Int’l, Indonesian organisations decry threats, “terror-tagging” during people’s global conference against IMF-WB
10 October 2018
Various Indonesian people’s organisations and international movements have denounced the harassments, threats and attempts to associate the Peoples’ Global Conference (PGC) Against the IMF-World Bank and various Indonesian people’s organisations with a group known to be linked with terrorist activities in Indonesia, through altered photographs being spread online.
On Monday morning (October 8), a text message was also circulated during the PGC Global Day of Action at Monumen Bajra Sandhi Renon, Denpasar, vilifying the PGC for “destroying prosperity for Bali” supposedly brought by the Annual Meetings. An anonymous mobile number has also been sending text messages threatening PGC's lawyers and several local progressive leaders for holding the people's conference in Bali.
For Symphati Dimas of the Front Mahasiswa Nasional (FMN), one of the youth organisations included in what it calls “maliciously” altered photos, ”this is a way to discourage the participation of the youth in people-led activities during the IMF-WB Annual Meetings.” He added that “these ‘terror-tagging’ incidents are clear attempts to malign the collective effort of people’s movements given the limited space at the IMF-WB Annual Meetings, and to displace public attention from the real issue of the IMF-WB’s shaping of the development agenda for the benefit of corporations.”
Also among the organisations falsely linked with a terror group were the Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Bali (LBH Bali, or Bali Legal Aid Institute), an institution that provides legal assistance to the poor and marginalized; Kelompok Belajar Mahasiswa Progresif (KBMP, or Progressive Student Study Group), a national organisation of Indonesian students; and the Aliansi Mahasiswa Papua (AMP, or Papuan Student Alliance), a student alliance of West Papuans students. “We condemn these attempts misinform the public and vilify the reputation of the people’s conference a day before its launch,” according to Rio from KBMP.
Beverly Longid from the International Indigenous Peoples’ Movement for Self-determination and Liberation, among the co-organizing movements for the PGC, was also alarmed. “These atrocious incidents serve to discourage movements from asserting their right to development, aside from endangering lives of longtime rights defenders and members of people’s organisations fighting for their rights against corporations, governments and multilateral institutions such as the IMF-WB,” she said.
In a statement signed by more than 55 organisations, groups have earlier denounced “maneuvers to stifle peoples’ independent initiatives“ in light of a recent police attempt to prevent the PGC to be held at the Radio Republik Indonesia. Movements decry the current false “terror link” accusations as the “latest in the string of attacks” related to the Indonesian government’s “security measures.”
Under the Widodo government's USD 52.25 million budget for the IMF-WB Annual Meetings, 22,000 police, military personnel have already been deployed in Bali for “anti-terrorism and anti-criminality,” ostensibly to secure attending financial executives and government officials.
According to Mohammad Ali from the Gerakan Rakyat Melawan IMF-WB, which forms the PGC’s National Organizing Committee, “It is highly suspect that the current ‘terror-tagging’ is linked to the Widodo government’s overall scheme to muffle legitimate voices of marginalised sectors. Resources that could have been used for public benefit, such as earthquake victims in Sulawesi, are instead used against genuine people’s initiatives.”
Gerakan Rakyat Melawan IMF-WB calls on “rights advocates, freedom-loving peoples and the broader international community to join in condemning these moves to curtail fundamental rights and to instigate rights violations against activists.”
For the PGC, the IMF and the World Bank's Annual Meetings are set to cement the “Maximizing Finance for Development” (MFD) approach which would further entrench the power of monopolies and business elites in the world economy. Organisers of the people’s conference argue that the decades-long operations of IMF-WB only propped up the dominant world economic system and attacked people’s economic prospects as well as sovereignty over development processes. This would continue under the neoliberal MFD approach, the PGC claims.
The PGC pushed through with its launch on 8 October, “towards reclaiming our rights and future away from the corporate capture of the development agenda.” The PGC kicked off with a Global Day of Action denouncing the said IMF-WB frameworks for the corporatization of development. From October 11 to 14, the conference will hold parallel Plenary sessions, Open Space Forums, Press Conference and mass mobilizations to gather world-wide members of people’s movements and civil society organizations.
Reference:
[email protected]
Ali +62-821-2013-5553
Rahmat +62-821-1134-1420
On Monday morning (October 8), a text message was also circulated during the PGC Global Day of Action at Monumen Bajra Sandhi Renon, Denpasar, vilifying the PGC for “destroying prosperity for Bali” supposedly brought by the Annual Meetings. An anonymous mobile number has also been sending text messages threatening PGC's lawyers and several local progressive leaders for holding the people's conference in Bali.
For Symphati Dimas of the Front Mahasiswa Nasional (FMN), one of the youth organisations included in what it calls “maliciously” altered photos, ”this is a way to discourage the participation of the youth in people-led activities during the IMF-WB Annual Meetings.” He added that “these ‘terror-tagging’ incidents are clear attempts to malign the collective effort of people’s movements given the limited space at the IMF-WB Annual Meetings, and to displace public attention from the real issue of the IMF-WB’s shaping of the development agenda for the benefit of corporations.”
Also among the organisations falsely linked with a terror group were the Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Bali (LBH Bali, or Bali Legal Aid Institute), an institution that provides legal assistance to the poor and marginalized; Kelompok Belajar Mahasiswa Progresif (KBMP, or Progressive Student Study Group), a national organisation of Indonesian students; and the Aliansi Mahasiswa Papua (AMP, or Papuan Student Alliance), a student alliance of West Papuans students. “We condemn these attempts misinform the public and vilify the reputation of the people’s conference a day before its launch,” according to Rio from KBMP.
Beverly Longid from the International Indigenous Peoples’ Movement for Self-determination and Liberation, among the co-organizing movements for the PGC, was also alarmed. “These atrocious incidents serve to discourage movements from asserting their right to development, aside from endangering lives of longtime rights defenders and members of people’s organisations fighting for their rights against corporations, governments and multilateral institutions such as the IMF-WB,” she said.
In a statement signed by more than 55 organisations, groups have earlier denounced “maneuvers to stifle peoples’ independent initiatives“ in light of a recent police attempt to prevent the PGC to be held at the Radio Republik Indonesia. Movements decry the current false “terror link” accusations as the “latest in the string of attacks” related to the Indonesian government’s “security measures.”
Under the Widodo government's USD 52.25 million budget for the IMF-WB Annual Meetings, 22,000 police, military personnel have already been deployed in Bali for “anti-terrorism and anti-criminality,” ostensibly to secure attending financial executives and government officials.
According to Mohammad Ali from the Gerakan Rakyat Melawan IMF-WB, which forms the PGC’s National Organizing Committee, “It is highly suspect that the current ‘terror-tagging’ is linked to the Widodo government’s overall scheme to muffle legitimate voices of marginalised sectors. Resources that could have been used for public benefit, such as earthquake victims in Sulawesi, are instead used against genuine people’s initiatives.”
Gerakan Rakyat Melawan IMF-WB calls on “rights advocates, freedom-loving peoples and the broader international community to join in condemning these moves to curtail fundamental rights and to instigate rights violations against activists.”
For the PGC, the IMF and the World Bank's Annual Meetings are set to cement the “Maximizing Finance for Development” (MFD) approach which would further entrench the power of monopolies and business elites in the world economy. Organisers of the people’s conference argue that the decades-long operations of IMF-WB only propped up the dominant world economic system and attacked people’s economic prospects as well as sovereignty over development processes. This would continue under the neoliberal MFD approach, the PGC claims.
The PGC pushed through with its launch on 8 October, “towards reclaiming our rights and future away from the corporate capture of the development agenda.” The PGC kicked off with a Global Day of Action denouncing the said IMF-WB frameworks for the corporatization of development. From October 11 to 14, the conference will hold parallel Plenary sessions, Open Space Forums, Press Conference and mass mobilizations to gather world-wide members of people’s movements and civil society organizations.
Reference:
[email protected]
Ali +62-821-2013-5553
Rahmat +62-821-1134-1420