Support Anarchist Translators in Indonesia
Support Anarchist Translators in Indonesia
Reverse the colonial flows of knowledge! Help spread lessons from struggles in Indonesia!
Today is the last day to contribute to Page Against the Machine, an anarchist publication and translation project in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Their immediate goal is to pay translators in Indonesia to translate 3 books about their movements into English.
This provides much needed resources to local translators and publishers
combats unconsciously colonial attitudes in our movements by centering the experiences and perspectives of racialized and historically colonized peoples
strengthens global solidarity by sending material support to radical movements in a country that suffered over three centuries of brutal colonialism by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British, and then brutal repression during and after WWII orchestrated by Japan, the US, and the UK, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Just a few bucks from a few readers will help them meet their goal, and if they can surpass their goal, it will be an inspiration for similar projects around the world.
Below is a description of the translation project and the reasoning behind it, and then an interview and article about anarchists in the anticapitalist and ecological movements in Indonesia today.
From their fundraising page:
Why translate and publish Indonesian anarchist literature in English?
Translation and publication of Indonesian anarchist literature into English sheds light on the unique development of anarchism in Indonesia.
The dominance of European and American anarchist narratives has led to an imbalance, with non-Western perspectives often marginalized or overlooked. Translating Indonesian anarchist and critical literature helps to rectify this imbalance, offering a platform for voices from less privileged regions and contributing to a more equitable language cultural exchange.
By incorporating Indonesian anarchist literature, we want to introduce different viewpoints that challenge the dominance of European and American narratives. Indonesian anarchism emerges from a context marked by post-colonial struggles, economic disparities, and indigenous practices. Understanding these differences highlights how anarchism adapts and evolves in diverse environments and reveals the distinct ways in which it addresses local issues.
By translating Indonesian anarchist and critical texts, we can uncover how these colonial legacies affected the local expressions of anarchism and how Indonesian writers responded to and transformed these influences into local narratives. This is not just about making texts accessible; it’s about enriching the global discourse on anarchism, challenging dominant narratives, and acknowledging the complex interplay of colonial legacies. By doing so, we gain a more comprehensive understanding of anarchist movements worldwide and different contributions of Indonesian thinkers and activists.
Who we are…
We are Page Against The Machine, a small independent publisher in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
One of our key objectives is to elevate the narratives from non-academic writers who are first hand witnesses to events. This focus is important because many writers and activists here do not have the privilege of higher formal education. Our publication seeks to address this issue by providing a platform for these direct voices from the grassroots.
As a cooperative, we are collectively managed under mutual cooperation and solidarity principles. We plan to collaborate with local authors and publish a greater number of texts focusing on critical literature, social struggles, feminism, anarchism, and queer topics.
Page Against the Machine was initiated by three individuals: Mila, Mita, and Muhee. We are not only friends and comrades who have known and collaborated with each other for a long time but are also dedicated activists.
Your support
For Indonesian anarchist literature to reach a broader audience, financial support is essential. Publishing and distributing books, journals, and other written materials requires resources that many Indonesian anarchist publishers and authors simply do not have. Financial backing will cover costs including production, translation, marketing, workspace rent, working equipment, and distribution. This support is crucial for making our works accessible to global readers.
The first books under translation are:
Here’s a longer interview about Page Against the Machine, with descriptions of the three books above.
Indonesian publishing collective Page Against the Machine talk about their project to translate anarchist texts into English and their Crowdfunder for production costs.
And finally, a September interview from CrimethInc with two people in Indonesia — an independent researcher in Bandung and a comrade from an anarchist collective in Jogjakarta — about the recent wave of protests that swept the country this August.
Help spread these interviews, get the fundraiser out there in these last few hours, and keep your eyes open for the English translations of those books!
You can also read more about anarchist support for indigenous Dayak communities in Borneo resisting the pillaging being carried out by international mining, logging, agricultural, and green energy companies, in The Solutions Are Already Here. The comrade who gave an interview for that chapter, a Dayak anarchist, was subsequently arrested as part of the Indonesian state’s ongoing repression against Indigenous communities and anticapitalists.
Until next time, take good care of one another
in solidarity,
p
This is amazing. Thank you for sharing. I’ll throw them a few bucks today and try to spread the word before it’s over.
Spreading the word. Alao getting in touch and checking how I can support not only with money