The best thing about the Beijing #Olympics is that the word #Uyghur is now in the headlines every single day.

To help give a face to the million+ Uyghurs in China's camps, let me introduce you to my friend Rahile Dawut.

Rahile disappeared into China's camps four years ago.

1/ Rahile is a renowned anthropologist, specializing in Uyghur religious traditions and oral literature.

Respected in China and internationally, she has lectured at Harvard and Cornell.

She is also one of the warmest, funniest, most generous people I know.

2/

Today marks three years since my friend and colleague Rahile Dawut disappeared into China's internment camps.

Her only crime: being born a #Uyghur.

Rahile is a highly respected scholar of Uyghur religious traditions and oral literature. She is also a lovely human being.

1/5 In January 2017, the Chinese government-run journal Xinjiang Women honored Rahile by putting her on its cover.

In December of that year, the same government threw Rahile in an internment camp.

Three years have now passed. No charges, no date of release, no news. Just gone.

2/5

It's the 51st bday of #Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti. He’s spending it in prison, where he’s been serving a life sentence since 2014. His crime: advocating equality for Uyghurs in China.

I listened to some old interviews w Ilham & translated a few of his powerful words. Pls RT

1/5 Ilham's requests for equality were modest:

“I believe that for the Uyghur people, if policies of equality and autonomy are implemented, if their language is protected, if they can trust the law, they will have confidence in the country.”

rfa.org/uyghur/xewerle…

2/5

Five years ago, leading #Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil was traveling in Paris.

He got lost.

The result was one of the greatest Uyghur poems of the last decade.

I can only hope my translation has done it justice.

Read the whole thing.

1/6 LOST IN PARIS

Like a stone gate standing motionless carved with
names I stared at the sky of an unknown street
while around me the city frothed and dizzied me
drenched me in cold sweat and rain
and before I really knew her I seemed to be lost
I was truly lost
I knew

2/6

Abduwéli Ershidin Bozlan is part of a remarkable generation of avant-garde #Uyghur poets who came of age in the 2000s. Here is my translation of my favorite of Bozlan's works, a strangely compelling and romantic poem I keep coming back to. Tr. published in @harvardadvocate

1/5 THE OLD ERA AND THE WOLF GIRL
Bozlan

You secretly try to howl my heart,
a thousand years I've lain listening as you howled among bones.
Our souls were two bullets shot at each other,
when our corpses like buried cities are half uncovered,
you secretly try to howl my heart.

2/5