“Honest friendship is the main political tool of our movement”

To whom we deeply respect,

Brothers and sisters, Balinese women and men who remain faithful in defending the sanctity of the island and their lives,

Brothers and sisters from all over Indonesia who were expelled from their living-land or damaged by extractive industry expansion including timber extraction from tropical forests, mining, large plantations, as well as extraction trough banks and money markets,

Brothers and sisters in various countries in the southern and northern hemisphere, whose life and space-history is about to be erased from the map of the Earth and shared memories, through the construction of infrastructure corridors that are built in the name of our interests and are financed by our tax money and sweats,

Brothers who are in loss and have been injured by the death of family members, relatives, lovers, for defending themselves /  their living space from corporate crimes supported by their collusion and corruption allies,

We would like to report that from October 10, 2018, on the southern coast of the island of Bali, a “World Beyond the Bank” forum was held – a great deliberation to exchange the experiences of everyday people in dozens of countries including Indonesia, India, Korea, Khmer, The Philippines and Thailand, in the fight against coercion / violence to protect investment projects that afflict citizens. Nearly four hundred participants of the gathering were part of the “Gerak Lawan” (Act-Fight!)—a network of friendship and collaboration that has continued to grow since the first gathering in 2005. We are here to exchange and gather important knowledge that we learned from the experience of fighting against the deprivation of life.

Simultaneously with our meeting, the World Bank and IMF Businesses – the International Finance Fund are organizing manages of club member countries, among others, to map how much new debt can be signed by each member-debt club member country, including by the Republic of Indonesia, hosting this annual meeting.

World Bank and IMF Businesses money extraction machines and forced machines operating in UN Member states – are still determined to maintain the authority of economic colonization of their colonies. Today the role of both in the deprivation and coercion of strategic investment, especially in the newly emerging economies, has been largely replaced by networks of energy extraction partnerships, materials and money that operate cross-country. The composition of the actors of extraction and accumulation of money has also changed strikingly compared, for example, with early 1970s – when the World Bank took initiative in specifying the Investment Master Plan /extraction of money from Bali. Reversingly, the key role of the state-bureaucratic machine and the repressive machinery to dictate citizens to get subservient to capital does not shrink at all. This is not much different from the role of the Dutch East Indies state management crew in enlarging the earth-extraction infrastructure including the Deandels highway and the construction of ports and warehousing in extractive logistical cities such as Batavia, Surabaya, Medan or Makassar. We should not forget the vital role of political rulers cum big business owners, as well as political parties who live from the support of extractive industries.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the presence of the giant, thousand-foot machines such as the World Bank and the IMF, against the backdrop of such a violent and anti-life political arena, where is our position as an Earth-citizen?

First of all, politically, we – including the participants of this deliberation, are not colonial subjects of the Bank or the Fund. We who are connected to each other through the common experience of life, in a friendship of anti-colonialism / anti-slavery must now be more firmly learning and working together to practice this political attitude in our daily work. The logic is very simple. When the pulse and brutality of extractivism for wealth accumulation rises rapidly, citizens of the Earth as part of the Earth’s living systems must find our own ways to put brake and lock the destruction, one by one, in our respective life-scape, together. We agree that in order to grow our movement, we must be guided by the first principles of fidelity, a zero-tolerance to betrayal–open or illicit, and an uncompromising defense of the Iong-term political interests of the Earth citizens.

Second, from the process of comparing notes, on our experiences, we get valuable lessons, how we can move together in a bond of solidarity agreement with others who live to defend the integrity of life. This simple expressions we vital to draw contrast, not only between the “World Beyond Banks” and the annual regular meeting of the blood sucking duo, but also between our assembly on the one hand, and the obscure meeting of Indonesia’s leading community organizations with representatives of both financial institutions. It makes very little sense, these organizations really believe that critical issues such as climate change, industrial raw material extraction, strengthening of rural communities, “sustainable financial sector”, public service improvement, eradication of corruption, infrastructure investment – to name a few – can be discussed by sitting at the same table with the Bank and IMF leaders? Doesn’t this sound like making an appeal to an ATM to consider democracy? Whose interests and voices were they pretend to represent? How could there be a mass amnesia about the key role of the World Bank and IMF in the creation of organized misery everywhere?

Our conference also confirmed that the political process of presidential and parliamentary elections in Indonesia next year must be read against a long history of extractivism in the Republic.

The participants of the meeting who had taken the risk to fight against injustice and right deprivation know, they did not come for a declamation contest to find the most gallant or impressive words. Our task now as members of life is to work hard together to shift the direction of change, to pay the highest respect for the safety of the Earth and her humanity.

Gerak Lawan

October 10, 2018

Bali, Indonesia