To coincide with #HolocaustMemorialDay, last night I offered humanist reflections on why we must speak up for Uyghurs in China. The atrocities of the mid-20th century have given us a permanent & horrifying example of what can happen when human solidarity falters. @Rene_Cassin 
In Nazi Germany, even though most people knew what was happening was wrong, they looked the other way. They did not speak up for the Jews, the Roma, lesbians and gay men, and all those that faced persecution or death, which included humanists.
(Humanist organisations were in fact banned early in the Third Reich – in 1933 and Hitler celebrated in a speech that he had successfully won his ‘fight against the atheist movement’ and ‘stamped it out’.)
We know now that it is only when we do speak up for the freedom & humanity of others, that our society can be a peaceful space for all. Today, through @HumanistsInt, I see the marginalisation, persecution, judicial murder & extra-judicial killing of humanists around the world.
This motivates me to speak out not just for humanists, but for all those who suffer.
That's why I called last year at the United Nations Human Rights Council for action against China’s genocidal actions against the Uighur people and why humanist organisations have done so consistently for the last few years at the UN and elsewhere.
In speaking out for Uyghurs, humanists are speaking out for the universal rights of all people and our shared humanity.
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