Blood Moon Over Aceh

When military violence destroys his childhood and his family, reluctant rebel Nazir and his peers rally against the greed-driven injustice. The setting is Alue Rambe, a rural village in Aceh, at the epicenter of one of the world’s richest oil and gas fields. This beautifully written, insightful, powerful novel on a horrific topic portratys the lives of Acehnese who have been silenced. Nur records crimes against humanity perpetrated during the military operations in Aceh from 1976–2005. The book reveals his deep understanding of the impact of a sociopolitical conflict, its background, and eventual settlement. This elegant, nuanced translation conveys the author’s grasp of the pain experienced by innocent people, as well as the misery that continues to seep from this gaping wound.

Nur writes about the loneliness, isolation, and grief. His work gives voice to the untold stories of kidnappings, terror normalized, and military atrocities designed to shock civilians into fearful silence. Breaking through a historical amnesia, Nur’s work joins a growing chorus of poets, historians, filmmakers, scholars, and global environmental rights lawyers producing new knowledge about the same phenomena from different angles, all of them calling for justice.

"Blood Moon Over Aceh" shows what happens when private greed and multinational corporations go unchecked and work with public institutions in the Indonesian state and military to create public policies that destroy the environment and the lives of ordinary citizens.