Let’s put human rights before money and trade
Human Rights Watch and Stanford Law School accuse the Chinese government of committing crimes against humanity in its systematic persecution and incarceration of 1million Uighurs in Xinjiang (The Age, 20/4). How long can our government treat this as a side issue in its pursuit of trade and financial gain? If the Uighurs were Jewish, not Muslim, would this alter our government’s views on our relationship with China? Perhaps, though, the lessons of pre-World War II Germany have not been learnt by a Coalition government which clearly places no value in the humanities.
Jennie Irving, Camberwell
Civilised nations should boycott Beijing Games
In April of 1933, the Civil Service Act was declared in Germany; this excluded Jews from civil service employment. Ultimately, in 1935, the Nuremberg laws segregated Jews from Aryan society altogether. Despite this the world attended the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, allowing them to be a National Socialist propaganda exercise. In the wake of this, the most disingenuous phrase in the English language came into being – “sport and politics shouldn’t mix”. How often did we have to hear this during the appalling apartheid era? How can Australia or any other civilised nation even contemplate attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after reading the report from Human Rights Watch and Stanford Law School on the treatment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang?
Len Kliman, Armadale
Read these letters in The Age.