******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Unless you are Indonesian, or a specialist on the topic, most people know very little about Indonesia, and almost nothing about what happened in 1965–1966 in that archipelago nation. The truth of the violence remained hidden for decades. The dictatorship established in its wake told the world a lie, and survivors were imprisoned or too terrified to speak out. It is only as a result of the efforts of heroic Indonesian activists and dedicated scholars around the world that we can now tell the story. Documents recently declassified in Washington, D.C., have been a huge help, though some of what happened still remains shrouded in mystery. This story of inexplicable, vaguely tribal violence—so easy for American readers to digest—was entirely false. This was organized state violence with a clear purpose. The main obstacles to a complete military takeover were eliminated by a coordinated program of extermination—the intentional mass murder of innocent civilians. The generals were able to take power after state terror sufficiently weakened their political opponents, who had no weapons, only public sympathy. They didn’t resist their own annihilation because they had no idea what was coming. In total, it is estimated that between five hundred thousand and one million people were slaughtered, and one million more were herded into concentration camps. Millions more people were indirect victims of the massacres, but no one came around to inquire how many loved ones they had lost. The prime responsibility for the massacres and concentration camps lies with the Indonesian military. We still do not know if the method employed— disappearance and mass extermination—was planned well before October 1965, perhaps inspired by other cases around the world, or planned under foreign direction, or if it emerged as a solution as events unfolded. But Washington shares guilt for every death. The United States was part and parcel of the operation at every stage, starting well before the killing started, until the last body dropped and the last political prisoner emerged from jail, decades later, tortured, scarred, and bewildered. At several points that we know of—and perhaps some we don’t—Washington was the prime mover and provided crucial pressure for the operation to move forward or expand. https://secure-web.cisco.com/15kLkbMlarfOBTaTjMH5JbjvivRrkZi9cOM02y4CGVhaHJXVHdYQN1RyYNEePQ5oqLWzI2bIei_MIdfUsuZSgMobkIDEQ7ReZxfbSMegbtHIIgUZVuCvzPx69rOb6KlrBRhjsL1bo1pIOeVn1dGmFGh2KDtN8A2Yg-MMGq3ecevqelnhIB8H60_Tb2M8pn9d-g9SHSIsxL640QOD5EC3-md_Fbu589q2ebaz-pT-n3TuhaAwt5njz3oDoEWaAJ2gT7MzGte_c3zUIMb29bR_Y2-xERfvX4anLpGIShBnMrNJ7gYZKORiXX6qSE2fWyWTXE8cHuRB09jS6cnokG_6qV5uTbYl0kRjWEDJMLVT7WjJZXUpPpEkXYJvlgmgjiQG2Nb7BP_qY1IKoZ4_UC3eiuQ/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Fdaily%2F2020%2F05%2F18%2Fhow-jakarta-became-the-codeword-for-us-backed-mass-killing%2F <https://secure-web.cisco.com/13KPLuWia7rvHkyGutZlVMOEn-mzx0Y055N1RU7WYOVmQC9zo-mWhWSGPByHQD4yttfsNHaxcfavian84Kltihk9jTaIDSvV9tTufHHHwHjBLkdifm3BBqShw5oRsT0zq94MrboEJzAG3GvIO6104X2VRwPkfpGsgLyY38bKF0U9HbWFo4v9x_RpCSUSbutZb_kCXj6tWAjtAm0OXW3eBj8-S7Uvu65BfT4DB2xU0Pq9u2N5LgPusz3HL0TQh4evOMSXFtbT6pbYeOAKxLUCWQKpo_8ZjlyimurOXWCOzPhX2RNySdTGiz-9Ge5EmU5pmjt35jQmEVvALcoV5SHrfWrl2PfkHs8-pcm4JYKvIqMOKJ15z9J1GKS7IrPUb3dwpy-j2YDrnBN4px_1KLMT_FA/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Fdaily%2F2020%2F05%2F18%2Fhow-jakarta-became-the-codeword-for-us-backed-mass-killing%2F%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DNYR%2520Marilynne%2520Robinson%26utm_content%3DNYR%2520Marilynne%2520Robinson%2BCID_1d4fd22ab416e1ea63c836aef3939f77%26utm_source%3DNewsletter%26utm_term%3DJakarta%2520Codeword%2520for%2520US-Backed%2520Mass%2520Killing> _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
