Repression in literacy activism has still occured in Indonesia even though the New Order's authoritarian regime has been collapsed. The Reformation period still colored by a series of actions conducted by the state apparatus (military and police) along with mass organizations (ormas) to disperse discussions and raiding books. The most frequently targeted are groups and knowledge products that discuss the themes of Marxism, Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI), and the 1965 tragedies—themes which we classify as critical discourse. Repression is carried out arbitrarily and legitimized through a series of claims which sounds: "endangering the state", "disturbing public order", or "opening the wounds of the nation". These claims, we see, is a form of defining “others”, carried out by the state and its apparatus, on groups of people and their activities that try to explore and offer critical perspectives and new insights related to the part of history of the nation, which was forbidden to discuss by New Order regimes. In this paper we aims to elucidate the assumptions and forms of ideas behind those claims, by interpreting it based on the Indonesia historical experience regarding Marxism, PKI, and 1965 tragedies. The continuation of repression on critical literacy activities in post-New Order regimes shows that the legacy of New Order authoritarianism is still working in the State structure and strives to dominate the public discourse through the exclusion of activities and production of critical knowledge.

Keywords: critical literacy activism, authoritarianism, repression, politics of othering