[ICSS 20250420] - From Shanghai to Xinjiang — Elicha Gastelumendi & Rick Sterling

Elicha Gastelumendi and Rick Sterling will talk and show photos from their October 2024 visit to China. They were on their own in Shanghai and will describe what they saw in a regular community far from the booming downtown. Following that, they joined a delegation to Xinjiang organized by retired San Francisco Judge Julie Tang. Xinjiang is a large “autonomous region” thousands of miles west of Shanghai. This was a central gateway in the times of the Silk Road and in the developing Belt & Road Initiative today. It is also the area where the U.S. has accused China of committing “genocide” against the Uyghur minority community. Rick and Elicha will describe what they saw and experienced in travels from desert below sea level to high mountains as well as agricultural fields and an elementary school. Bay Area activist Elicha Gastelumendi is originally from Peru. Rick Sterling, originally from Canada, is president of the Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center and with the Syria Support Movement and Task Force on the Americas.