Previously unpublished interview between three anarchists in Indonesia and the counter-info group in Germany, Anti-Sistema:
1. Last August, a widespread social uprising erupted in Indonesia. It began with demonstrations protesting tax hikes and pay raises for politicians. When the police killed the first person, the uprising escalated on August 28, and police stations and parliament buildings were set on fire, while politicians’ homes were looted. Can you say something about the conditions that led to the revolt at the end of last year?
Comrade A: Like any uprising, the one last August came from a ton of frustration that had been building up for ages. It started because during Jokowi’s second term, a lot of corruption finally got exposed. Then when Prabowo became president, the politicians got even ballsier — they were basically mocking everyone like, “If we wanna do this, what are you gonna do about it?” Add to that the deep hatred toward the police, who are corrupt as hell institutionally, plus tons of unfinished cases like the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster where over a hundred football fans died a few years ago.
In the last couple of years, especially on TikTok (which is huge among regular and lower-middle class folks), there were way more posts full of hate toward the police than before. The final spark? The government decided to raise DPR (the Indonesian parliamentery) members’ salaries right in the middle of all that anger. Then during the protests, an online driver got run over and killed by a police tactical vehicle. Boom — perfect recipe for chaos. Continue reading “Interviews with three anarchists in Indonesia vs Anti-Sistema”