China's repression of the Uighur population and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang is akin to genocide: more than a million people are being arbitrarily detained in camps where they undergo torture, re-education, forced labour, and are banned from speaking their own language. Children are also being re-educated in so-called “orphanages” while women are submitted to forced sterilization. Uyghur culture is being systematically destroyed.
China's policy can be summed up by this instruction given by Xi Jinping during a top secret speech in 2014 to Chinese officials: engage in a "total fight against terrorism, infiltration and separatism" by using "all the tools of dictatorship", and show "absolutely no mercy".
What are the real reasons behind this relentless repression? Some would like to believe it is limited to China, when in fact the future of democracy and freedom in the world may be at stake. How does the past shed light on the present situation?
For the first time, this film brings together all the elements needed to understand the reasons and stakes behind this crime against humanity.