“Human Rights Activism in Indonesia”

In this interview, Usman Hamid presents the activities of Amnesty International Indonesia, to which he is the Executive Director. He discusses the main challenges regarding issues like Papua unlawful killings, violence against LGBTQI+ people, the remaining struggle for the memory of the mass killings in 1965, or discriminatory laws that hamper the rights of women. The difficulties he encounters in making progress in the face of these different socio-political issues and the intimidations he continues to suffer personally as an activist lead him to analyse a decline of democracy in Indonesia. He particularly stresses the pressures exerted against the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK). Using concrete examples, he opens his reflection to analyse what lies behind the ideological confrontation mobilised by opponents of social pluralism and inclusion, such as the rhetorical opposition between Eastern/Asian values and allegedly Western values that are favourable to human rights

Human rights · Political science · Asian Studies and History · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology