"Yes, Ma, we fought back... even though only with our mouths." -- Minke to Nyai Ontosoroh

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/10/131938174/for-china-s-absent-nobel-winner-a-lasting-reward

in the light of this morning's quasi-awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, i'd like to give a big middle finger to China for being such a dickhead in regards to Liu Xiaobo and his freedom as a human being to express his personal thoughts through literature and social change. Liu is currently imprisoned and his wife is being held under house arrest - and because of this, because of China's relentless hold on their people's self expression, Liu will not technically receive the award, although it has been awarded to him by the Nobel committee. what a shame...

you can read all you want about Liu and this situation today in the news, but once i heard this, i immediately thought of a similar past situation in Indonesia, with an seldom-mentioned, little known author (at least in the western hemisphere) named Pramoedya Ananta Toer (commonly, as i will refer to him, known as Pram). you should read about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pramoedya_Ananta_Toer


basically, Pram was imprisoned for speaking out against the Suhartan regime in Indonesia through his literary works. he was imprisoned and banished to the island of Buru where he constructed his quartet of novels, The Buru Quartet, which narrates the story of a mixed race boy in Indonesia in the aftermath of the colonial Dutch rule over the country. post-colonialism is in full effect, Japanese immigrants are flowing into Indonesia to flee persecution in their own country, and the reader is given an in-depth look into racial, cultural, and political tensions in every facet of Indonesian life. this in-depth detail upset the government, leading them to ban the possession of any book written by Pram. many people went to jail in defiance for simply possessing a book. any similarities in today's news???

Pram was considered for the Nobel Prize for literature, yet his imprisonment and the government's attitude towards the author wouldn't allow such an award. he spent about 20 years in Buru, and upon release, he was put under house arrest until 1992. he died in 2006 from complications from diabetes and heart issues, suspected remnants from his abusive imprisonment in Buru. he also smoked the shit out of clove cigarettes.

i wrote a scholarly paper on the first book in The Buru Quartet, titled This Earth of Mankind, so i've done extensive research on Indonesian culture during the time of the Dutch pulling out of their colonial prowess in the country. i've also read enough about Pram to realize that he got screwed over in the very same fashion that Liu is getting screwed by over-controlling, communist government. at the time of the novel, post-colonial effects were just coming to light as Dutch officials elected local Indonesian powers, who in turn saw themselves as the "white" power in the country. the result was a widespread intensity of racial division and hatred, from the upper echelon of society (those in power) to the lower (peasants and mixed-race Indonesians). of course at the time, the Dutch rule remained while they claimed to be "pulling out" (hmmm, Iraq war, unprotected sex.... pulling out doesn't ever really seem to work, does it? always a trickle of something left behind... and that usually ain't no good). the dissidence caused by the writings of the protagonist in the novels, Minke (Indonesian for "monkey," as he was ridiculed by most everyone), puts him at great risk as the government, newspaper editors and backers, and most others in power saw him to be a great threat to the hold they all had over information and it's distribution to the people.

things never change: (from Wikipedia, unfortunately...)

This Earth of Mankind was banned by the Attorney General of Indonesia in 1981 on the grounds that it promoted Marxist-Leninist doctrines and Communism, even though neither doctrine is mentioned in the book.

Initially, the Ampat Lima printing house, which actually printed This Earth of Mankind, were asked not to produce any more works published by Hastra Mitra. The editors of major media organizations were contacted, to the effect that they were not allowed to review or praise This Earth of Mankind or any other of Pramoedya's works.

In April 1981, various New Order youth groups held discussion sessions which criticized the work of Pramoedya. These discussions were trumpeted by the mass media as evidence of the disapproval of 'the people'. Subsequently, these discussions provided an important justification for the eventual banning of the work by the Attorney General. New Order mouthpieces such as Suara Karya, Pelita and Karya Dharma began publishing criticisms of This Earth of Mankind and its author.

The Association of Indonesian Publishers (IKAPI), which were organizing an exhibition of the books of that year, suddenly sent a letter to the address of Hasta Mitra, revoking Hasta Mitra's membership in the association, despite the fact that the committee had been enthusiastic about inviting the publisher to become a member and be involved in its activities. Newspapers which had previously been sympathetic became increasingly reluctant to give space to the author, and there were even several pieces of writing, ready to be published, which were suddenly rejected just because their authors had praised the work of Pramoedya.

Finally, on the 29th May 1981, the Attorney General published regulation SK-052/JA/5/1981 about the banning of This Earth of Mankind and its sequel Child of All Nations (Anak Semua Bangsa). In the regulation, among other things, were mentioned a letter from Suharto which had been written a week previously, and a meeting with the Minister of the Interior on the 18th May 1981. The banning of the book was entirely political and had nothing to do with the books' literary qualities, scholarly arguments nor the official reason that the books were pro-communist.

All bookshops and agents were visited by people from the Attorney General's office and all copies of This Earth of Mankind and Child of All Nations were confiscated. In fact, several of them took the initiative and voluntarily surrendered copies of the books. However, by August 1981, only 972 copies of the books had been confiscated from the close to 20,000 copies in circulation.

In September 1981, the translator of This Earth of Mankind into English, Maxwell Lane, a staff member of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, was recalled home by the Australian Government. The Ampat Lima company, which had originally printed the two novels also ceased trading because of pressure from the Attorney General's office and the Interior Ministry.

Pram didn't even write the books that make up the Buru Quartet. he orated the tales to his fellow inmates, who took up his prison work just to hear him continue the tales. he wasn't allowed a pencil or paper in prison. the power of words is far greater than that of the pen.

just think about it for a second though... in 1980, a novel written by Pram was banned and he was placed under house arrest. 1980 and the post-colonial powers of censorship and mandated silence are still in effect to the point that a - then - old man is forced to remain at home under the powers of the government, even after they kept him sequestered to a prison island. the most miraculous thing of all, and this is what completely amazes me about this man, is that his imprisonment is what lead to his most influential and powerful work. this is the thing that amazes me about post-colonial studies and cultures: the people who have been shat on, for centuries, bullied and put down by more powerful forces tend to produce the most powerful and most moving works of art. those whose governments strip them of most all human freedoms and they overcome with pure imagination and sheer will of the mind and the heart.

and still, today, this sheer will to be free and defy the powers that be is smothered by big government. not only is Liu suffering for exercising freedoms, but after the announcement of his Nobel Prize award, the Chinese government immediately placed his wife on house arrest - with no charge for any offense. how can these things be? i completely understand cultural and social difference - and also understand that just because i believe something should be blue doesn't mean that someone in China has to believe the same thing; yet, shouldn't they have the right to believe, even if they aren't allowed to paint it blue, that it should be blue. and have the right to speak out, "this should be blue." it's hard to believe these days with big government that one person can really scare the shit out of them to this point. today's imprisonment of Liu and the past imprisonment of Pram explicitly reflect a vile and blatant attack on individual human rights and freedoms.

maybe it's the fact that literature is taking a back seat to more popular and digital forms of media these days. no one reads anymore unless everyone's reading it (i.e. Steig Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). i've never come across another person in my life that's even heard of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, let alone read anything written by an Indonesian author. please, please, read more. buy books because they aren't going to be around (in print form) for very long. by 2014 the world will be digital and we'll be forced to read everything on a Kindle or electronic device. our eyes will begin to revolt and burn from constantly looking at a screen, rather than a printed page. you won't be able to underline your favorite passages; you won't be able to fold corners or scribble sudden breakthroughs in ideas that are storming through your head at the time you read a sentence...

if you want to change your perspective and enrich your life, read This Earth of Mankind. defy post-colonial bullshit and read what Indonesian governments are afraid you'll read. do the same with Liu's work. read it. learn something. get upset about things like this - we all should.