A. Pohlman et al., "The International People’s Tribunal for 1965 and the Indonesian Genocide" (Routledge, 2019)

New Books in World Affairs

How do you hold a government accountable for crimes it refuses to acknowledge?

Today's book, The International People's Tribunal for 1965 and the Indonesian Genocide (Routledge, 2019) emerges out of the International People's Tribunal for 1965. Rooted in a longer tradition of People's Tribunals, the IPT was an effort to remind civil society of the mass violence in Indonesia beginning in 1965 and to exert pressure on the Indonesian government and military to acknowledge the violence, hold perpetrators accountable and provide redress for victims. Today's guests played a prominent role in organizing and supporting the IPT. Their book serves as something of a history of the IPT and a summary of the evidence provided. But it also serves as kind of survey of the field at a critical moment in the study of the violence.

In the interview, we talk about the IPT and its origin, organization and outcomes. We also try to situate the IPT in the broader context of scholarship about mass violence in Indonesia. And we talk about the interesting role of academics as public intellectuals and activists.

Kelly McFall is Professor of History and Director of the Honors Program at Newman University.

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