Resources

Motions of support for our campaign have been passed by:

• Finchley & Golders Green Labour Party
• Hamspead & Kilburn Labour Party
• PCS National Executive
• RMT London Transport Regional Council
• Barnet NEU
• Barnet Unison
• Camden Unison
• Bakerloo Line RMT

You can find examples of the motions below. Please propose something similar to your union branch, local party or other campaigning organisation, and get in touch! The 2019 Annual Conference of the Labour Party also unanimously endorsed this motion to support the Uyghurs’ struggle, proposed by our campaigners.

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Leaflets & Materials

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Example motions

“Support Uyghur solidarity protests” (passed November 2019 by Camden Unison Branch Committee)

This committee notes:

1. The Chinese state is inflicting industrial-scale racist oppression on the Uyghur people along with other ethnic and national minority groups in north-west China. The Uyghurs are majority-Muslim and are the largest national group in the province officially called “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” but known to the Uyghurs as East Turkestan.
2. The repression includes arbitrary mass internment and indoctrination of at least a million people in concentration camps; an extreme, intrusive, suffocating regime of mass surveillance; draconian restrictions on cultural, linguistic and religious freedom, including the virtual banning of Muslim religious practice; and the systematic separation of Uyghur children from their families.
3. This has been documented by many human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch^1,2, Amnesty International³ and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination⁴.
4. The Chinese government cites the “War on Terror” as its motivation. This is a pretext – it is tightening its control on Xinjiang because it perceives dissent, lack of “loyalty” to China, and calls for more autonomy or independence, as threats to its economic interests: Xinjiang is a major fossil fuel producer and a key artery into central Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
5. Uyghur Solidarity Campaign⁵ protests are being organised at 6pm on the 5^th day of every month outside the Chinese embassy. The organisers are from London’s Uyghur community plus allies from Finchley & Golders Green Labour. Barnet Unison recently resolved to join the protests and PCS NEC voted to campaign in solidarity with the Uyghur people.
6. The protests are demanding: close the concentration camps and release all those detained; stop the state harassment and intrusive surveillance of the day-to-day lives of the Uyghurs and other minority peoples in Xinjiang; release Uyghur children to their families; stop the torture and abuse.

This committee resolves:

1. To express Camden Unison’s solidarity with the Uyghur people and other minority groups in Xinjiang. We stand with the Uyghur community here in London, many of whom have family in China who they cannot contact, and who are calling for pressure on the Chinese state to respect human rights.
2. Where possible, to join the protests and encourage our members to attend.
3. To support other Uyghur solidarity protests and campaign actions as appropriate.
4. To ensure our Unison Labour Link Officers/GCLP delegates are aware of this motion.

“Solidarity with the Uyghur people” (passed January 2020 by Bakerloo Line RMT branch)

This branch notes and condemns the ongoing oppression of the Uyghur people of Xinjiang/East Turkestan by the Chinese state. This involves mass incarceration in what are effectively concentration camps; mass surveillance; and allegations of police brutality and torture.

This branch believes that the labour movement at its best has always stood for freedom and equality, and in solidarity with those suffering oppression and injustice.

This branch resolves to support the ongoing demonstrations by the Uyghur Solidarity Campaign, initiated by members of the Uyghur community in the UK and supported by labour movement bodies including Camden Unison, Barnet Unison, Barnet NEU, and Finchley and Golders Green Labour Party. These take place at 18:00 on the 5th of every month, opposite the Chinese Embassy on Portland Place.

We will encourage members to attend and bring our branch banner to a future demonstration as a show of support.