Indonesia: A discussion about the struggle for national liberation in Venezuela

Latin America today is the centre for a political change in the world and also a testament to the failure of the neoliberal ideology. The gains of the Bolivarian Revolution have answered many of the immediate needs of the people, though not completely, and this success can become an inspiration to consolidate the movement against capitalism and imperialism, and build the national sovereignty in all over Latin America and the world.

For many progressive layers in Indonesia, the experience in Latin America provides an interesting point of view to find and reflect on the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist strategy. This idea was being discussed in a forum entitled “Latin America and The Experience of The National Liberation Struggle” which was held by Berdikari Online in Jakarta on September 11^th.

The event, which took place at the head office of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in Jakarta, was attended by tens of people from many social and political organizations. There were a number of speakers: Budiman Sudjatmiko from the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), Ras Muhammad, a musician, Jesus S. Anam from Hands Off Venezuela, Veronika from International Global Justice (IGJ), and Rudi Hartono from the website nefos.org.

The discussion was started by Ras Muhammad, the ambassador of Reggae in Indonesia. Ras Muhammad spoke about the national liberation struggle in Indonesia. According to him, Indonesian artists have to take part in the national liberation struggle, at least by reflecting the condition and the misery of the people around them through their works.

As a musician, he talked about the claim by Malaysia over Indonesian culture. “Indonesia is a civilized country, to solve this case we don’t have to resort to physical war”, said Ras. He also added that the cultural claim happened because many youth in Indonesia were apathetic to the local culture. He was of the opinion that the national sovereignty can be defended and upheld if the people participate actively in building it.

Later, Budiman Sudjatmiko from PDI-P emphasized the importance of spreading revolutionary theories with a language that can be understood by the people. According to him, the success of Latin America is because they have people who can spread ideas through people’s language. “During the era of military dictatorship, the oppression could only rule people physically, but it failed to bury the revolutionary ideas,” said Budiman. Furthermore, Budiman emphasized the need to liberalize the idea so that it can reach the people. According to him, the left movement, no matter how revolutionary, can never succeed if it hasn’t liberalized the idea. Looking at the past legislative election as a point of reference, he said that many left activists haven’t succeeded, even in the local elections.

A researcher from IGJ, Veronika Saraswati, explained about the exploitation of natural resources in Latin America from a historical point of view. According to her, the implementation of the Monroe Doctrine carved up the Latin America region. In this project, the US implanted their plan to rule this region through a number of trade agreements and propaganda to contain communism.

In her explanation, Veronika used Cuba’s experience as an attempt to build a new world, a new society outside the control of the United States and its allies. With this choice, the US and its allies try to undermine the revolutionary government in Cuba, starting from the Bay of Pigs attack to the embargo and economic blockade. Now, after going through a long struggle against the US economic blockade, Cuba has succeeded to create an antithesis to capitalism. For example, in the field of education Cuba has eradicated illiteracy and implemented free education at all levels. Cuba is also known for its health care, where their success is on par with many advanced countries.

In connection with the political change in Latin America today, Jesus S. Anam from HOV Indonesia said that the electoral victories of the left in a number of Latin American countries were a sign of a political uprising of the people. Furthermore, the political change there can be a centre for world political change, especially in inspiring the anti-neoliberal and anti-capitalist movement in other countries or regions, in order to gain national sovereignty in all Latin America and the world.

However, to fight for national liberation in Latin America, according to Jesus, the leaders have to be continuously pressured to base their governments on a genuine socialist ideology, given that many of the “left” leaders in Latin America have a history to vacillate, and some of them have the potential to become a Bonapartist figure who puts him/herself in front of a mass movement only to ride it and in the end guards the capitalist system.

Still according to Jesus the Venezuelan Revolution as the central power for the revolutions in Latin America in the future has to become a permanent revolution. A revolution is permanent because first it doesn’t stop at the bourgeois revolution with an agenda to solve democratic tasks, but it has to directly enter the socialist agenda. Secondly, it bases itself on the working class with the support of the peasants and the urban poor – not the national bourgeoisie – and it goes beyond the national boundary and aims at an international revolution.

The speaker from nefos.org, Rudy Hartono, emphasized that we don’t just copy the movement in Latin America blindly, but it has to be adapted to the condition in Indonesia. He also stressed that the implementation of socialism in every country is different. According to him, there are three major shifts in Latin America today. First, the reactivation of the state as a tool to reach prosperity and development, especially putting the people as the protagonist and target. Second, there is the implementation of social, economic, and political measures that favor the people, of course with different extent. Third, there is a push for regional unity with an alternative character, especially to replace the model of regional cooperation which is based on free trade.

After the discussion session, the event was ended with a dinner together and the screening of a film about Tan Malaka (the early leader of Indonesian Communist Party).