Occupy and conquer them! between the domination of militarism and extractivism, and the resistance of people-at-the margins in Indonesia
Convener: Budi Hernawan
Co-convener: Siti Maimunah
Drawing on field experience of working with people-at-the margins across Indonesia, this roundtable examines the ways in which colonial rationality of the Indonesian state has produced and reproduced the social body and mind of Indonesia through outsourcing the power of the state to the oligarchs and the military. The entanglement of the two actors holds the monopoly of the coercive power of the state and extraction of natural resources across Indonesia. While the National Strategic Projects constitute the most recent form of colonial rationality, they have caused unprecedented ecological calamity in Rempang Islands, Kalimantan, Flores, Timor, and Southern Papua and others.
The roundtable is Inspired by Achille Mbembe’s concept of brutalism, which refers to “the process through which power as a geomorphic force is constituted, expressed, reconfigured, and reproduced through acts of fracturing and fissuring”. Thus, it aims not only to describe the state of destruction caused by the domination of militarism and extractivism but more importantly, to dissect their logic, networks and impacts on people-at-the margins and their cosmologies. The examination will take case studies from the myth of prosperity that only results in socioecological disaster in Rempang Islands, destruction of peatland and its ecological consequences in Kalimantan, problematic geothermal projects in Flores, mining and national park in Timor as well as the National Strategic Project of Food and Energy Estate in Southern Papua which has demolished both human and non-human of the area.
Given the scale, risks and complexity of the ecological calamity, the roundtable will deploy multidisciplinary approaches that invite various expertise and experiences from indigenous elders, academics, and practitioners to discuss the other side of the problem: resistance of people-at-the margins. The people’s power should be explored thoroughly to identify their cosmological wisdoms that have given paradigmatic power for the people to resist the dominating power of militarism and extractivism.
In sum, the roundtable will provide a stimulating discussion on one the most problematic issues in Indonesia that directly affects more-than-human which remains unexplored. It will perfectly fit in one of the symposium themes, namely “Post-extractive ecologies and the ruins of development.”
Title: “Recycled Failures of the Food Estate Projects in Central Kalimantan”
Wahyu A. Perdana
Affiliation: Pantau Gambut Foundation, Jakarta
Title: “Military-civil relations from below”
Dr. Muhamad Haripin dan Sutami Amin
Format: ppt presentation
Affiliation: BRIN and Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat
Title: “Our weapon is traditional ceremonies: Decolonial mind and Anti-extractivism of Grassroots Women”
Dr Siti Maimunah
Format: ppt presentation
Affiliation: Mama Aleta Foundation
Title: “The myth of prosperity results in socioecological disaster: dismantling capital-driven development in Rempang Islands”
David Efendi
Format: presentation
Affiliation: LHKP PP Muhammadiyah
Title: “Territories of life in the green sacrifice zones: more than human communities under the threat of geothermal project in Flores”
Dr Cypri Paju Dale
Format: presentation
Affiliation: Anthropology Department, University of Wisconsin Madison, USA