Genocide is starting with pogroms
It is not surprising that
the world has passed by the
tragic situation of the Dungan
people in Kazakhstan.
Few people know about the
existence of these people
living in Kazakhstan (72
thousand), in Kyrgyzstan
(74 thousand), in Tajikistan
(6 thousand), in Uzbekistan
(about 2 thousand),
in Russia (more than 1.5
thousand), and in China (10
million). Several Dungan
communities also exist in
Thailand and Malaysia.
The Dungan language
is an ancient Han dialect
of the Chinese language.
In the countries of the
diaspora, the Dungans are
a national minority. On
February 7, 2020, in Kazakhstan,
local nationalists,
with the connivance of
the authorities, staged pogroms
in Dungan villages.
They killed people, burned
houses, shops, working
shops, and smashed cars.
These events went down in
the history of the Dungan
people as the Korday pogrom.
Hatred of the Dungans
is of a national and ethnic
nature but not religious
na-ture, for the Dungans,
like the Kazakhs, are Sunni
Muslims. Kazakh nationalists
consider the Dungans,
who came to Kazakhstan
from China 150 years ago,
as strangers who did not
appreciate the hospitality of
their hosts. This attitude is
indirectly supported by the
country’s authorities, who
do not intend to com-pensate
the Dungans for the material
damage they suffered from
the pogroms.
Moreover, local authorities
prevent the Dungans
from leasing agricultural
land. The Kazakh Dungans
are mostly farmers. Without
cultivating the land
they are doomed to hunger
and extreme poverty. They
are lucky if they have relatives
who help from abroad.
Dungans are arrested on
dubious charges and tortured
during interrogation.
Local law enforce-ment
authorities are not punished
for attacks on the Dungans.
Dungan complaints are
generally ignored by the
courts. To sum up, the Dungans
are being squeezed out
of Kazakhstan. Moral support
to the victims is provided
by Kazakh human
rights defenders and Dungan
activists. There is hope
for financial help from the
recently established Schivon
(«����������») charity
foun-dation, which is open
to receiving donations. However
the problem lies in the
fact that the fund is actually
controlled by the local
Kazakh leadership.
During the pogroms, 10
Dungans and 1 Kazakh
were killed, according to
official data. Beatings and
mutilations were recorded
by doctors in 141 people,
lootings occurred in 39 private
houses, 20 shops, and
47 cars and were subsequently
burned. Livestock
was stolen. 24 thousand
Dungans fled from their
villages to neighboring
Kyrgyzstan, where they
were sheltered by Kyrgyz
Dungans. Estimated material
damage to the Dungans
lies at about $4.5 million,
which is a huge amount for
the rural residents of South
Kazakhstan.
Kazakh President Tokayev
denies the very fact
of the pogroms. He described
the conflict as “a
group fight with hooligan
motives.” The authorities
act according to the usual
scenario of dictatorships:
they turn off the Internet
and mobile communications
in Dungan villages,
and block messenger services.
The Dungan Association
of Kazakhstan believes
that the pogroms were organized
and planned in advance
and were carried out
with the support of the lo-cal
police.
The Dungans who re-main
in Kazakhstan live in fear.
They are perse-cuted and
can only rely on themselves,
although they are the same
citizens of the country as are
other minor-ities and as the
state-form-ing nation - the
Kazakhs.
In May, the affected
Dungans sent a collective
letter to the Kazakh authorities,
and a copy was sent to
Kazakhstani and international
human rights organizations
and the media.
The letter described
the intimidation, illegal
searches, detentions and
torture suffered by the
Dungans in Kazakhstan,
and that the victims were
denied compensation for
the property destroyed
by the pogromists, for the
death of loved ones, and for
injuries that in some cases
resulted in loss of ability to
work. This cry of despair of
the Dungans was, in fact, a
voice crying in the desert.
The Kazakh authorities
did not engage in a serious
and objective investigation
of the tragedy, did not condemn
the rioters, did not
provide full-fledged assistance
to the victims, and did
not allow representa-tives of
international orga-nizations
into the conflict zone to
collect data and testimony.
In turn, inter-national
organizations did not exert
proper pressure on Almaty
and generally kept silent.
The Dungans were left alone
and must now rely only on
them-selves. The inaction
of the authorities indicates,
if not direct, then indirect
sup-port of Kazakh nationalists.
This threatens an explosive
situation for such
a multinational country as
Kazakhstan.
Inter-ethnic conflicts
have become quite typical
for Kazakhstan. There
were attacks by Kazakhs
on the Chechen community
in the suburbs of Almaty,
the village of Kurds was
subjected to a three-day pogrom,
the houses of Tajiks
were smashed, and Armenians
were expelled from
Karaganda. Xenophobia,
chauvinism, incitement to
pogroms, and outright lies
about minorities in the mass
media controlled by the
authorities are the norms of
today’s life in Ka-zakhstan.
So much for the Mus-lim
brotherhood! So much for
the friendship of peo-ples of
which Nazarbayev boasted.
The genocide of Jews in
Nazi Germany began with
the destruction of Jewish
homes and shops. The
geno-cide of Soviet Jews
that St-alin was preparing
began with pogroms in the
Rus-sian Empire. In order
to prevent another genocide,
a country’s authorities must
forcibly suppress pogroms
at their very beginning,
prosecute the instigators,
and provide protection to
minorities. Without this,
a country cannot be considered
a civilized state. A
society, if it is silent, can-not
be considered a society with
high morals.
Here it is appropriate to
recall the words of the poet
Alexander Galich (“The
Prospectors’ Little Waltz”):
Let others cry of de-spair,
From shame, from pain,
from hunger!
We know – silence is
profitable,
Because silence - gold!
This is so easy to fall into
the rich,
This is so easy to get into,
This is so easy to get into
- the executioners:
Stall, stall, stall!..
NOTE: The purpose of
this article is to draw the
attention of the international
community and international
human rights
organizations to the tragic
situation of the Dungan
people in Kazakhstan, to
inspire sympathy for the
victims of the pogroms, and
to provide them with basic
human rights and fi-nancial
assistance.
Tax-deductible donations
can be sent to the
non-profit charitable
orga-nization Dungan
Cultural Association of
America, 1666 West 3rd
Street, Brook-lyn, NY
11223. The President of
the Association, which is
officially registered in the
State of New York, is Mr.
Damirzhan Azimov.
The photographs included
were taken by eyewitnesses
to the pogrom and
disseminated by Dun-gan
activists.
Schneps Media November 12, 2020 15