📑 China’s War on Uighur Culture

Yasmeen Serhan talks about Uighurs and the fear of cultural genocide. The piece gives the example of the Sephardic Jews and the way in which they were pushed out of Spain in the 15th century.

Toward the end of the 15th century, the Iberian Peninsula was home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. That is, until 1492, when Spain issued its Jewish population an ultimatum: to convert, leave, or be killed. As many as hundreds of thousands of expelled Sephardic Jews (deriving from the Hebrew word for Spain, Sepharad) sought exile in places such as Portugal (which not long after delivered a similarly stark demand), Italy, and the Netherlands. Others, like Naar’s ancestors, made their way to the Ottoman empire.

It makes me wonder how many other cultures are silenced that are not given voice?