Statement of the Second Autonomous Peasant Farmer's Congress, 10th February 2012 - Forum for Communication between Agrarian Communities

To imagine a world without farmers is like imagining a world without food. In the same way, if we imagine a nation which ignores its people can we really believe in its sovereignty? Yet the state's architects are engaged in conjuring up such dark visions right now, as they become corporations' loyal servants.

In the name of development, the state and corporations continue to expropriate peasant farmers' land without cease. In the name of security, farmers are gradually but deliberately being turned into a labour force, available for hire. In the name of the public interest, peasant farmers' living space is being constricted or even obliterated so a handful of businesspeople increase their wealth. In the name of progress, farmers are hoodwinked into handing over their right to a livelihood, giving up their life, their work, their identity, losing their self-respect as a community, as humans.

Attacks by Earth Liberation Front

Our struggle can’t be limited under civilization terms. We out of it. We are wild and we are enemies of civilization. Not only the state and capital (in old terms of anarchism), but all the civilization: we are against it.

We are the ones who proudly throw out the social peace, walk out from our comfort zones and carried an attack actions against what we hate. We are declaring war against civilization and it’s property and join in the international urban guerrilla warfare with all our brothers and sisters in Informal Anarchist Federation and International Revolutionary Front.

We claim and take responsibility for arsons against car and shop belonging to the Vice Secretary of Demokrat in South Sumatera (winning party of 2009 general election), arsons against 4 ATMs in Makassar, and actions against two electrical substations during last week in Jakarta.

Solidarity Call for Ryo (1986-2012)

February 5th, 2013

Here follows a letter from the ex-members of Negasi, about the murder of our comrade Ryo. They are making public a situation that has hit them. War against the existent.

To all comrades,

On 25th November 2012, we lost our comrade named Ryo. He was killed by a coward in the morning when trying to go back to his place after looking for breakfast. Ryo is a member of the first generation of NEGASI and was active in counter-info projects, translation and publication to support the anti-authoritarian movement in Manado.

Ryo also involved in local autonomous struggles in North Sulawesi. He took a position as a campaigner and published infos related to the struggles. Stubborn but humble and always being the first one who would care about his comrades problems. Ryo left a wife and a four years old son.

Kulon Progo Farm or Die

Faced with the threat of their land being taken from them and turned into a vast iron mine, 20 kilometres long, the farmers of Kulon Progo on Java's South Coast have resisted with cries of “Bertani atau Mati!” “We farm or we die!”. Farm or die is a compilation of articles and interviews reflecting their struggle.

If you want to read or download Farm or Die as a pdf you can do that here (to read online) or here (to print). Otherwise, you can read a selection of the articles here:

• Interview with Widodo: A chilli farmer gives his views on the will farm, the struggle, solidarity and autonomy.
• Chronology of Struggle: Some key moments in the struggle from 2007 to 2011
• Interview with Suratinem: In 2011 Suratinem's husband Tukijo was abducted from his field by police, and sentenced to three years in prison. Suratinem tells her story.
• SG and PAG: At the root of the land dispute is the local sultanate, who claim the Kulon Progo land despite the farmers clearly having land title. Feudalism may exist informally in other parts of Indonesia, but only here is it protected by law. 

Kulon Progo Farm or Die: Interview with Widodo

Widodo is one of the local farmers in Kulon Progo who decided when he was young to go abroad as an immigrant worker just as many other youths from rural Indonesia. However, ever since the southern shore of Kulon Progo became verdant and began to yield healthy and abundant crops again due to the determination and hard work of local people he and many other village youth returned home to help their families continue in the ancestral tradition; self-sustained farming. Widodo has joined thousands of others under the umbrella of PPLP to continue to struggle against the lust for power and greed of capitalist mining corporations.

Kulon Progo Farm or Die: Chronology of Struggle

This is a timeline from when the farmers first learn of the plans to mine the area of Kulon Progo, located along the Southern coast of the island of Java, near Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The farmers and local citizens continue to struggle to this day against the corrupt and greedy mining that threatens to destroy their land and livelihood.

Kulon Progo Farm or Die: Interview with Suratinem

Tukijo's wife (Suratinem) has now been working their land on her own for over a year while her husband sits in prison as unjust punishment for speaking out against corporate greed and corruption. At the time of this interview, Tukijo remains unfairly imprisoned. His wife is without the daily company, presence, help and support of her husband.

Kulon Progo Farm or Die: SG and PAG, The Stowaway of Yogyakarta Special State Planning Act

All this time, arguments over Yogyakarta's Special State status has been too focused on deciding who should be the rightful Governor and Vice Governor. The issue, in my opinion, is too confined. Because the thing that more characterizes the feudalism of Special Region of Yogyakarta (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta/DIY), is the existence of million hectares of the imperial land in this province, known as Sultanate Ground (Sultanaat Gronden/SG) and Pakualamanaat Ground(Pakualamanaat Gronden/PAG).

Islands of Autonomy - social centres in Indonesia and the Philippines.

A collection of interviews with six autonomous spaces in Indonesia and the Philippines. The interviews were conducted at the start of 2011, and although the zine has existed for some time, it has unfortunately not been published online until now. Although in the two years that have passed, a few of these spaces have ceased to exist, hopefully it's still interesting to read people's experiences of creating autonomous communities in different contexts.

Interviews are with Institut A in Jakarta, Dandelion in Bandung, Gerbong Revolusi in Kulon Progo, Lino Nipi in Makassar, and - in the Philippines - Etniko Bandido in Manila and Kinayahan Unahon in Davao City.

Islands of Autonomy can be downloaded here.

Is Indonesia heading towards Fascism?

Some observations on the crisis and new terror laws.

A series of recent laws are highlighting a political trend in Indonesia. New laws on Dealing with Social Conflict and Intelligence are already ratified, and three other similar regulations are still in the pipeline: concerning National Security, Military Reserve Forces and Societal Organisations. Not only are these laws terrorising civil liberties and social movements, but they are also laying the basis for the growth of fascism in Indonesia.

Kaleidoscope of Agrarian Conflicts 2012: A portrait of how the people's voices and rights are ignored.

Agrarian or resource conflicts are getting serious. Unclear land-use planning (including the designation of forest areas), along with the government's attitude which seems to allow these conflicts to happen, are only making the situation worse. Companies come in to inhabited lands, or land owned by local or indigenous people. Conflicts arise between the people, or between the people and the company or the state. More often than not, it's the people that lose out.

Points of friction keep on arising. Resource conflicts causing loss of life and property have continued all year long. Data from Walhi indicates that in 2011 there were 8307 agrarian conflicts, and 4302 cases that had been resolved.

Most conflicts occurred in West Sumatra with 883 cases, South Sulawesi with 780, West Java 749, Central Java 532, Bali 515, East Java 400, East Nusa Tenggara 335, North Sumatra 331, Banten 324 and East Kalimantan 242 cases. Here's just a small selection of the agrarian conflicts that occurred this year.

A Chronology of PT Minersave's (Freeport's) Entry into Intan Jaya Regency, West Papua.

This article from KOMISI, a group of students from Intan Jaya in West Papua (in co-operation with the Suara Papua website), recounts how the Freeport mining company, through its subsidaries, established exploration activities in remote Intan Jaya regency over twenty years ago with the help of a western missionary. Currently, as local politicians grant permissions for further exploration work without a mandate or the consent of the communities that live there, the students make a clear demand that the company leaves their land, knowing the pattern of conflict that is bound to emerge otherwise.

Bangka Islanders Seize Mining Company's Ship

PT Mikro Metal Perdana's iron ore mining activities continue to be met with resistance from the Bangka islanders of Likupang District, North Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi. Their latest act of resistance was to sequester a ship belonging to the company, which has loaded with machines which would be used for mining. The action commenced on August 4th and was still continuing when this article was written on August 12th. The people are resolute that they will not end their action until mining activities are decisively halted.

Six years on, and still fighting Lapindo

Recently, 3000 victims of the mud volcano created by the Lapindo company's drilling operations, whose homes were in the affected area, once again demonstrated their feelings outside the East Java Governor's office in Surabaya. They were asking the provincial government to lend money to PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya so the company would be able to pay the compensation money it owed. The demonstrators came from places inside the designated affected zone, for example Renokenongo, Siring, Jatirejo and Glagah Arum villages in Porong district, and Kedungbendo and Ketapang in Tanggulangin District.

They Fight for the Forest

The Iban Dayaks from Semunying had always lived simply alongside their natural environment. Then in 2005 an oil palm plantation company appeared, wanting to take over the ancestral forest that had been the backbone of people's livelihoods for generations.

One year previously the company had obtained permission from the regency government for a 20,000 hectare plantation in Jagoi Babang district. Included in the permit area were 1,420 hectares of land for which the Iban Dayaks were the customary landowners. At first, PT Ledo Lestari, a subsidiary company of Duta Palma Nusantara Group, only built a road which passed close to the ancestral forest. But as time passed, they continued to take more of the land, taking space from the people without permission and eventually clearing their ancestral forest.

Anti-Mine Awareness in East Nusa Tenggara

In the last five years the East Nusa Tenggara Provincial Government has taken a very accomodating attitude to mining development. Many mining permissions have been issued by the provincial and regency governments, for minerals such as iron sand, gold, iron ore, uranium, copper etc. Since entering the era of regional autonomy, NTT is increasingly tormented by the mining industry.

The development of the mining industry in East Nusa Tenggara is indeed astonishing. Since 2007, extractive industries have commenced activities in all parts of the island chain. The number of mining claims submitted to Kupang Regency alone stretches to 80 companies, most of which are already operational. In South Central Timor Regency 176 claims have been submitted, in North Central Timor 139 and in Belu Regency, 89 mining companies are operational. Meanwhile there are also the mines which have already been open for a long time, such as the gold mines in East Sumba, Central Sumba, Lembata, Manggarai Barat, Alor and East Flores, or the iron sand mining in East Manggarai, Sikka and Lembata. Several of these mines are even located in conservation forest.

How a New Law on Social Conflict Supports State Repression

Indonesia in recent years has hosted several intense and bloody conflicts, which can explode very quickly. Especially after the fall of Suharto's regime in 1998, conflicts broke out between Christians and Muslims in Central Sulawesi and Maluku, and between native Dayak people and migrants in parts of Kalimantan. Those conflicts, which are characterised as clashes between different religious, ethnic, racial or other groups, is the subject of a new law which was ratified in April 2012. But conflicts often are not so simple, and often involve manipulation by people in power or with some kind of vested interest. The following article, translated from the Kontinum website, is an analysis of how this law is likely to be used in cases where corporate interests are the root cause of conflict, how such 'horizontal' conflicts can be deliberately created, and how conflict resolution is likely to produce a result in the company's favour.

Call for Solidarity with the Malalayang Traditional Fisherfolk's Struggle Against Coastal Reclamation in Manado

Coastal Reclamation, a megaproject that began in the early 1990s, continues along the length of Manado Bay. New land is being created in the sea to host big business, such as the establishment of new shopping palaces, the mushrooming of the banking industry, and assorted entertainment spots for the weary workers. The area of new land created in the reclamation zone stretches to thousands of hectares, spread over several major developments.

During the course of this development, there has been sporadic resistance from traditional fisherfolk along the Manado coast. Then in 2009, fisherfolk resisting in different parts of the bay began discussions to create a network of communication and started to show direct solidarity each time a group of fisherfolk was faced with conflict.

Anarchists and Traditional Fisherfolk Resist Land Reclamation: Two People Taken by Police.

[a note from NEGASI: Since 2009, the resistance to coastal reclaimation in Manado Bay has escalated. On the front line of these actions are the traditional fisherfolk from different communities along Manado Bay. After the actions of fisherfolk from Sario Tumpaan and people from Kalasey beach, now the fisherfolk of Malalayang II are also showing their resolve to resist.]

4 May 2012

At around 08.00 am, fisherfolk received news that mounds of earth on a piece of land owned by a doctor called Awalui were being moved towards the shoreline. Fisherfolk that gathered at the site realized that hired thugs and police from the Malalayang station had been stationed there to guard the work.

Philippines: Solidarity Action For Eat and Billy

A paint bomb attack against the Indonesian Embassy happened May 24, 2012 in the vicinity of Makati, Philippines. Around 1am a group of people started to throw a black paint to the wall and inside the perimeter of the said embassy. After that they left leaflets on the scene stating
“FREEDOM TO EAT AND BILLY, FREEDOM TO ALL THE VICTIMS OF STATE REPRESSION, STOP THE ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION, INDONESIAN STATE IS THE REAL TERRORIST.”
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