Regionales Rechenzentrum der Universität Hamburg/ MCC/ Lecture2Go
Verlag/Körperschaft:
Universität Hamburg
Erscheinungsjahr:
2022
Medientyp:
Audiovisuell
Schlagwort:
Asien-Afrika-Institut
Beschreibung:
As the total size of palm oil plantations is roughly doubling every decade, rural Indonesians are losing large tracts of their land to these plantations, often with limited or no monetary compensation. In response, they are engaging in demonstrations, lobbying and litigation as well as road blockades, destruction of property and violence. Based on a large collaborative effort to document 150 such conflicts between rural communities and palm oil companies, this presentation discusses the trajectories of the anti-corporate activism sparked by the expansion of palm oil plantations. Palm oil companies are succeeding in dispossessing rural Indonesians of their land because of the ways in which formal regulations and informal machinations have conspired to render rural Indonesians virtually rightless. Communities tend to fail in their efforts to address their grievances because collusion between powerholders and palm oil companies has facilitated the repression of protests and undermined the effectiveness of conflict resolution mechanisms. Ward Berenschot is a professor of comparative political anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and a senior researcher at KITLV. Studying politics in India and Indonesia, his research focuses on informal dimensions of politics, while a second field of research concerns the character of civil society and citizenship in these countries. He has also been involved in efforts to promote legal aid in Indonesia, particularly in relation to land conflicts sparked by palm oil expansion. He is the author of Riot Politics: Hindu-Muslim Violence and the Indian State (Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2011) and Democracy for Sale: Elections, Clientelism and the State in Indonesia (Cornell University Press, 2019, with Edward Aspinall) as well as various articles on governance, access to justice, citizenship and political violence.