This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our listeners, who support us at patreon.com,

and by University of California Press, publishers of the book, The Anti-Defamation League, and the Racial State, by Amaya Gelman.

A gripping and incisive read, this first-ever history of the Anti-Defamation League,

shows that it was never the steadfast

defender of civil rights that it claimed to be. Tracing the ADL's conflicts with social justice movements,

this book reveals the organization's long-standing partnership with U.S. Empire. Learn more about the Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State at UCpress.edu.

Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin Magazine.

My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.

This is the third episode of Nusantara, a series on the history of Indonesia.

Nusantara is a word that refers to the vast geographic archipelago that only through centuries

of colonial capitalism and the struggles against it became a nation, one whose boundaries,

identities, and purpose remain contested to this day.

These introductions are rather lengthy, but I suggest that you listen to them.

They will help orient you as we move through a complex historical discussion. The Japanese military

was initially greeted as a liberatory force when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II.

European colonialism was, at least for the meantime, over, and it was over thanks to the

industrial and military capacity of a fellow Asian nation. Japan presented its expansionist

militarism as a vehicle for pan-Asianism to make, quote,

Asia for Asians. Indonesia's appraisal of their new rulers would soon sour. But the Japanese

occupation, which lasted only from March 1942 through Japan's surrender to the Allies in August

1945, it profoundly altered

Indonesian society and set the nation on the path to independence. The Japanese soon made clear

...