max lane

Mall!
Mewah;
Etalase
Selera;
Tenagaku
disewa;
Kantong
Kecewa;
sistem,
tercela.

“We”
“We are the 99%”
A declaration of a tiny few, 100 or 1,000 or 10,000
In this park or on that street corner,
under baton blows, or faces painted with capsicum sting,
or laughing or shouting in discussions.
Just a few “we”.

A creative “we”
Declaring is beginning
A “we” on the offensive demanding to exist
Constituting itself in activity
Straining to embrace the whole in its journey
“We are the 99%!” searches for its maps.

It has been more than two months since the Occupy Wall Street actions began in New York. The occupation in Zuccotti Park ended after the New York City government mobilised the police for a middle of the night raid. However, the political activity that it set in motion in the United States has not stopped. Not only have occupations and pro-Occupy demonstrations and pickets taken place throughout the US in hundreds of locations, but large mobilisations and even strikes, such as that in Oakland, California, have been possible. These have usually been in defence of the “right to occupy” in the face of police attacks.

Read more…

Gua menelan kita
Kacau ribet lalulintas luar hilang lenyap
Nikmat tergantung kantong
Musik rekaman tidak bisa menghilangkan jiwa senyap

Narrow rough asphalt grey
Fences and walls defend snatches of privacy
The ting ting ting of meat ball sellers
The cacophony enemy of ears from the three wheeler
Dryness, then dark downpour
Outside rapacious streets gobbling time, time, time
Insatiable
The whirr of a fan
Humm of a laptop
Work, maybe

White or blue or yellow all-the-same dress
Sewed-in name on pocket
Blue singlet, overalls
White shirt, collar and tie
Smile hiding a grimace
Alien from one’s hands
A uniform experience
A union of rejection

Pertama sekali saya belajar sejarah Indonesia ialah pada tahun 1967 dan 1968 di Sekolah Menengah Atas di Sydney, Australia, kemudian di Department of Indonesian and Malayan Studies, University of Sydney tahun 1969-72. Pada saat itu sejarah Indonesia Merdeka baru berlangsung 22 tahun. Daripada 22 tahun itu, 5 tahun adalah sejarah revolusi (fisik), kemudian ada periode selama 16 tahun yang berakhir pada tahun 1965, dan kemudian 2 tahun Orde Baru. Pada saat itu, sejarah Indonesia Merdeka masih pendek. Sejarah pra-Indonesia – dari sejak Kartini sampai 1945 – sebenarnya juga bukan periode yang berjangka panjang.

Buat dosen-dosen saya zaman itu, menyusun kurikulum sejarah tak terlalu pusing dengan hanya adanya 22 tahun tsb. Di Indonesia sendiri, tentu saja, Indonesia Merdeka belum ada “sejarah” sama sekali. Periode 1945-67 masih sangat kini buat kaum intelektual, aktivis maupun rakyat.

Read more…

Indonesia berdiri bukan karena todongan senjata tapi karena prinsip kesukarelaan.

ADALAH sebuah fakta di dalam sejarah bahwa sejarah selalu dimanfaatkan oleh semua pelaku politik di dalam masyarakat untuk membenarkan tingkah lakunya pada saat itu dan apa yang direncanakannya kemudian. Pada umumnya kelas sosial yang berkuasa juga menguasai bagaimana cara pengetahuan dan pengertian tentang sejarah diperkenalkan pada masyarakat, baik kepada kelasnya sendiri maupun bagi kelas-kelas lain di dalam masyarakat. Ada banyak sekali contoh, tetap buat saya contoh yang paling dahsyat ialah larangan kekuasaan Roma terhadap siapa pun untuk menulis sejarah pemberontakan budak yang dipimpin Spartacus, kecuali oleh “sejarawan” yang ditunjuk oleh penguasa sendiri. Dan itu memang terjadi, meskipun penelitian paling baru berhasil menemukan versi lain yang disimpan rakyat Italia dalam berbagai jenis bahasa etnisnya. Versi-versi terpendam semenjak berabad lalu dan harus menunggu hampir 2,000 tahun untuk ditemukan kembali.

Read MORE

“Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws.” “You speak of — ”said Egremont, hesitantly. “ THE RICH AND THE POOR.” Benjamin Disraeli, from Sybil, or the Two Nations (1845)

Occupy Wall Street.

The genius of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is primarily to be found in its key slogans tied up with the confrontation that it has been put forward between the “1%” and the “99%” and the assertion: “We are the 99%”. Of course, the numbers involved in the Wall Street demonstrations, and even throughout the USA – which is the heartland of the occupy actions – are nowhere near mobilizing or even genuinely representing the 99%. Polling does show that more than half of the American population is in sympathy with OWS’s anti-corporate greed message but that sentiment has not – not yet – manifested in either mobilisations or a clear electoral manifestation. Yet, the use of the word “We” is justified. In this context I think Slavoj Zizek has summed up the correct approach to the word “we” when he said that the use of the term “we” had to be seen as an act of creating “we”, the agency that can bring about change. In reality, the 99% cannot be referred to as “them” rather than “we” except as a means of escaping responsibility for being part of the agency for change.

Read MORE.

This schedule will be updated regularly and can be accessed by clicking “Where Max is Speaking” just under the banner of this blog, on the far right.

November, 2011

November 2, UniversitasParamedina: ” “Economic Crisis in Europe and United States; A respond from Globalist Perspective in IR”, Graduate School of Diplomacy. Consortium on Indonesian Foreign Policy.

November 8, Singapore: Singapore as Hub for A Democratic Nusantara

November 11: “”Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s 30 year long writer’s block:  the present absence of Indonesia’s revolutionary vernacular?” : – Conference: GREAT ASIAN WRITERS AND VERNACULAR LITERATURES IN POST-COLONIAL  PERSEPECTIVE, Departrment of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore.

November 14: “Asia Africa: two blocks or three blocks: the relevance of Sukarno;s OLDEFOS versis NEFOS today.” , Center for Global Civil Society Studies (PACIVIS) , University of Indonesia. Conference: BANDUNG SPIRIT CONFERENCE.

November 21-25 Lectures at Gajah Mada University on Indonesian political history. (internal)

November 26 (TBC): Launching of Indonesian edition of CATASTROPHE IN INDONESIA by Max Lane. http://www.seagullindia.com/books/detailviewnew.asp?prodid=3625