No Escape

March 28, 2022
“I will always speak up, even if it is through my own tears,” writes human rights lawyer Turkel in this harrowing account of how China is combining “dystopian-level AI spying” and “Chairman Mao–style totalitarianism” to suppress his fellow Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang province. Contending that the 2017 roundup of nearly 17,000 people for such offenses as “reciting the Koran during a funeral” was the “first-known instance of a computer-generated mass incarceration,” Turkel catalogues a litany of horrors endured by those who have been sent to “reeducation camps,” including forced sterilizations and abortions, torture, and rape. He also delves into the history of Xinjiang, noting that in the early 1950s, Chinese authorities began importing Han settlers into the mineral-rich region, seizing farms and homes from local Uyghurs. When they resisted, the government launched a campaign to erase the Uyghurs’ “centuries-old ethno-national identity, religion, and cultural heritage” and, after 9/11, began labeling all Uyghurs as “potential Al Qaeda terrorists.” Turkel, whose elderly parents remain in Xinjiang, describes the mechanics of Beijing’s all-encompassing surveillance system in the province and documents links between forced labor camps and international brands including Nike, Calvin Klein, and Apple. Suffused with visceral details and righteous anger, this is a devastating plea for help. Agent: Howard Yoon, Ross Yoon Agency.