REVIEW: Indonesian repression and betrayal in West Papua

David Robie

doi:10.24135/pjr.v24i2.438

David Robie Pacific Media Centre - AUT http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2176-8185

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v24i2.438

Keywords: colonialism, human rights, photojournalism, political journalism, reviews, West Papua

Abstract

Papua Blood: A Photographer’s Eyewitness Account of West Papua Over 30 Years, by Peter Bang. Copenhagen, Denmark: Remote Frontlines, 2018. 248 pages. ISBN 978-87-430-0101-0
See No Evil: New Zealand’s Betrayal of the People of West Papua, by Maire Leadbeater. Dunedin, NZ: Otago University Press, 2018. 310 pages. ISBN 978-1-98-853121-2

TWO damning and contrasting books about Indonesian colonialism in the Pacific, both by activist participants in Europe and New Zealand, have recently been published. Overall, they are excellent exposés of the harsh repression of the Melanesian people of West Papua and a world that has largely turned a blind eye to to human rights violations.