Ward Berenschot

YouTube video by Watchdoc Image COLONIAL DEBRIS (full movie)

Now online: the English version of our documentary Colonial Debris. Together with documentary makers Watchdoc, we made this film to convey the results of our research project on land conflicts between palm oil companies and rural Indonesians.
youtu.be/aII6__-xz8g?...

South East Asia Research Village Politics in Indonesia: Across Time and Space. Volume 33, Issue 1 of South East Asia Research

Great new special issue out in South East Asia Research on village politics in Indonesia @edwardaspinall.bsky.social @wardb.bsky.social @kitlv.bsky.social @anubellschool.bsky.social @newmandala.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/toc/rsou20/3...

A open side-event at the upcoming RSPO meet in Paris on 20 may: Oxfam and Solidaridad are organising a screening of the documentary Colonial Debris, followed and panel discussion on land rights & palm oil.

Six months apart. 🇺🇸

@economist.com

Impressive report by @fittarelli.com from CitizenLab on Thailand's IO. Nice to see that one of the "influential black accounts" that we also identified in our recent article is now exposed as belonging to the Thai state.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Nice: Jakarta Post reported on our research on oligarchization & highlights why it matters: 'Oligarchization' blocks meaningful public participation in lawmaking www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2025...

Altijd blij met ‘onze’ @jacobboersema.bsky.social. Lees dit interview…

Inderdaad, ik was te optimistisch! Het leek erop dat rol van leger in overheid beperkt zou blijven, maar de uiteindelijke versie is heel zorgelijk

In November 2024, Indonesia went to the polls to elect its local leaders. As i analyse in this short piece, these elections reflected an ongoing centralization of power. Jakarta aka Prabowo’s regime asserted itself on local politics.

www.insideindonesia.org/the-national...

NEW: Elon Musk’s X has suspended accounts of Turkish opposition groups, suppressing footage of anti-government protests.

So, best we share all the footage we can here!

This was last night’s massive demo against Erdogan’s government, which follows the arrest of his rival Ekrem İmamoğlu.

🇹🇷 #Turkey

Le Monde reporting that a French scientist traveling to Houston to attend a conference was denied entry to US after a search of his phone & computer revealed messages critical of Trump's science cuts, "which [says CPB] conveyed hatred of Trump & could be qualified as terrorism". Computer confiscated

Hongarije neemt wet aan die Pride-mars verbiedt Tijdens de stemming staken tegenstanders van premier Orbán rookfakkels af en werden nepafbeeldingen uitgedeeld waarop Orbán en de Russische president Poetin elkaar kussen.

Het afpakken van rechten staat nooit op zichzelf. Dit gaat iedere Europeaan aan.

nos.nl/l/2560216

Podcast: Zijn de wittebroodsweken van president Prabowo al voorbij? De Indonesische president Prabowo is nu 5 maanden aan de macht. Om zijn belofte voor gratis lunch voor alle schoolkinderen en zwangere vrouwen te kunnen betalen moet de Indonesische overheid miljarden...

Is de Indonesische president Prabowo zijn populariteit nu al kwijt? Ik was te gast bij Edwin Mooibroek’s Indonesie podcast, een overzicht van de de eerste maanden van Prabowo’s presidentsschap. www.indonesienieuws.nl/podcast-4/

This is horrible to post, but I may as well post it. We are essentially shutting down research operations in my group, which is focused on treatments for pediatric brain cancer. I’m a well funded investigator, and there’s no choice. Science can’t function without the stability of NIH

YouTube video by Senator Chris Murphy Murphy: Trump’s Billionaire Tax Cut is a Scam to Take Money From Regular People

If you missed it - this is @chrismurphyct.bsky.social describing the transfer of wealth from ordinary people to the very wealthy, happening right now

youtu.be/MXZuHf7LMZE?...

"That's because [Putin] would rather have a puppet as president of the United States"

Call for papers! We are inviting scholars working on public opinion manipulation through social media in SEA to gather in Undip, Semarang in august, to discuss recent findings & steps forward. Do send your abstract by 15 April.

www.kitlv.nl/news/online-...

Screened at the VU Amsterdam last night! Catch COLONIAL DEBRIS this week if you can. Watch and learn why companies and consumers need to divest from #conflictpalmoil from #Indonesia. And push your governments to fund #foreignaid to help villagers fight corporate giants in court. #film #documentary

Call for papers! Workshop on "Online Influence Operations and Democracy in Southeast Asia". Semarang, Indonesia 22-23 August, Diponegoro University. @wardb.bsky.social @yatunsastra.bsky.social

www.kitlv.nl/news/online-...

Thanks @leidenglobal.bsky.social ! Next week: documentary launch Colonial Debris in Amsterdam and Leiden

Recent conversation with @wardb.bsky.social raises a very interesting question:

Contemporary US political science understands the current moment through the lens of democratic backsliding. The focus is on rules and institutions. Why not oligarchy, the material and structural foundations of power?

Suzanne Kröger on LinkedIn: Knalgroen én felrood. De strijd tegen ongelijkheid en uitbuiting van de… | 11 comments Knalgroen én felrood. De strijd tegen ongelijkheid en uitbuiting van de planeet zijn in essentie dezelfde. Een strijd tegen een kleine groep die steeds… | 11 comments on LinkedIn

Klimaatverandering is de nieuwe grote ongelijkmaker en alleen met sociaal beleid kunnen we klimaatverandering aanpakken.

Morgen het eerste evenement dat @dwars en JS samen organiseren. Over klimaat! Want jongeren weten als geen ander dat rood en groen samen gaan.
www.linkedin.com/posts/suzann...

Elon’s Twitter Destruction Playbook Hits The US Government, And It’s Even More Dangerous Remember how Elon Musk destroyed Twitter by ripping apart its infrastructure without understanding it? Now imagine that same playbook applied to the federal government. It’s happening, and th…

Tjeez, if there was a ‘how to do a coup’ manual for budding dictators, this strategy would be in it. Brace yourselves www.techdirt.com/2025/01/31/e...

See the trailer of Colonial Debris here: drive.google.com/file/d/1kecL...

Voor iedereen met interesse in Palm olie of koloniale geschiedenis of Indonesie of gewoon docu-liefde: met Indonesische filmmakers heb ik de docu Colonial Debris gemaakt, en 24-26 Feb is de lancering aan de VU/RUL/UvA, met panel met regisseur, activisten, experts. Komt! Registratie via link.

For scholars working on the Southeast Asia and the Caribbean: if you need a research break and/or fancy the Netherlands, consider applying for these nice fellowships at KITLV vacatures.knaw.nl/job/Leiden-C...

Thank you @leidenglobal.bsky.social for this nice interview!

Essential reading on this from @tompepinsky.com www.vox.com/the-big-idea...

"The fantasy of authoritarianism distracts Americans from the mundane ways in which the mechanisms of political competition and checks and balances can erode... if [democracy] ends, it will not end in a bang."

Big tech is picking apart European democracy, but there is a solution: switch off its algorithms | Johnny Ryan The latest actions of Musk and Zuckerberg are a sign of things to come, but the EU already has the power to give people back control, says Johnny Ryan, director of Enforce, a unit of the Irish Council...

This seems a sensible
solution to an urgent problem.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Colonial Debris | Documentary & debate about palm oil and land conflicts in Indonesia - KITLV This event will mark the launch of the English version of the documentary Colonial Debris. In this documentary Indonesian filmmakers explore why their country has so many land conflicts.

We are organising three screenings of our documentary Colonial Debris, followed by q&a with the director and land activists, on 24-26 feb in Amsterdam (VU and UvA) and Leiden University. Do come! For trailer & registration, see:
www.kitlv.nl/event/coloni...