Indonesian
government persecution of feminist Anindya Joediono
in via di
traduzione
Indonesian feminist Anindya Joediono has recently been
persecuted by government officials. Anindya is no stranger to students’
organizations and feminist collectives, having been involved in numerous
leftist movements since 2016.
In December 2017, Anindya and her company of friends began advocating
against urban poor eviction by the officials, and their fight still continues today.
She never backs down in writing open criticism addressed to the government to
challenge neoliberal policies, including one which regulates the infrastructure
development.
On July 6 2018, Anindya was attending a discussion and movie screening
invite in a Papua students’ boarding house. The event discussed about the human
rights violation by the Indonesian government toward the Papuans. As a context,
there’s still a high level of racism against Papuans or Melanesian groups in Indonesia;
therefore, Papua-affiliated events are always seen as separatism.
During the discussion, hundreds of the government’s apparatus along with
military officers barged in without any warrant and terminated the discussion. While
confronting an official and asking for the warrant, Anindya
was sexually harassed by one of the police members. Another woman in the
location, Isabella, was dragged by them. After being dragged and harassed they
were bullied by the police officers.
After the event, Anindya chronicled the case in her social media
accounts for several days. Her house was watched by the officers. Her
participation as a speaker in a seminar was disrupted when police officers came
and interrogated the organizers regarding the nature of the event. Due to her
writings in social media accounts, she was reported by the municipal police
units (Satpol PP in Bahasa) for defamation. She might face four years in
prison.
The chronology of the discussion in the Papuan students’ boarding house
is online at the Asian Human Rights Commission page on this case.
Your support and solidarity in this matter is highly appreciated. Please
disseminate this information to other radical feminist groups. Thank you.
-Indonesian radical feminists-
Nov 9, an update:
Anindya had come and been investigated by the police about a month ago. However,
yesterday on November 8, 2018 she received a new summons from the police with a
new police report number as well. Anindya was called to be questioned for
alleged cases of racism and defamation, not as a witness or suspect. There are
indications that the government reports Anindya twice so that it must be charged
with a layered article.
For information only, the defamation offense in the Electronic
Information and Transaction Law in Indonesia is often used by the
authorities / government to criminalize activists. In some cases (including the
Anindya case) victims of abuse / rape can be reported on charges of defamation
if they speak up to the public, especially if the perpetrators are people who
have positions or sit in government.
Anindya has reported and met a special rapporteur from the United
Nations some time ago but has not received further assistance regarding her
case. We hope that the injustices experienced by Anindya can be of widespread
concern.
Best regards,
Indonesian radical feminists
ILPS CANADA
SOLIDARITY WITH ANINDYA
The ILPS in Canada along with
anti-imperialist activists express their solidarity with Indonesian activist
Anindya Shabrina Joediono. Anindya is active with the student movement as part
of the Front Mahasiswa Nasional (National Student Front) and she is also an
editor for feminist publication Merah Muda Memudar. She has challenged the
Indonesian governments' neoliberal policies of evicting the urban poor,
especially criticizing President Jokowi's pandering to the United States
and other imperialist powers.
On July 6, 2018, Anindya attended
a screening of "Biak Papua 1998", a film about the Indonesian
government's massacre of peaceful protesters demanding national sovereignty in Biak, Papua on July 6, 1998. As the police barged into
the venue of the film screening, she was sexually harassed by police officers. Over
the next few months, Anindya's activities continued to be monitored by the
police who are attempting to build a case against her for "racism and
defamation". Most recently, she was called in for questioning on November 8,
2018. Indonesia's
defamation laws are notorious for being used to criminalize activists along
with survivors of sexual violence who choose to speak out against their
aggressors.
Anindya's struggle is shared by
that of other women human rights defenders around the world who have chosen to
speak out against abuse, imperialism, and patriarchy. These include four
peasant women leaders in Nueva Ecija, Philippines, on October 13, 2018 and Hedda
Calderon, consultant for GABRIELA Women's Partylist in the Philippines. We
reiterate that activism is not a crime, and demand an end to the harassment of
Anindya Joediono.
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