Reflection #2

We are reflecting on  Indonesia Accuses:  Soekarno's Defence Oration in the Political Trial of 1930.  

Reflection #2

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer 8:20

Soekarno, a leader of the Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI) which advocated independence for Indonesia, was arrested in 1930 and tried by the Dutch colonial authorities.  He was 23 years old.  In his defense at trial, Soekarno spoke about the Indonesian experience of imperialism and colonialism.  Soekarno distinguished between “new” and “old” imperialism.  New imperialism is ‘the child of modern capitalism,’ he said.  Relying on the Dutch leader Pieter Jelies Troelstra’s writings, Soekarno defined imperialism as the phenomenon that occurs “when big-capital, in a country largely controlled by banks, utilizes the foreign policy of that country to further its own interests” (7).  Soekarno used the work of British author, H. N. Brailsforth, to add that imperialism consists of hunting for concessions and exploiting natural resources in weaker states.  Imperialism is thus, the political manifestation of capital accumulation presenting as the exportation of capital in order to secure new investments and markets (8-9).  Like new imperialism, old imperialism is based on a system of domination that arises in the context of avarice and greed (11).

Relying on Dietrich Shaeffer, Soekarno defined colonialism as the exploitation of a land, its natural resources, and its people for the benefit of the colonizing country.  He used Professor Anton Menger to note a religious dimension to colonialism.  Menger wrote that during religious times the exploitation of people is concealed under the demand to bring Christianity to the natives (14).  Professor Kielstra found that Muslims and “heathens” in Indonesia were considered inferior and misguided in the view of the colonizing Christian Dutch (20).    Indonesians experienced imperialism and colonialism in countless cruelties—mass starvation, forced labor, quota systems, canings and whippings.  Soekarno reminds us that these experiences are not soon forgotten.  “Injustice is long remembered by those who suffer it” (quoting Sanders) 23.

Imperialism and neo-colonialism continue today in different guises—Global War on Terror (GWOT), The World Trade Organization (WTO), The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund (IMF).  Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) are mandated by The World Bank and the IMF for poor borrowing nations.  These SAPs require the privatization of industry, open markets and the cessation of social welfare programs, all of which serve to transfer wealth and resources to developed countries.  Native populations continue to suffer as they are exploited for the benefit of the few.  We even hear religious echoes in the imperial rhetoric.  President George W. Bush identifies the GWOT as a “crusade,” and frames it as something God asked him to do.  The prosecution of this Global War is largely undertaken by Christian and secular nations, and its effects are primarily directed at Muslim majority nations.   

Imperialism and colonialism are enacted within the binary logic of either/or positionings—us/them, good/bad, developed/undeveloped, mind/body, human/nature, right/wrong.  Only when we fundamentally rethink what it means to be human will the suffering caused by domination cease.  If we recognize ourselves as human becommings—beings becoming who we are in relation with all earth—we will understand that self-interest is not confined to an insular, unrelated individual; but rather, expansively includes the well being of all.