The Touchy Historiography of Indonesia’s 1965 Mass Killings: Intractable Blockades?

By Bernd Schaefer The violence of 1965–66 is both a domestic and an international issue. It cannot just be reduced to the fact that Indonesians were killing Indonesians, and therefore labelled an Indonesian affair and an Indonesian tragedy. That is only part of the story. It is also an international story: many countries bear responsibility,… More The Touchy Historiography of Indonesia’s 1965 Mass Killings: Intractable Blockades?

New Book: The Killing Season A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66

The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66 By Geoffrey Robinson The Killing Season explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing and incarceration in the twentieth century—the shocking antileftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965–66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a… More New Book: The Killing Season A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66

Cracks in the Wall: Indonesia and Narratives of the 1965 Mass Violence

30 September and 1 October mark the anniversary of the Indonesian military’s seizure of power in Indonesia in 1965, which began an organized wave of killings by the Indonesian military and their supporters. To mark the anniversary of the killings and the ongoing campaign to tell the true story of what happened in 1965-66, we… More Cracks in the Wall: Indonesia and Narratives of the 1965 Mass Violence

General! A poem of solidarity from Timor-Leste for victims of the 1965 tragedy in Indonesia

“When journalism is silent, literature must speak,” in the words of Indonesian writer Seno Gumira Ajidarma, whose reporting on the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in Timor-Leste (East Timor) broke the silence about the killings in Indonesia. As Indonesian military elites try to downplay discussion of the massacres that engulfed their country, in 1965, a powerful… More General! A poem of solidarity from Timor-Leste for victims of the 1965 tragedy in Indonesia