The austerity measures that were first implemented during the pandemic will not ease post-pandemic. Global vaccine apartheid continues to exist and it seems that only those in North America with relations outside of North America or to communities. It feels eerily familiar for people who straddle worlds to be aware that “back to normal” means back to normal for people completely detached from the global reality of how COVID continues to ravage people outside of the imperial core.
This episode takes a look at how the world we all now came to be. One where vaccine apartheid is normalized for so many. One where extermination programs and coups are staples. In this episode Shaadie and Nashwa interview Vincent Bevins, author of the Jakarta Method. Nashwa and Shaadie approached this episode with the thought and care they approach other work with. They wanted to honor those who died and survived the mass extermination in Indonesia while also weaving our own understanding as young Muslims of the world into this episode.
Bevins book Jakarta Method is an accessible must-read about the United State's role in constructing a global anti-communist network. In 1965 and 1966, the Indonesian military killed one million civilians and with praise and enthusiasm from the American government. It was an apocalyptic slaughter of leftists and accused leftists. As Bevins writes, this series of events was instrumental in shaping our global economic system as it exists today. As beneficiaries of US hegemony, it is important to recognize this gap in collective memory and the responsibilities we have.
A selection of propaganda leaflets blaming the Indonesian Communist Party for the 30 September (1965) movement that appeared in late 1965. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
The Jakarta Method maps out and tracks the violent anti-communism campaign, subsequent mass arrests, executions, and American sponsored disinformation campaign that rendered deadly results we will always benefit from. For example, the mass murder of Indonesians is why the tourism industry in Bali possible. As Bevins illustrates, this massacre was one of the biggest turning points of the Cold War and it inspired other regions to carry out similar programs. It is egregious and the replication of what happened in Indonesia should never be forgotten because it remains a blueprint for extermination programs globally. This episode features a number of resources that complement the conversation—please check them out below.
From Vincent Bevins’ The Jakarta Method.
Habibti Please is proud to be part of the Harbinger Media Network. For episodes focused on different struggles in Canada and around the world, we are grateful to partner with Canadian Dimension for this episode.
Until Liberation,
Canadian Dimension, Shaadie, and Nashwa
To Read and Watch:
The Jakarta Method: How to destabilize and control the Third World by Clement Nocos
How ‘Jakarta’ Became the Codeword for US-Backed Mass Killing by Vincent Bevins
The Cold War’s unfinished legacy by Noah Tsika
Joshua Oppenheimer on "The Act of Killing": The VICE Podcast 034
Organizations we like this week:
ANAKBAYAN is the largest and most comprehensive organization of Filipino youth and students for National Democracy, with 20,000 members worldwide. We strive for genuine freedom, peace, and democracy in the Philippines.
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is building a democratic member-led organization of migrant farmworkers, care workers, students and more to win worker and immigration justice.
Guest Information
Vincent Bevins is an American journalist and writer. He previously worked as a foreign correspondent based in Brazil for the Los Angeles Times, after working previously in London for the Financial Times. He then moved to Jakarta and began covering Southeast Asia for the Washington Post, and in 2018 began writing a book about Cold War violence in Indonesia and Latin America, that book being The Jakarta Method.
You can buy Jakarta Method here.
Production Credits:
Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan and Shaadie Ali
Show Music by Johnny Zapras and postXamerica
Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica
Production by Candian Dimension
Production Assistance by Canadian Dimension, Andy Assaf, and Ali McKnight
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Habibti Please is proud to be part of the Harbinger Media Network
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