China has moved at least 20 000 thousand people into concentration camps, but don’t worry, they’ve got WiFi.
This is an aerial view of the construction site of the quarantine camp in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
Not only is China engaged in a massive program of genocide against its Uyghur population, it is also building massive concentration camps – ahem – quarantine centres. Chinese authorities have been moving entire villages into centralized quarantine facilities. But don’t worry, it’s all being done to save lives!
“The new quarantine camp will house close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients, as authorities continue an extensive contact tracing and testing program.”
Each prefabricated room is expected to measure 18 square meters (around 194 square feet), and will come with an en-suite bathroom and shower, desks, chairs, beds, Wi-Fi, and a television set, according to the state-owned broadcaster CCTV.
It was originally planned to house 3,000 people, but has since been expanded to a capacity of 4,160. More than 4,000 construction workers performed “six days’ and nights’ work” to complete the first phase, said Shijiazhuang Deputy Mayor Meng Xianghong on Tuesday.
Authorities began construction on Jan. 13 and the first section of the camp is now complete and ready for use, while construction continues on the second phase, according to state-owned broadcaster CCTV.
The ambitious task is reminiscent of earlier efforts during the initial stages of the pandemic, during which authorities built several medical facilities from scratch, including a 1,000-bed hospital in just 10 days.
More than 20,000 citizens from 12 villages in Shijiangzhuang have since been relocated to other quarantine sites as a preventative measure, Chinese state media outlet CGTN reported last week.
Hebei authorities are now urging residents to stay at home, with officials sent to urban and rural areas to enforce measures and ensure people aren’t traveling across the province and into Beijing.
It should be remembered that the term lock-down comes from the prison system. Inmates are put on lock-down when there is perceived to be a greater risk of revolt. If China is building concentration camps outside its capital, it obviously does not bode well for the future if the ascendant world power shares two of the worst features of the Nazi regime – genocide and concentration camps.
There really is no question that totalitarianism is here, and is expanding. The question is rather one of how long it will take before such tactics are taken up in the West.
Is it perhaps childish or morbid to terrify ourselves with visions of a totalitarian future? Before writing this off as a nightmare that can’t come true, just remember that in 2019 the world of today would’ve seemed a nightmare that couldn’t come true.