NBA-China: US Muslim group calls on league to cease collaboration with Chinese Communist Party
- Council on American-Islamic Relations urges league to ‘stand on the right side of history’ over Uygur oppression in Xinjiang
- Pressure group likens human rights abuses to Nazi Germany amid growing pressure on NBA from US politicians
The largest Muslim pressure group in the US has added its voice to those calling for the NBA to cease its China operations in a letter to league commissioner Adam Silver.
On Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) asked that the NBA “stand on the right side of history by announcing that it will cease all operations in China unless and until its government ceases its persecution of millions of innocent people”.
They urged the NBA “to prioritise its ‘commitment to social justice over profits’ by ending all collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party until the government ceases its ongoing campaign of genocide against the country’s Uygur Muslim minority”.
CAIR “specifically called on the league to fulfil and verify its pledge to close its training academy in Xinjiang province, end its policy of banning Americans from bringing signs that express support for Uygur human rights to US stadiums, and cease all operations that benefit the genocidal Chinese government, including earning revenue from broadcasting games and licensing merchandise.”
None of the NBA’s 30 preapproved social justice messages that players can wear instead of their names on jerseys relate to China or Uygurs.
However, it was reported that no players requested messages, which were agreed between the league and NBA Players Association, related to China.
Child abuse, lack of schooling at NBA’s China academies: report
Only a handful of NBA players are reported to be practising Muslims, including Enes Kanter, Gorgui Dieng, Dion Waiters and Al-Farouq Aminu.
CAIR catalogues the reported human rights violations against Uygur Muslims in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, including mass detention in camps, conversion and enforced sterilisation.
They referenced a 400-page document leaked to The New York Times, dubbed the Xinjiang Papers, and the subsequent story published in 2019.
China has repeatedly denied any ill-treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, claiming the camps are for re-education and vocational training.
“China’s anti-Muslim policies, acts of cultural erasure, forced serialisation [sic] and abortion, and system of concentration camps meet the United Nation’s definition of ethnic cleansing, if not genocide,” the CAIR said in its letter.
“Any continued presence that the NBA maintains in China effectively normalises these crimes against humanity.
“The NBA continuing to operate in China under these circumstances would be akin to operating in Germany during the 1930s as the Nazi regime began to round up its Jewish citizens prior to the start of the Holocaust.”
The letter, signed by CAIR national deputy director Edward Ahmad Mitchell, asked the NBA to “fundamentally re-examine how its continued presence and operations in China normalises the human rights abuses taking place in that country, including the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the country’s Uygur Muslim minority”.
They urged “all other US organisations and corporations that express support for freedom and justice do the same”.
The NBA’s China operations have come under increased scrutiny in recent months with several Republican politicians, including Senators Marsha Blackburn and Josh Hawley, calling on the league to explain its position.
The NBA stated that they are not involved in the training centre and cut all ties by the spring of 2019, although the ESPN report referenced an advertisement for coaches this summer.
CAIR previously called on the league to cancel its NBA China Games and close the Xinjiang training centre last October following the controversy surrounding Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s tweet supporting Hong Kong’s anti-government protesters.
Amid the protest that followed at NBA games it was reported that signs reading “Google Uygur” and “Free Uygur” were confiscated. CAIR called on the NBA to allow such signs in stadiums.
The NBA resumed its 2019-20 season last month behind closed doors in Florida after halting matches because of the coronavirus pandemic.
