Indonesian youths becoming more aware of global injustice

Indonesian youths becoming more aware of global injustice

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bandung

When he was a university student, Tristan thought fighting
what he considered global injustice was a cool thing to do. Now,
at the age of 28, he has continued the struggle, but in a more
organized manner.

"As a young student, I thought it was cool to have a different
attitude towards the established system," he said. "Later, as I
began to understand how unfair the world system is, I started to
make a serious effort to fight against it."

As part of his campaign, he and his friends arranged in early
January an anti-globalization video program in his hometown,
Bandung, West Java.

He collected various documentaries and films from some friends
in Yogyakarta and Jakarta, then invited several friends including
some in the punk music communities that share a similar view
about the globalization to come and watch the movies.

More than a hundred youths packed the show, some of them came
from other cities such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Makassar.

Dodi and Howard, both 21, came from Makassar to attend the
screening and meet some friends. They would spend three more days
in the city and go back to Makassar, carrying the anti-
globalization movie replicated in video compact discs (VCDs)
along with them to their hometown. They planned to hold a similar
show in Makassar.

Other visitors from Yogyakarta and Jakarta also exchanged and
copied the movies.

"We will hold a similar show and invite the public and several
anti-globalization communities to attend the show in Yogyakarta,"
said Tjuan, an activist in one Yogyakarta-based non-governmental
organization (NGO).

From this meeting in Bandung, an anti-globalization message
among youths began to spread to other cities.

However, as to the question of how big the network is, no one
can give a clear answer. "I do not know exactly how many people
will attend the show in Yogyakarta," said Tjuan.

One thing for certain is the network is not a solid
organization. They do not meet or contact each other regularly.
They communicate with each other through discussion forums on the
Internet or through distributed leaflets and pamphlets published
by different people within the anti-globalization community.

As a consequence, some of them know others merely by their
Internet nicknames. And they do not necessarily feel they must
share the exact same views about everything.

However, most of them have similar opinions about global
consumer brands such as McDonald's, Coca Cola or Nike.

"I oppose the global corporate processes that enrich the
owners of the capital by exploiting the workers," Tristan said.

However, he conceded that even though he hated all the
processes of multinational corporations such as McDonald's, he
does not go so far as to actually deny himself a Big Mac and
fries every now and again.

"I don't hate the products but the unfair process inside the
corporations," he said.

Bowo, from Jakarta, shares the same view, "It's useless if I
refrain from eating at McDonald's, and just eat Indomie instant
noodles instead. Both are big corporations running unfair
systems, despite the fact that the latter is from a local
corporation."

Then he quoted Ani DiFranco, a punk folksinger from New York,
"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right."

Thus, Internet, which is a product of globalization, can be a
tool for fighting global injustice.

These youths are moving to fight, however small their hands
are or limited their commitment. One such example was the protest
against the Consultative Group of Indonesia (CGI) meeting in
Yogyakarta last Sunday.

The protesters demanded the foreign lenders to write off
Indonesia's debt and called on the government to reject new
foreign aid.

The police took harsh measures against them, firing warning
shots at the protesters, beating them and arresting some of them.

However, they promised not to back down and keep fighting. "We
continue to refuse the CGI agenda although the police took stern
measures against us," said Ari, one of the protesters.

The globalization snowball may inevitably keep rolling, but
among these youths, the fight to promote global justice also
keeps going.