Foreign Correspondence, Vol 78
‘Fear follows every Uyghur.’ A groundbreaking book details China's repression in Xinjiang
Hello, and happy Friday!
This correspondence comes to you all the way from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where I’ll be spending the next week eating my body weight in knafeh enjoying some quality time with family and friends.
As such, I’ll be keeping the top of this edition nice and short. If anyone has any good Amman recommendations, please hit ‘reply’ and let me know!
What I’ve written
Longtime readers of this correspondence may recall that I once wrote a feature for The Atlantic that endeavored to answer one question: How do you protect a culture that is being wiped out?
For China’s Uyghur ethnic minority, this was more than just a hypothetical; it was the question causing many within their community, including those in exile, to lose sleep. As part of my reporting for this story, I spoke with the acclaimed Uyghur poet and filmmaker Tahir Hamut Izgil about China’s crackdown on Uyghur culture and his own efforts to preserve it through his poetry.
This week, Izgil and I got the chance to reconnect—this time, to discuss his powerful new memoir, Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, a rare firsthand account of China’s brutal repression of Uyghurs. With the aid of translator and historian Joshua L. Freeman, we discussed the reality of life in Xinjiang, his family’s harrowing escape, and why they don’t yet feel completely free. You can read the full Q&A here
While much of the coverage surrounding Israel’s contentious judicial overhaul has focused on its implications for Israeli democracy and the country’s wider international standing, I wrote about what the Israeli government intends to do with its newly-consolidated power—and what it means for Palestinians.
Some commentators have suggested that circumventing corruption charges could be at least one motive for the Prime Minister. (Netanyahu is on trial for fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes; he denies any wrongdoing.) But experts tell TIME that furthering the ultranationalist right’s ambitions of unfettered settlement expansion—and, potentially, unilateral annexation of the West Bank—could be another.
“The whole notion of weakening the Supreme Court has a huge element of moving forward with Israeli annexation and with providing impunity to soldiers and settlers,” says Mairav Zonszein, an Israel-based senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. Keep reading here
Plus:
Why Joe Biden invited Italy’s Giorgia Meloni to the White House
After 29 weeks of protest, Israel passes landmark legislation that will test its democracy
What to know about Spain’s most important election in decades (which, ICYMI, ended in deadlock)
What I’ve read
This fascinating profile of Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian Authority’s main go-between with Israel in the occupied West Bank and a potential successor to the octogenarian Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Foreign Policy)
Israeli power brokers admire Sheikh as a pragmatic partner with an uncanny ability to find common ground. “He’s our man in Ramallah,” said one retired senior Israeli security official who requested anonymity due to an ongoing role in Israeli intelligence as a reservist. Many Palestinians, however, argue his approach has only reinforced the conflict’s status quo—a seemingly endless military occupation now in its sixth decade.
This piece on the end of the U.S. women’s soccer dominance (The Atlantic)
If the U.S. no longer has its mantle, that is because other countries have swiped it. Brazil, England, Spain, and even Colombia have stitched together performances at this World Cup that have exuded old-fashioned American imperiousness. These performances aren’t anomalous. The global women’s game is in the middle of a revolution, whereby its underlying economics are rapidly changing. For generations, American women have flourished because of their country’s unique sporting culture. This tournament, however, has made evident that the virtues of that model are becoming outmoded.
This insightful essay on the end of the U.S.-Israel ‘special relationship’ (The Daily Beast)
While most of the blame for this turn of events must go to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing coalition of Jewish nationalists, some falls on America’s leaders who, to varying degrees, for years refused to acknowledge Israel’s drift toward authoritarianism or, for that matter, its serial abuses of millions of the people who lived within the borders it controlled.
What I’m thinking about
The much-hyped Barbie movie (!), the album of which I’ve had stuck on repeat since I first saw it over a week ago. My unsolicited review: It was a fun, masterfully-marketed film with a meaningful, if at times trite, message about the tribulations of being a woman in society today. Plus, it served up some truly excellent memes.
Until next time,
Yasmeen