The Uyghurs Dolkun Isa and Shohrat Zakir could not be more opposite: One fights for his people, the other imprisons them. A meeting in Munich and a journey through Xinjiang.
The world is hostile to the people, where the governor rules. Where the apparatus follows them, traces them in the streets, in the alleys, morning, noon, evening, always. Where cameras hang on lampposts and on wall ledges. Where the butcher has to chain his knife to the slaughter bench and a QR code is engraved on the blade. If a knife ever disappears, the device knows who it belongs to.
The governor's palace in Urumqi is secured like a fortress. A lantern-high wall seals off the grounds, while crash barriers and armored barricades block the gate. Security guards stand guard at every corner, machine pistols at their chests. The next police station is right at the crossroads, and the policemen have put up sunshades to ward off the heat. But all it takes is one radio call and hundreds, if not thousands of officers swarm out of the gray containers that have been set up all over the city. They walk past checkpoints and cameras, the eyes of the apparatus are everywhere. read more