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Moderator

Event Details

The rapid expansion of palm oil plantations has generated widespread conflict between rural Indonesians and oil palm companies. Communities across Indonesia are losing large tracts of land to palm oil companies, for which they are often poorly compensated. In response, communities engage in demonstrations, lobbying, litigation, road blockades, land occupations, and, occasionally, violence. This session discusses the causes, the character, and the outcomes of these conflicts between palm oil companies and rural Indonesians.

It examines how communities protest against palm oil companies, why they do so, and to what extent they succeed in finding a solution for their grievances.  This session will discuss a wide-ranging exploration of the character of the land conflicts generated by corporate land grabbing. Questions addressed are: Why do palm oil companies successfully dispossess rural Indonesians? Why do communities engage in a particular ‘rightless’ form of resistance? Instead of relying on laws and rights, rural communities focus on improving their bargaining position vis-à-vis companies while legitimizing their claims mainly regarding social norms and customary traditions.

Four topics:

1. The conflicts between rural Indonesians and palm oil companies are caused by rightlessness.
2. Rightlessness character of local communities resistance.
3. Strategy of local people to defend their land rights: A case of a village in Deli Serdang District.
4. An NGO’s strategy to support local community members in defending their land rights.

Video Recording