A story is emerging out of Indonesia that presents an opportunity for progressives to put some potentially successful pressure on the administration. It is also an unfortunate example of Obama and the Democrats falling fall short of adequately representing progress.
Journalist Allan Nairn is under attack for his reporting on human rights violations in a country that Obama will be visiting in June, and facing potential criminal charges. He made his report on Democracy Now in an interview with Amy Goodman, which focuses on an incident where Kopassus (Indonesian Special Forces) assassinated civilian activists. Here's the video (and transcript):
He returned to the show yesterday to speak about the buzz his report has caused, and the action that may be taken against him. This is not the first time that Nairn has been punished by the Indonesian government, a consistent enemy of free press and human rights violator. Video and transcript:
The Obama administration is moving to increase aid to Indonesia as well as ending the ban on military training by US forces which as existed for 12 years. This is an insanely regressive move and is an insult to humanity AND to everyone who voted for Obama, hoping that this kind of unjust foreign policy would end. It was apparently too much to hope that Obama would come down harder on Isreal for its human rights violations, but we may still be able to have an effect on this policy.
We need to make sure Obama knows how we feel about tax dollars going to unjustly kill civilians.
