Share

cover art for Long Reads: Michael Vann on Indonesia's Killing Fields (Part 2)

Jacobin Radio

Long Reads: Michael Vann on Indonesia's Killing Fields (Part 2)

Michael Vann joins Long Reads for a conversation about Indonesia’s turbulent past and present. Michael is a professor of history at Sacramento State University. He specializes in the history of Southeast Asia. This is the second part of a two-part interview. The previous Long Reads episode covers events leading up to Suharto’s coup in the 1960s.


Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by Features Editor Daniel Finn.


You can find Michael's essays about Indonesian history on the Jacobin website:

"The True Story of Indonesia’s US-Backed Anti-Communist Bloodbath" https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/indonesia-anti-communist-mass-murder-genocide

"Indonesia Still Hasn’t Escaped Suharto’s Genocidal Legacy" https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/09/indonesia-sukarno-suharto-communists-genocide-dictatorship-corruption


Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • Dig: Crypto Dystopia or Popular Democracy w/ Hilary Goodfriend & Jorge Cuéllar

    01:35:48|
    Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar in the final installment of a three-part series on Central America. This episode picks up with Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian crypto enthusiasm in El Salvador; Daniel Ortega’s perversion of Sandinismo’s revolutionary legacy in Nicaragua; anti-mining movements in Panama; Honduras and Guatemala, where popular social movements have elected left presidents to confront entrenched power structures. We conclude by discussing mass migration from the region that’s taken on a mystified form in US politics as the MAGA far right’s principal scapegoat.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigShare Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/ThawraCheck out nacla.org for in-depth coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean Buy Defund: Conversations Toward Abolition at haymarketbooks.com
  • Behind the News: Predicting Trump Policy w/ Alex Vitale & Anatol Lieven

    53:01|
    Anatol Lieven tries to divine a Trump foreign policy out of unreliable rhetoric and early appointments. Alex Vitale tries similar on Trump and criminal justice.Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html
  • Dig: Neoliberalism, Violence, Migration w/ Hilary Goodfriend & Jorge Cuéllar

    02:05:33|
    Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar in the second of a three (not two!) part series on the history and present of Central America. This interview picks up our discussion of revolutionary armed struggles against brutal US-backed military-oligarchic regimes in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Then, the peace accords and postwar transitions accompanied by the imposition of neoliberal economic restructuring. Finally, the rise of mass migration, new transnational gangs, and the regime of El Salvador’s authoritarian Bitcoin enthusiast Nayib Bukele. And more.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigWant to learn more? Greg Grandin on The Dig: thedigradio.com/podcast/empires-workshop-with-greg-grandinWe now have a special feed dedicated entirely to our Thawra series. Listen and spread the word: thedigradio.com/ThawraSubscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin  Buy Abolish Rent at Haymarketbooks.com
  • Jacobin Radio: Return of the Trumpian Right w/ Dylan Riley

    56:47|
    Suzi talks to UC Berkeley sociologist Dylan Riley, who has written a great deal about fascism and far right politics. The US has just elected to the Presidency a man who represents a dire threat to democracy and constitutional rule as we know it. We get Dylan’s understanding of the specificity of Trump’s politics, the basis of his support, and the fascistic measures favored by people in and around his party, including the frightening Project 2025. Central to MAGA is a reactionary view of gender, which sees women’s advances happening at the expense of men and their traditional family role. Dylan sees Trump as more of a patrimonial misfit, a charismatic leader who rules more incoherently than a consistent fascist. We also ask how Trump fits in with analogous movements of the far right around the world.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
  • Long Reads: The Forever War on Gaza w/ Akbar Shahid Ahmed

    55:42|
    Earlier this week, Joe Biden welcomed the Israeli president Isaac Herzog to the White House. Last October, Herzog announced that there were no innocent civilians in Gaza. The International Court of Justice cited his comments as evidence that the Palestinian people needed protection from the threat of genocide.Akbar Shahid Ahmed of the Huffington Post has been following the Biden administration’s support for the Israeli attack on Gaza from the start. He’s currently working on a book that will give a detailed account of the inside story. Akbar has joined the podcast twice before to discuss the latest developments. Dan spoke to him again after the US presidential election about the events of the past few months and what is likely to happen next.Find our last Long Reads interview with Akbar here: https://jacobin.com/2024/06/biden-administration-israel-cease-fire-policyAnd read his ongoing coverage for Huffington Post here: https://www.huffpost.com/author/akbar-shahid-ahmedLong Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.
  • Jacobin Radio: Post-Election Analysis w/ Robert Brenner

    55:57|
    We look at the election results that took many of us by surprise — giving Donald Trump and Republicans an across the board victory. For a look at the bigger picture, Suzi speaks to Robert Brenner, professor of history at UCLA, for analysis and some post-election blues. This podcast was recorded on November 8, before all the votes were counted along the West Coast. The final tallies will likely shrink Trump’s margin of victory, but not the overall results. The striking character of the Trump victory is attributable virtually entirely by the drop off in the vote for the Democrats. We try to understand what happened, and how to analyze this shift to the right.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
  • Behind the News: How the West Imagines Ukraine w/ James Foley

    53:01|
    Doug comments on the Trump victory and the role of inflation. Dahlia Scheindlin talks about Israeli public opinion. James Foley and Vladimir Unkovski-Korica, authors of a recent paper, discuss Ukrainian nationalism in the Western political imagination.Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html
  • Michael and Us: The Art of the Deal

    48:56|
    Oh lord almighty, when will we be rid of this man? Apparently not for another four years at least. We ring in the latest chapter of this never-ending "Trump Era" with the new biopic/origin story THE APPRENTICE (2024).Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.
  • Dig: Democratic Dealignment w/ Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

    01:52:31|
    Featuring Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on Trump’s decisive victory, Harris’s catastrophic loss, multi-racial working-class dealignment, and where the left might go from here. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigWe now have a special feed dedicated entirely to our Thawra series. Listen and spread the word: thedigradio.com/ThawraSubscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin  Buy Solidarity is the Political Version of Love at haymarketbooks.com