L'Etat

A, B, C. Folders containing papers with lists of dozens of names lying on a table in a detention center in Jakarta, with classifications that will determine the fate of the detainees. A: to be killed. B: to be exiled to Nusakambangan. C: to be detained at the nearest city. Or for action unspecified.

'Unspecified' is the manifestation of sovereignty in its most extreme form: power acting with the assumption that it will not be challenged to provide reasons. Including when it is determining the life and death of thousands of people. Including when it is wrong.

November 17, 2015