INSIST activists, volunteers, and staff, October 1998, in front of the former garage that became INSISTPress's office and bookstore. This bookstore is still open for business, while the office has moved twice and is now in the northern part of Jogyakarta. Second from the left is the late Mansour Fakih, a founder of INSIST and INSISTPress.
HISTORY: from a narrow old garage
INSISTPress began its publishing in 1998 with the books Civil Society and Social Transformation, Gender and Social Transformation, and School is an Opium. These three books have become best sellers and references for people involved in movements and social transformation to this day. Since then, INSISTPress has also published many training and action manuals that have become key resources for many social movement activists in Indonesia.
Since that day, INSISTPress has published dozens of other alternative works. Among these are literary works (poetry and short story anthologies and novels) based on the results of participatory research on various social problems in Indonesia, written by the young writers of the Yogyakarta Cultural Academy (AKY). In the past, there have been three INSIST member organizations involved in publishing: INSISTPress itself, REaD (Research, Education, and Dialogue), and AKY. However, since INSIST went through a thorough organizational restructuring in 2004, becoming a confederation, it was decided that INSISTPress would be the only publishing body in the INSIST circle.
Many people know INSIST from the books and journals published by INSISTPress. However, many people do not know that this publishing body started with only ideas and enthusiasm as capital. Its first office and bookstore were a narrow garage in the INSIST building in Blimbingsari, Jogyakarta. Now, INSISTPress has offices north of the city and is preparing to build a new office of its own on land owned by INSIST and given to INSISTPress as capital.
