Over the past month, a widespread online and offline campaign in China has emerged to support the production of cotton in Xinjiang and denounce international clothing brands that pledged to eschew its use over forced labor concerns. At first glance, the effort – complete with viral hashtags and celebrity support – may look like grassroots support for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to hit back at criticism of its human rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. And yet, even as some participation in the campaign is inevitably organic, its media dimensions point to strong party-state backing.
The online campaign emerged on March 24, sparked by a viral Weibo post from the Communist Youth League (CYL) – the CCP’s youth arm – that pledged support for cotton from Xinjiang and denounced international brands like Swedish clothing company H&M. The campaign focused on clothingbrands that had announced in 2020 that they would cut ties to Xinj
The boycott movement marks a blurred line between genuine anger and manufactured outrage.
By
April 29, 2021
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Over the past month, a widespread online and offline campaign in China has emerged to support the production of cotton in Xinjiang and denounce international clothing brands that pledged to eschew its use over forced labor concerns. At first glance, the effort – complete with viral hashtags and celebrity support – may look like grassroots support for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to hit back at criticism of its human rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. And yet, even as some participation in the campaign is inevitably organic, its media dimensions point to strong party-state backing.