Conference on the Tyranny of Capital
Tuesday, 26. August 2008, 05:28:34
Conference at Faculty of Political Science, University of Indonesia
August, 5-7, 2008
Elsam cooperated with some NGOs (Reform Institute, INFID, TURC, HuMa, etc) and press (Djakarta Post, Tempo, Koran Tempo, KBR68H, Hukumonline), and University of Indonesia, supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, organized a conference on the tyranny of capital, an issue that arises rapidly soon after the enactment of Law No 25/2007 on Investment. Actually, this is relatively not a new issue since for a long period it has become a high tension discursive debate and struggle in empirical side. Capital, cited by one of the speakers who comment some points of this conference, is flowering everybody everywhere with its appeal. Capital has been celebrating. On the contrary, talking capital in decreasing way, sounds like “jealous” of people which has no opportunity to celebrate capital. Accordingly, this conference has risen the pejorative sense of capital. Capital is understood as the invisible hand behind the fact of the elimination of communities’ control over land and natural resources. Hence, the criticism, correction and other words reviewing capital are compiled, to which public rights is the basis of review.
Discourse within the Conference
There are some interesting topics flowing in this conference.
(1) Law and economics
Law and economics was coloured by the full tension of neo-liberalism intrusion in many relations. Many speakers through either field experiences or researches conclude that neo-liberalism has made grounded concepts and methods within bureaucracy, scientist, community, education, press, banks, and popular figures, mobilized to push the neo-liberal done effectively and serve the drivers devil or invisible hand as to the revival of servitude in the era of colonialism.
What neo-liberalism really is? A speaker in panel law and economics quotes the concept of Pierre Bourdieu (1932-2004), France sociologist, anthropologist, philosopher, and champion of the anti-globalization movement which describe neo-liberalism as a program arranged to crush collective structures of society that potentially stand against free market. Thus, the state control over natural resources must be weakened and replaced by the market control.
Market-friendly as a principle in neo-liberalism is inspiring economics account and legal figures both in education and practical level. Recent Indonesia which is demonstrating the situation of a weak state and serving the perspective of economic-legal market with no reserve are part of interference scope of proving that neo-liberal has penetrated deeply and in a widespread scale.
(2) Agrarian Issue
The strategy of neo-liberalism, furthermore, goes through the liberalization of water, land, forest, public services and all kind of public good, then reforming them merely as the commercial matter. This is clearly seen in many laws in Indonesia. For instance, law on investment is driven by World Bank idea to commercialize all natural resources and open them to free market. Some provisions within WTO circles that push the developing countries to release state’s control on public goods are deeply accommodated in this law, even softened by the concept of administrative license, arguing that the state has the control over natural resources. But the fact that state is powerless in managing those resources then leads to collaboration between state and the private sectors to utilize natural resource effectively. Many facts in the field is showing that the administration of the state is a camouflage to the true story that state is loosing its power.
(3) Indigenous Peoples issue
Indigenous peoples come in many topics as the groups suffered by outsiders included capital and the state agencies as the cronies of capitalist. On the other hand, indigenous peoples also take a position as the new political group which is triggered by the political chance of regional autonomy but also driven by politics of mobilization continuing the Soeharto’s regime legacy. Having the thought of neo-liberalism in mind, one can easily recognize that indigenous peoples seem to be more vulnerable since the international decisions of free market and the proponents can go directly to the communities with no need to deal with state’s control.
Community empowerment which has been taken for long time is still on the way of many development agencies and human rights defenders but their work is likely in a racing competition with the international and national actors of neo-liberalism, with very little hope to be achieved before the communities will surrender to the control of free market.
Themes and issues
The things has to be discussed are about how to choose strategy to minimize the impacts of neo-liberalism in which entities like indigenous, family, gender, as the mainstream taskforces to encounter the global proponents of neo-liberalism are examined in various perspectives. One major issue is how to make these taskforces met each other to maintain common strategies and concepts along with the peoples who struggle for it. Meeting points between indigenous and gender issue need to be discussed more, due to the criticism of gender movement that indigenous structure is one of the problems of women access to justice. This problem lays down in the collective identity left inherent in the community which is known as “adat” and considered in part as a very long hedge they have for a defensive mechanism. Loosing this demarcation totally will – some have proposed this assumption - be followed by exposing the community’s land, water, forest that have been smaller and smaller before to free market thus will lead them to be landless social groups.
Another topic is about questioning the state’s mandate to comply the citizen’s rights but minimize the market’s control within policy making process. But compliance the rights of citizens and enabling the vulnerable groups to reach the same opportunity on prosperity with the common society are the big challenges of Indonesia which is gradually but sure leads to the market’s control. The question is how we can lay our problem on the shoulder of the state which is held by the power of market? The answers have to be looked for but they have to come soon, otherwise the stage early taken over by the totalitarian control of market which is neo-liberalism.
August, 5-7, 2008
Elsam cooperated with some NGOs (Reform Institute, INFID, TURC, HuMa, etc) and press (Djakarta Post, Tempo, Koran Tempo, KBR68H, Hukumonline), and University of Indonesia, supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, organized a conference on the tyranny of capital, an issue that arises rapidly soon after the enactment of Law No 25/2007 on Investment. Actually, this is relatively not a new issue since for a long period it has become a high tension discursive debate and struggle in empirical side. Capital, cited by one of the speakers who comment some points of this conference, is flowering everybody everywhere with its appeal. Capital has been celebrating. On the contrary, talking capital in decreasing way, sounds like “jealous” of people which has no opportunity to celebrate capital. Accordingly, this conference has risen the pejorative sense of capital. Capital is understood as the invisible hand behind the fact of the elimination of communities’ control over land and natural resources. Hence, the criticism, correction and other words reviewing capital are compiled, to which public rights is the basis of review.
Discourse within the Conference
There are some interesting topics flowing in this conference.
(1) Law and economics
Law and economics was coloured by the full tension of neo-liberalism intrusion in many relations. Many speakers through either field experiences or researches conclude that neo-liberalism has made grounded concepts and methods within bureaucracy, scientist, community, education, press, banks, and popular figures, mobilized to push the neo-liberal done effectively and serve the drivers devil or invisible hand as to the revival of servitude in the era of colonialism.
What neo-liberalism really is? A speaker in panel law and economics quotes the concept of Pierre Bourdieu (1932-2004), France sociologist, anthropologist, philosopher, and champion of the anti-globalization movement which describe neo-liberalism as a program arranged to crush collective structures of society that potentially stand against free market. Thus, the state control over natural resources must be weakened and replaced by the market control.
Market-friendly as a principle in neo-liberalism is inspiring economics account and legal figures both in education and practical level. Recent Indonesia which is demonstrating the situation of a weak state and serving the perspective of economic-legal market with no reserve are part of interference scope of proving that neo-liberal has penetrated deeply and in a widespread scale.
(2) Agrarian Issue
The strategy of neo-liberalism, furthermore, goes through the liberalization of water, land, forest, public services and all kind of public good, then reforming them merely as the commercial matter. This is clearly seen in many laws in Indonesia. For instance, law on investment is driven by World Bank idea to commercialize all natural resources and open them to free market. Some provisions within WTO circles that push the developing countries to release state’s control on public goods are deeply accommodated in this law, even softened by the concept of administrative license, arguing that the state has the control over natural resources. But the fact that state is powerless in managing those resources then leads to collaboration between state and the private sectors to utilize natural resource effectively. Many facts in the field is showing that the administration of the state is a camouflage to the true story that state is loosing its power.
(3) Indigenous Peoples issue
Indigenous peoples come in many topics as the groups suffered by outsiders included capital and the state agencies as the cronies of capitalist. On the other hand, indigenous peoples also take a position as the new political group which is triggered by the political chance of regional autonomy but also driven by politics of mobilization continuing the Soeharto’s regime legacy. Having the thought of neo-liberalism in mind, one can easily recognize that indigenous peoples seem to be more vulnerable since the international decisions of free market and the proponents can go directly to the communities with no need to deal with state’s control.
Community empowerment which has been taken for long time is still on the way of many development agencies and human rights defenders but their work is likely in a racing competition with the international and national actors of neo-liberalism, with very little hope to be achieved before the communities will surrender to the control of free market.
Themes and issues
The things has to be discussed are about how to choose strategy to minimize the impacts of neo-liberalism in which entities like indigenous, family, gender, as the mainstream taskforces to encounter the global proponents of neo-liberalism are examined in various perspectives. One major issue is how to make these taskforces met each other to maintain common strategies and concepts along with the peoples who struggle for it. Meeting points between indigenous and gender issue need to be discussed more, due to the criticism of gender movement that indigenous structure is one of the problems of women access to justice. This problem lays down in the collective identity left inherent in the community which is known as “adat” and considered in part as a very long hedge they have for a defensive mechanism. Loosing this demarcation totally will – some have proposed this assumption - be followed by exposing the community’s land, water, forest that have been smaller and smaller before to free market thus will lead them to be landless social groups.
Another topic is about questioning the state’s mandate to comply the citizen’s rights but minimize the market’s control within policy making process. But compliance the rights of citizens and enabling the vulnerable groups to reach the same opportunity on prosperity with the common society are the big challenges of Indonesia which is gradually but sure leads to the market’s control. The question is how we can lay our problem on the shoulder of the state which is held by the power of market? The answers have to be looked for but they have to come soon, otherwise the stage early taken over by the totalitarian control of market which is neo-liberalism.
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