Hi from Amsterdam, Reader,

The past few weeks have been busy and exciting, hence why I paused the newsletter. If you're a regular reader, you know about Inclusive Journalism's media partnership with the Singaraja Literary Festival in North Bali, Indonesia.

The theme of last week's fourth edition was Stri Sasana, based on an ancient lontar manuscript and loosely translated as the role of women in society. I interviewed Balinese scholar I Wayan Juliana, who did his PhD research on this lontar. You can read the conversation titled Balinese Women Between Tradition and Colonial Legacy on the new Cracks website.

Besides the festival, we also finished the Leading for Transformation course with wonderful participants and guest speakers. One participant said the course gives you "clarity and form to any vague thoughts you may already have about your position and power in the world."

I couldn't be happier with feedback like that!

Back in the Netherlands, I'm re-reading Anne-Lot Hoek's book The Struggle for Bali, about the Indonesian fight for independence from the Dutch after World War II. The book, a documentary series about a whistleblower who spoke about Dutch war crimes in Indonesia, and an opinion piece in a national newspaper about our false sense of superiority led to today's writing. Read more below.

Sanne

Journalism's colonial vocabulary

When I interviewed I Wayan Juliana about his PhD research (mentioned above), we ended up in a conversation with journalist and founder of digital native media platform Tatkala, Made Adnyana Ole, who mentioned the Dutch colonial influence on Balinese women. The colonizers wanted to keep the image of Bali as a tropical paradise intact, and so they made efforts to keep the traditions and their hierarchy as they were, without encouraging the Balinese to evolve.

Anne-Lot Hoek also writes in her book The Struggle for Bali that the Dutch colonial power marketed Bali internationally as a peaceful holiday destination, even as the Balinese themselves experienced high taxes, forced labour, racial segregation and political repression. Colonial authorities cultivated images of timeless culture and tradition while suppressing political aspirations.

And so, colonialism was not just sustained through military force but also through storytelling. Structural inequalities and wrongdoings were covered up by constructed narratives, and language was used to downplay atrocities. Hoek writes how military invasions were called "expeditions," resistance was described as "a disturbance of peace and order," and economic interests were reframed as a civilizing mission. The "terrorists" and "rebels" back then would now be called "freedom fighters."

War crimes without using that word

The Dutch documentary series Brieven aan Hueting (Letters to Hueting) is about whistleblower Joop Hueting, who in 1969 on national Dutch television declared that the Dutch had committed war crimes in Indonesia during the independence war (1945-1949). Hueting received death threats and had to go into hiding with his family for a while. Even decades later, after research showed that he was right, the word "war crimes" is still taboo when talking about the Dutch military in Indonesia.

Isn't it ironic to be the country where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is located and where we easily point the finger at other countries and their war crimes, without having dealt with our own history?

Editor Amber Dujardin writes in the newspaper Trouw this weekend about the Netherlands putting itself in the nineties forward as "gidsland" or guiding country, an example to the rest of the world, and how little is left of that image.

My country has traditionally been a proud country that likes to teach others, but that should be brought down a peg or two, says Dujardin. She writes:

The essay mentions a few typical characteristics of the modernity-coloniality dynamic that we use in decolonial thinking:

• We have reached the limits of makeability and progress as defined by modernity; the downsides are a housing and healthcare crisis; ​
• We've developed a hyper-assertiveness that has brought individuality and confidence but has also led to polarization;
• We rule over nature: we made our country from a swamp. But we also deal with a drinking water shortage and the danger of being flooded due to rising sea levels.

A new cycle

Dujardin's piece mentions a cyclic way of looking at the world. Modernity has brought us a lot, but the systems we built are turning against us now. We need visionary leaders who can touch our souls and move us to a new beginning. The key is to be more humble and open to what we can learn from others, instead of the other way around.

Hoek mentions in her book how Dutch historiography privileged colonial written records while dismissing oral history, producing blind spots that persisted for decades. It's part of a new way of doing, too. Valuing oral history similary as documented history luckily happens more often.

It leads to questions for journalists as well:

• Whose testimony counts as evidence?
• Which sources are treated as authoritative?
• How do institutions shape a so-called "objective" truth?

The importance of colonial history

What becomes clear when diving into all the research about Dutch colonial history in Indonesia is that the same patterns repeat themselves over and over again. Until this day.

An example is the Dutch government's promise to pay compensation to family members of innocent Indonesian civilians who were executed by the Dutch military between 1945 and 1949. The administrative process for receiving that compensation has become so complex that many Indonesians who deserve the compensation have received rejections.

The Dutch hardly documented their war crimes because they knew it was wrong what they were doing; hence, many names don't show up in historical files. Families of victims, however, need proof and can't just rely on oral reports. It's a colonial way of thinking that is underneath this process, says Anne-Lot Hoek in the Hueting film. She also mentions how it eventually comes down to us Dutch people still looking down on Indonesians and failing to see them as our equals.

Hueting himself passed away in 2018. He always mentioned the necessity of looking into our own souls. The film shows how educational material is already being updated on decolonial thinking, but it's a very small part of a new curriculum, and there is still hesitation around certain terminology. Journalism can play a crucial role here.

Language and narratives can make a difference between sweeping history under the rug and drawing a line between what happened then and what continues to happen now.

Journalism may no longer consciously reproduce colonial ideology, but it still inherits colonial frames. It shows in prioritizing certain language, treating official narratives as neutral, and describing overwhelming structural violence solely through the logic of those exercising it.

Gaza

It becomes painfully visible in reporting about the genocide in Gaza. The dominant frame is often still the terror attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, as the starting point of it all. There are multiple images of Palestinians leaving Israeli prisons wounded, starved, and traumatized, yet there is still a reluctance to name the human rights abuses.

The public opinion about the Vietnam War changed when horrific imagery showed up, something that Indonesians didn't have in their fight with the Dutch. For Gaza, everything is recorded, and the language is still often passive, as if Palestinians died in mysterious circumstances.

And so, Hoek is right to say that it eventually comes down to othering: not seeing Palestinians as our equals. Otherwise, we wouldn't act like this. Right?

Cracks Magazine

Last but not least, with my friend and journalist Rajneesh Bhandari, I've been organizing online sessions for journalists to talk about mental health. It's called The Human Beat, a WhatsApp group and monthly gathering. The next one is 7 August. We don't have an agenda; we just show up to share experiences. Register here.

Hope to see you next week!

Sanne