Personal Blog
An overview of the academic sources and serious investigative reports related to the ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs by the Chinese state. Emoji đ means peer-reviewed. Bolded entries are suggested starting points for people new to the issue. Scroll further down for sections listing a selection of reports and journalism. Abdulla, Munawwar, and Zubayra Shamseden. …
Continue reading “Selected Academic Bibliography of Uyghur Genocide”
Apart from the incorrect âbreakaway provinceâ clichĂ©, another favourite of the press when writing on Taiwan is to mention that the island was separated from China in 1949, at the end of the Chinese Civil War. In this piece I argue that this is wrong. Taiwan was separated from China in 1895, when the Treaty …
Continue reading “The year of Taiwanâs separation from China is 1895, not 1949”
To this day, the evil of colonialism has not sunken in. The exhibition on Thomas Stamford Raffles in the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) in Singapore on the occasion of the bicentennial of the 1819 founding of the British colony has provided an opportunity for reflection. I was inspired by posts and remarks from Faris Joraimi …
The Dutch lack of awareness of its colonial past has almost become a clichĂ©. Anticolonial activists clamouring for compensiation and pundits nostalgic for a past where the Netherlands once dared to dream of a permanent seat on the UN Security Council both lament the uneducated state of the public. Their oft repeated complaint has actually …
For large numbers of peoples in the world, the decline of Europe meant their liberation. On his recent state visit in China, President Macron confidently stated ‘France is back. Europe is back.’ It is good for the European Union to stake out its own place in the world and develop an independent foreign policy. However, …
Continue reading “Before Europe Can Come Back, Does It Need A ‘Kniefall’?”
The evil of colonialism is not expressed in a sum of its benefits and downsides. These debates over British railways in India and economic development miss the point of colonialism entirely. Colonialism is violence. It is not just that it entails violence as an inevitable product of its system, colonialism itself is an act of epistemic …
Continue reading “Carving up the Girdle of Emerald: colonialismâs violent cleavages”
Former High Court of Australia Justice Michael Kirby once termed the sodomy offence âEngland’s Least Lovely Criminal Law Export.â Much has been said about this nefarious side-effect of the supposed rule of law exported throughout the British Empire in the form of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. There is a certain irony in seeing …