Each month Bosla Arts recommends a book, film, exhibition, or anything else by artists and activists that we believe is instrumental in transnational solidarity. For January, we have chosen, Waiting to Be Arrested at Night by Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil.

Sometimes, it’s hard to fathom the genocide that is happening to the Uyghur people. We read news articles and hear accounts but little makes it out of the region due to China’s immense control of information.

Tahir Hamut Izgil is one of very few who managed to escape the region of Xinjiang where, since 2017 the Chinese authorities have ramped up persecution of the Uyghur people to such a degree that it is believed as many as 2 million Uyghurs have since been detained.[1]

This book tells the story of the oppression of the Uyghur people through the eyes of Izgil. Although he suffered immensely at the hands of the Chinese authorities - he spent 3 years in a labour camp - the book does not go into the graphic details of genocide. It instead outlines the gradual rise of total oppression of the Uyghur people.

The book offers understanding of the many ways in which the authorities have repressed the Uyghurs. How it occurs in ways big and small. From the forced removal of land, to constant harassment by the police, from banning the words assalamu alaikum [peace be upon you] in Uyghur TV, to eventually forcing Uyghurs to change their names if they were “excessively “ethnic” or “religious””.[2]

As things go from bad to worse, we see Izgil grapple with the anxiety of whether to flee with his family or not. The decision becomes clear when friends and family begin being rounded up by the police and disappeared, and finally, when Izgil and his wife are forced to submit DNA samples and biometric data to the government.

Many parts of this book are utterly crushing, a quote of one of Izgil’s friends comes to mind: “Sometimes I find myself thinking, perhaps it’s better to be a cow than a Uyghur.”[3] And sometimes, between the pain and the horror, small moments of happiness also emerge - a conversation with friends, a meal with his family, a sigh of relief when he is not taken at night.

It ends with his escape but of course, as is so important to understand, the pain does not end when one is free. A telephone call from a foreign number to a Uyghur in China can result in certain arrest. So, Izgil must cut himself off completely from everyone he knew and everyone he loved back home. As he so poignantly ends the novel:

“We are finally free, but those we love most are suffering still, left behind in that tortured land. Each time we think of them, we burn with guilt. We will see these dear ones only in our dreams.”[4]

If you’d like to learn more about what is happening to the Uyghurs, check out our episode of the Arts Persists Podcast with Uyghur singer and activist, Rahima Mahmut.

[1] China’s Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Council on Foreign Relations:
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-xinjiang-uyghurs-muslims-repression-genocide-human-rights

[2] Izgil, Tahir Hamut., Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, 2023, p43.

[3] Izgil, Tahir Hamut., Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, 2023, p69.

[4] Izgil, Tahir Hamut., Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, 2023, p246.