Papua: Indigenous peoples fight for their land against mega-plantations
Indonesia: Three million hectares of sugarcane and rice plantations are being established in southern Papua. A video shows a member of the Yei people stepping in front of bulldozers – and prevailing. The planned construction of a road through the Indigenous people’s rainforest has been blocked.
“We are human too!” shouts Vincent Kwipalo. He stands in the path of the excavators and bulldozers that have rolled up to clear the forest of his clan, a forest that means life and identity for the Kwipalo. Their ancestors are buried here. This is where their sacred sites are and where they hunt.
Someone filmed the scene on a mobile phone, and the video quickly went viral in Indonesia – documenting one of the many conflicts over land and the exploitation of natural resources.
From the start, Kwipalo firmly rejected the plan to turn his land into a sugarcane plantation. His clan has said “No” dozens of times. Yet the company has terrorized the Kwipalo and, despite their opposition, has already cleared nearly 5,000 hectares of rainforest for the plantation.
This time, however, Kwipalo is successful. He manages to halt the clearing. Construction of the road through his clan’s forest has been suspended. The video of the confrontation with the bulldozers shows:
This land belongs to the Yei! This is not empty land!”
The Yei erect a red post several meters high. This is the traditional way of marking land that is inhabited. Today the post – usually seven or eight meters tall – has become a symbol of resistance to land grabbing and environmental crimes.
The Yei, to whom the Kwipalo clan belongs, are neighbors of the Marind people. Both peoples are victims of the Merauke National Strategic Project (PSN Merauke), which is being enforced by the military. It is the largest assault on the rainforest that Indonesia has seen to date. Around three million hectares of rainforest, wetlands, and savannas are being destroyed, supposedly in the name of “food security”.
Human rights and environmental organizations, however, see it as state-organized land grabbing and the destruction of rainforest and Indigenous cultures for economic, political, and military interests. PSN Merauke is seen as a step toward the domination of Papua and its resources.
Indigenous communities are putting up fierce resistance to the land grab and the loss of their “Mother Forest” – and with it, their very basis of life. The outcry over the environmental crimes and human rights violations is echoing around the world.
More than 75,000 people have already signed our petition “Indonesia: Stop the destruction of Papua’s Marind forest!” Please add your name.
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