Land Reform by Leverage, Understanding the Resurgence of Agrarian Movements in Contemporary Java - Indonesia

 

Noer Fauzi Rachman, SID 18420953, May 16, 2006

My research prospectus "Land Reform by Leverage: Understanding the Resurgence of Agrarian Movements in Contemporary Java-Indonesia" was submitted  as my final assignment for a course on Social Movement, Sociology 280S, Spring 2006, thought by Prof. Kim Voss. Her comment is available at https://www.noerfauzirachman.id/2006/10/re-land-reform-by-leverage.html 

 

A Research Prospectus

 

“Whoever studies peasant movements is familiar with the phenomenon of the mass invasion or occupation of land” 

(Hobsbawm, 1974)

“What you did [land occupation] can be judged easily as criminal behavior by the authorities. So, our task is to change their mind, policies and practices”

(A, The SPP’s top leader, 2002)

 

Introduction

Since 1999, more than ten thousand landless families, many of whom are the poorest of the poor, have occupied lands previously controlled by private and/or state owned plantation and forest companies in upland West Java (Garut, Tasikmalaya and Ciamis districts) - Indonesia. They have changed the land use of more than 12,000 hectares from agricultural and forest plantations to small-scale agriculture and agro-forestry fields and formed a local organization of occupants called the Serikat Petani Pasundan (SPP) or Sundanesse Peasant Union (see: Annex 1.). Beyond that they promoted their leaders to compete in village elections for formal positions in local government, mobilized their own newly acquired resources, and developed alliances with urban educated-activists, often on terms they (the rural occupants) have set. Last but not least in this phenomenal story, they have also participated in open protest activities in Indonesia’s capital city, as well as in provincial and district cities, pushing the government to change its land policies.