The Indian government saw protests over mining projects, building dams, toll roads and anything else as having been provoked by the Maoists (communists).
By
Linda Christanty
·5 minutes read
We decided not to continue climb to the peak of Mount Merapi that night. Jay, Daniella, students from the Netherlands, and I dropped by at a farmer's hut on the slopes of the mountain to rest. The hut was clay-floored with the walls built from wood. A few steps next to the entrance door, a stove was burning with a pot of water on it.
It was 1994. A few months before our climb, the farmers of Kepuharjo, a village on the slopes of Merapi, had taken to the streets in protest against the construction of a golf course that threatened their agricultural land. The hut’s owner appeared to have joined the protests. Dozens of students from a number of cities in Java rallied in front of the regional legislative building in Yogyakarta. The golf course construction went ahead anyway.
Early in the morning, we boarded a a truck heading to Umbul Harjo Market. We piled in the back together with a number of women farmers cuddling baskets loaded with vegetables to sell. The road was steeply downhill and the truck jolted frequently, but the women remained calm, smiling occasionally. Were they happy? Suffering is not felt when it is used to being endured. Neither will the deprivation of access continue to be excruciating if you know that the situation is one of the consequences of unjust practices. In her essay “Trickledown Revolution”, Arundhati Roy said that people who are in dire need tend to fail to perceive that large sums of their money have been stolen and they even fail to realize that their money is used by corrupt politicians to win elections to stay in power. The essay was contained in Roy's book Walking with the Comrades, which carried a critique of Indian government policies, the criminalization of the poor, and the destruction of the environment under the pretext of development. In Indonesia, Roy is better known for his novel The God of Small Things.
If a woman was beaten up by a man, and she hit back, she would be obliged to hand over a goat.
The Indian government saw protests over mining projects, building dams, toll roads and anything else as having been provoked by the Maoists (communists). In fact, protests were carried out by various groups, such as farmers, laborers, indigenous peoples and villagers. People who joined Maoist guerrilla forces in the forests had been motivated by various reasons. One of them told Roy about the chronology of her defection from home. She was a victim of patriarchy. In her village, it was taboo for women to climb trees. A felon was liable to submit a hen as a fine. Women were forbidden to eat eggs. The best meat of animal from forest hunting was exclusively for men. If a woman was beaten up by a man, and she hit back, she would be obliged to hand over a goat.
WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO
Farmers reject the plan to import rice from the central government in Brobot Village, Purbalingga, Central Java, Tuesday (23/3/2021).
I first built my awareness about farmers’ resistance from my mother, who had been in high school back then when the Cold War was at its hottest. She told a story of a peasant insurgency in the Philippines, the Hukbalahap, which was considered a communist rebellion. She learned about it from her history teacher. While preparing this essay, I remembered her story and read Benedict John Kerkvliet's book, The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines. Kerkvliet is an emeritus professor in the Department of Political and Social Change, the Australian National University.
The movement had its roots in the resistance of the farmers against the landlords in the villages in Central Luzon in the 1930s.
Based on Kerkvliet's research and interviews with former Hukbalahap, rebel supporters and people living in Central Luzon during the uprising, the Hukbalahap was not a communist resistance movement. The movement had its roots in the resistance of the farmers against the landlords in the villages in Central Luzon in the 1930s. The insurgencies transformed into an organized and armed movement. The Hukbalahap fought against Japanese and post-Second World War fascism, as well as the United States colonial regime and the Philippine government. Kerkvliet explained about the aim of the rebellion: “In addition to agrarian reform [….], the rebels in Central Luzon wanted an end to the repression of members of peasant organizations, former Hukbalahap guerrillas, and the villagers in general. They did not rebel in hopes of overthrowing the government or establishing a revolutionary political system.”
DAHLIA IRAWATI
Tomato farmers in Sumberbrantas Village, Batu City, sell tomatoes at low prices after being unable to send the agricultural products to Surabaya due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Peasant uprisings during the colonial era in Indonesia were studied by historian Sartono Kartodirdjo for his magnum opus, Pemberontakan Petani Banten 1888 (Banten peasant rebellion). The rebellion’s base was in the Anyer district. Sartono linked the Banten peasant uprising to a series of peasant revolts in Java in the 19th century, when the nobles who had become impoverished and the religious leaders united themselves against the colonial rulers. He was cautiously selective in using colonial documents, considering the biases and prejudices the colonial officials held toward Islam. Sartono wrote: “This is reflected in their interpretations. Fear of fanaticism and Muslim groups reflected the prevalent mood of prejudice among Europeans."
Rulers may have changed. Times may have changed. The fate of the farmers remains subdued. The voices of Kendeng farmers, Wadas farmers, and other farmers in places across the country seem to be blown away in the wind. Why? Roy told us the cause in the case of India. She said that it was because power was held by a group of oligarchs, controlled by several companies. Party politicians compete for public attention, her said, but their real fight was competition between businesses.
