Because I Have To: The Path to Survival, The Uyghur Struggle

by Jewher Ilham, Adam Braver (Editor)

When Jewher Ilham's father, Ilham Tohti, an internationally known advocate for peaceful dialogue between his Uyghur people and Han Chinese, was detained at the Beijing airport in February 2013 on charges of "separatism," and later sentenced to life in prison, Jewher was forced to begin a new life apart from her family in a new country. There, she found her voice as an advocate for her father, and for Uyghur people being forced into concentration camps by the Chinese government.

In Because I Have To: The Path To Survival, The Uyghur Struggle, Jewher shares an intimate account of how she maintained the strength and courage to fight for her father, the sometimes emotional toll it took on her, and the inspiration and loss of her mentor. With the inclusion of testimonials of Uyghur camp survivors and others affected by the crackdown on Uyghurs in China, Because I Have To:The Path to Survival, The Uyghur Struggle tells the story of one person, and of an entire culture under threat.

Genres: Nonfiction, China

176 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[zoubisou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of meeting Jewher Illham and which lead me to reading this book. I really liked reading her perspective on the Uyghur struggle because it's one thing to learn about atrocities from news articles, it's another thing to learn about it from someone who was and is directly affected by said atrocity. It was a well-written, compelling short read that I would definitely recommend!