,
if anyone asks
where Shelly is,
do not let them escape."
And look, if that
weren't enough
to make it clear
what these camps really are,
just listen to one former
detainee describe
what she went through.
TRANSLATOR 4: Each woman gets
two minutes to go to the toilet.
 They tell you to be quick,
 quick, quick.
 If you're not quick enough,
 they shock you
 with an electric baton
 on the back of your head,
 it really hurts.
 And they did it a lot.
 Even after being shocked,
 we had to say,
 "Thank you, teacher,
we will not be late next time."
That is clearly,
absolutely appalling.
I didn't think people
had to publicly thank
abusers anymore,
now that Harvey Weinstein
doesn't go to award shows.
And look,
I'm not even getting into
the reports of forced abortions
and sterilizations
of Uighur women,
which are absolutely horrific.
And China will argue
that this is all about
economic opportunity
and attempting to assimilate
a historically ostracized
minority, but assimilation,
when forced,
is cultural erasure.
Because, in addition
to using mass detention
to keep families apart,
there are also rules
that seem to be trying
to break the chain,
by which families hand down
a culture and faith
across generations.
From laws prevents kids
from going to mosques.
To a ban on baby names
that are considered,
"too Islamic," to the creation
of state-run boarding schools
for Uighur children.
Now other moves by China
have been even more
on-the-nose,
like the destruction
of Uighur cemeteries.
The government actually...
(READS PROMPT)
And look, I'm not saying
that this
is the most important thing,
but this is one
of the pandas in question.
And frankly,
I've never had more questions.
Why is he holding a lollipop?
Why does he have the posture
of a startled gopher?
Why does he have an expression
that screams,
"I just had a lobotomy,
but it turns out
I'm both happy about it
and surprisingly horny"?
Frustratingly,
we may never know the answers.
Now thankfully, as criticism
of China's camps
has intensified
in recent years,
the government seems
to be closing some of them.
Unfortunately though,
they seem to have shifted
to staging sham trials,
and transferring Uighurs
to prisons that aren't
even pretending
to be training centers anymore.
China's also created a system
of mass labor transfers
that sent Uighurs,
and other ethnic minorities
into factory and service jobs,
sometimes hundreds,
or thousands of miles from home.
That is how those masks
that we mentioned
at the start of this piece
are getting made.
And Chinese state media
presents this as a positive.
 Showing Uighur workers
 arriving at a train station,
 then being taken on a bus
 to their new accommodations,
 all with upbeat narration
 like this.
CCTV REPORTER: Up to now,
Xinjiang has organized transfers
 for around 178,000 workers,
 providing them
 a stable employment rate
 of over 92 percent.
Yeah, you can't celebrate
a stable workforce
when it is forced labor,
any more than you'd give
me credit for spending a lot
of time with my kids
over the past few months.
Believe me,
if I had any other choice,
I wouldn't be.
Because as you've probably
guessed,
this isn't just
a benevolent jobs program,
the idea, as one local
government report puts it,
is that sending Uighurs
far from home
will allow for distancing them
from religiously extreme views,
and educating them.
And a lot of people
have been distanced.
One Australian think tank
that investigated
forced labor,
estimated that conservatively,
over just a two-year period...
(READS PROMPT)
They also found over 80
companies... (READS PROMPT)
Some of them big international
brands like Nike.
When the Washington Post
visited the factory
of one of Nike's suppliers,
it found Uighur workers...
(READS PROMPT)
With one worker saying,
(READS PROMPT)
Now, Nike has claimed
that this factory
no longer employs
Uighur workers,
and they told us...
(READS PROMPT)
Which, given what
 The Post found,
feels like their policy
on oversight
is less "just do it,"
than... (READS PROMPT)
And look, it's not just Nike.
Another company
on the list is Volkswagen,
which told us,
they found no indications
of forced labor
in their supply chain.
Though, it is worth noting,
that last year, their CEO
was challenged
about whether China's treatment
of the Uighurs gave him pause,
and this was his response.
I am, you know,
absolutely proud
to also create workplaces
in their region,
which we think is very useful.
But Xinjiang is something
you're not proud
to be associate with,
in terms of what
the Chinese government is doing
to Uighur people--
-I can't, uh, judge it, sorry.
-You can't judge it?
-No.
-But you know about it.
I don't know what--
what you're referring to.
You don't know about
China's re-education camps
for a million Uighur people,
it has been referred to
as re-education camps
as part of
it's counter-terror threat
in the west of this country.
-You don't know about that?
-I'm not aware, frankly.
Wow.
Finding out that Volkswagen
is overlooking a massive
human rights crisis
is kind of like finding out
your grandparents
are still having sex.
Sure,
it's completely horrifying,
but it really shouldn't
be too shocking
after all,
they've been doing it
since World War 2.
And look, I can understand
why companies, and others,
might want to turn away
from what's going on
in Xinjiang, because,
it's harrowing.
Remember that woman
who got electric shocks
for taking too long
in the bathroom?
She was in two different camps,
then transferred
into forced labor
at a glove factory.
All while separated
from her family for two years.
And while they were eventually
reunited,
they are understandably,
still haunted to this day.
ABC REPORTER: For two years
 you didn't see your mom?
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
That is heartbreaking,
and completely indefensible.
And whenever pressed on this,
the Chinese government
has been quick to use
whataboutism.
They responded to U.S. criticism
by invoking
a trustees (?) ranging from
the genocide of Native Americans
to a statement that read...
(READS PROMPT)
And look, those are fair hits.
Those are fair points
right there, but,
it's also completely possible
for two things to be wrong
at the same time.
And I know, the U.S. China
relationship is complicated,
particularly right now.
And too often,
it descends into reductive,
xenophobic,
us versus them stereotypes.
But human rights
should be completely
non-negotiable.
And I will say, the U.S.
has taken some small steps.
Like proposing sanctions
against top Chinese officials.
And Congress even passed
the Uighur human rights
policy act,
earlier this year.
But... Although Trump signed it,
he also reportedly
told Xi Xinping
that he should go ahead
with building the camps
because he thought it was...
(READS PROMPT)
Which, from a foreign policy
perspective,
a human rights perspective,
a political perspective,
and even an interpersonal
perspective,
is exactly the wrong
fucking thing to do.
But look,
this clearly isn't just
about Trump, is it?
Going forward,
the entire global community
needs to do more.
The U.N. should have
independent investigators
looking into what China
has done in Xinjiang.
Governments around the world
should be speaking out
about the treatment
of the Uighurs,
without bending
to China's economic influence,
and big,
multi-national companies
like Nike and VW
should not only be working
to clean up their supply chains,
but also actively using
their financial leverage
to pressure
the Chinese government
to end these abuses.
But none of that
is gonna happen
unless people pay attention.
And look, I know
that raising awareness
is often a bullshit solution
that doesn't really solve
a problem.
But there can be a real benefit
to awareness,
even if it is coming through
a TikTok makeup tutorial,
or let's say,
the exact opposite of one.
Because in this instance,
awareness is actually
a necessary precondition
for action.
And I know there is a lot
to worry about right now.
From a raging pandemic,
to an ugly
presidential election,
to a purple pervert
who couldn't give a fuck
about pants.
But... We have to make sure
that the treatment of Uighurs
is also on that list.
'Cause when you're dealing
with a concerted campaign,
centered on cultural erasure,
one of the most important
things we can do
is continue to pay attention.
At the very least,
so that if an entire culture
is replaced by a horny,
lobotomized panda,
we'll know to stand up
and fucking say something.
