My colleagues in East Asian Studies at Sheffield produce world class research and so many of the UK’s leading experts in Asian Studies have gotten MAs or PhDs there. This is an incredibly shortsighted choice that will diminish this country’s knowledge exchange with a vital region of the globe.

He could have gone for cheap shots (there were plenty of opportunities) but David took the time to write a thoughtful and super informative rebuttal to the drivel in Monthly Review. Worth a read even if you didn't see the original

Eight Years Without My Mother: What I Carry, What I’m Learning, and What Still Hurts open.substack.com/pub/kashgart...

Ilham Tohti Rahile Dawut Yalqun Rozi Tara Zhang Yadi

Chapter III "Facilitating Interactions, Interchanges". remember those who worked to improve interchanges and mutual understandings are in prison npcobserver.com/2026/03/05/c...

The essay reviews Tahir Hamut Izgil's "Waiting to be Arrested at Night" (tr. @jlfreeman.bsky.social freeman.bsky.social) and "The Backstreets" by Perhat Tursun (tr. @dbyler.bsky.social r.bsky.social). If you haven't read them, please do! The essay can be found here 👇

The depths of inhumanity of the US government in all its facets, international and domestic, is horrific. Trump and his sycophants have mobilized the very worst of the country. The sooner they are turned out the better.

I actually don't have words as to how angry I am. Wonder what happened in these countries that people on student visas in the UK found themselves needing to apply for asylum instead of going home post 2021. UK Labour are heartless bastards & apparently have bo idea whats happening in the world.

More from @sophiedrich.bsky.social:

Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years, six senior journalists and news executives sentenced between 6yrs 9mths and 10yrs. All bad enough. And then there are the little details tucked away (but still being reported) in local media that hit really hard like the story of one woman ... 1/

China urged Kazakhstan to take "appropriate measures" against 19 citizens who protested last November against the detention of their family members in Xinjiang. They now face up to 10 years in prison for "inciting discord." eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-a...

Excited to recieve my copy of my friend and colleague, @rianthum.bsky.social’s new book “Islamic China.” It looks like a great read! We’ll be talking about it on Feb. 10 at the Manchester Museum (see Eventbrite link below). If you’re in town, come join us! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/islamic-ch...

Reminder: All it would take to end the murder of American citizens by an untrained government goon squad is 16 Republicans in Congress voting with Dems to defund ICE (or 23 to impeach and remove Trump — 3 in House & 20 in Senate). That’s it. 23 Americans can vote for the public and end all of this.

Solidarity to MN, let's get out there on Friday

Let’s be clear about the central political problem in the US: Republican and conservative elites hold on to Trump, who is clearly mentally damaged and driving American society and culture and economy into oblivion, because they believe they can benefit politically and economically from the chaos.

It's not debatable that a mentally disturbed person has the nuclear codes. The Republicans know they're endangering us all by leaving him in office. This is a betrayal of every person on Earth. It is a crime against humanity.

This is a remarkable case of Chinese authorities threatening a UK university into halting research on human rights violations, and the university acquiescing.

The book is out! www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

No Kings protest about to start in Paris. Wish I could be in the US today. There’s still plenty of time to grab your jacket and head to a protest in towns across the US!

history teacher in 50 years: So in September, that’s when the president signed an executive order criminalizing anti-fascism and saying all resistance would be crushed student: oh so that’s when the whole country realized they were living under fascism teacher: haha what? oh no lol not at all. no.

/6 If you are stuck in the McArdlian view "we can't think of the other side of evil" -- which I view as sociopathic -- I have to ask, is there ANYTHING they can do that will make you call it evil? Is there ANYTHING they can do that won't make you say "I should focus on finding common ground?"

My tribute to Paul Cohen as historian & mentor to many www.asianstudies.org/in-memoriam-... cc @lmansley.bsky.social

IDF sniper from Chicago who says he killed Gazan teenager just for trying to retrieve his brother's corpse: “They’re thinking, ‘Oh I don’t think [I’ll get shot] because I’m wearing civilian clothes and I am not carrying a weapon' and all that, but they were wrong. That’s what you have snipers for.”

What’s the ideal age for the state to impose assimilation on minorities? In Tibet, it’s 4. Gift link to new long read from me and Niharika Mandhana Beijing's building of government-run preschools across Tibetan areas to reverse generations of opposition to party rule: www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Same racist authoritarian data collection they've been doing in Xinjiang for years. Fight it everywhere

This is an official plan for ethnic cleansing. If you supported Israel for the past 18 months or so under the assumption that this was about the hostages you were taken for a ride. If you still support Israel's assault on Gaza, you support ethnic cleansing. It's that simple.

This summer, June 7-August 7, I'll be running an online course in "Introduction to Chaghatay!" 12 meetings. $280 for the whole thing. Open access textbook + videos to walk you through grammar and readings. Fees will support GW's Uyghur Studies Initiative. Apply here! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Radio Free Asia was the 1st to reveal China's mass detention of Uyghurs & kept the world informed about the crimes against humanity there. 🇨🇳 tried silencing RFA by imprisoning families of Uyghur RFA journos; now 🇺🇸 poised to help 🇨🇳 finish that job. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

This is a test for Columbia and the universities in general. They must oppose this with collective loud voices and legal aid to Khalil, who is targeted for specific speech while a student. BREAKING: DHS Detains Palestinian Student from Columbia Encampment, Advocates Say zeteo.com/p/breaking-d...

I gave a campus talk last night on Trump's first 100 days for the WUD Society & Politics group. A student asked me if I thought that, at some point, we might start to describe the US as a competitive authoritarian regime. I said that we were already there, it's just that most folks haven't noticed:

🆘🆘🆘Govt of #Thailand appears to be on the brink of quadrupling-down on a decade of appalling violations of #Uyghur #refugee rights. Forcing them back to #China = forcing them back to horrific abuses. Demys need to win out over Beijing—urgently. www.jurist.org/news/2025/01...

Difficult to write or talk about this monstrous act by the Chinese state, one of countless atrocities against Uyghurs. Absurd cruelty toward a kind, brilliant, and community-oriented anthropologist. duihua.org/life-sentenc...

Devastating news that scholar Rahile Dawut is serving a life sentence in China. Her crime was culture: she is an ethnographer of Uyghur folklore traditions. This is the petty fear of the supposedly mighty state of China. duihua.org/life-sentenc...