From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks

The incarceration of leftists in Indonesia under the army-dominated Suharto regime from 1965 to the late 1990s led to advocacy campaigns on their behalf by Amnesty International and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Campaigns such as these included the involvement of members writing letter...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hearman, Vannessa
Format: Journal Article
Published: Les publications Histoire sociale/Social History Inc. 2020
Online Access:https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/41068
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86771
_version_ 1848764863748243456
author Hearman, Vannessa
author_facet Hearman, Vannessa
author_sort Hearman, Vannessa
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The incarceration of leftists in Indonesia under the army-dominated Suharto regime from 1965 to the late 1990s led to advocacy campaigns on their behalf by Amnesty International and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Campaigns such as these included the involvement of members writing letters to political prisoners and gave rise in some instances to long-term epistolary friendships between some prisoners and their international pen pals. Friendships, such as the one between English writer Patricia Cleveland-Peck and a former schoolteacher serving a 15-year sentence, Pudji Aswati, reveal how letter-writing fostered human rights activism, and led to the establishment of a long-term fundraising scheme—the Pudji Fund—to support former political prisoners in many parts of the world. The deep emotional bonds developed between correspondents over several years led to the formation of strong networks of activism spanning several countries.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:26:07Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-86771
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:26:07Z
publishDate 2020
publisher Les publications Histoire sociale/Social History Inc.
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-867712021-12-14T02:37:22Z From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks Hearman, Vannessa The incarceration of leftists in Indonesia under the army-dominated Suharto regime from 1965 to the late 1990s led to advocacy campaigns on their behalf by Amnesty International and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Campaigns such as these included the involvement of members writing letters to political prisoners and gave rise in some instances to long-term epistolary friendships between some prisoners and their international pen pals. Friendships, such as the one between English writer Patricia Cleveland-Peck and a former schoolteacher serving a 15-year sentence, Pudji Aswati, reveal how letter-writing fostered human rights activism, and led to the establishment of a long-term fundraising scheme—the Pudji Fund—to support former political prisoners in many parts of the world. The deep emotional bonds developed between correspondents over several years led to the formation of strong networks of activism spanning several countries. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86771 https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/41068 Les publications Histoire sociale/Social History Inc. unknown
spellingShingle Hearman, Vannessa
From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks
title From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks
title_full From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks
title_fullStr From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks
title_full_unstemmed From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks
title_short From Indonesia with Love: Friendships between Political Prisoners and their Pen Pals and the Creation of Human Rights Activist Networks
title_sort from indonesia with love: friendships between political prisoners and their pen pals and the creation of human rights activist networks
url https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/41068
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86771