After five years’ effort, the US government has begun declassifying and releasing documents detailing its complicity in the Indonesian genocide. They acknowledge they are doing this in response to public interest raised by our films. Despite the hundreds of times we urged declassification, we never really believed this would happen.
The impact in Indonesia is immediate and huge, with loud demands that the US move from Embassy documents to Defense Attaché and CIA files.
Here is some of the most important American coverage:
Washington Post: https://www.facebook.com/oppenheimer.joshua/posts/10155567584140751?pnref=story
BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41651047
NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/world/asia/indonesia-cables-communist-massacres.html
It’s especially worth reading Senator Tom Udall’s moving, strong statement on the declassification - https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/news/press-releases/udall-statement-on-declassification-of-us-files-on-indonesian-massacre
And this VOA story detailing how this became the National Declassification Center’s biggest release to date - and their first genuine release of secretmaterial: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-declassified-indonesian-embassy-files/4075504.html
Thanks so much to everyone who worked on and/or supported The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence and the outreach campaigns.
We are so grateful.
Joshua and Signe