Email: Eka.Astuti@ul.ie

Affiliation: University of Limerick, Ireland

Nationality: Indonesian

The Role of Religious Norms and Social Capital in the Grassroots Agrarian Movement: The Study of Coastal Farmer Union (PPLP) Resisting Extractive Industry in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

This research examines grassroots agrarian movements countering economic development based on extractive industry in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, focusing on the resistance of the coastal farmer union named Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai (PPLP). Critical agrarian discourse shows movement from below is grassroots resistance to injustice. In the resistance study, the discussion about how social capital and religious norms contribute to grassroots resistance is limited.

Therefore, this research contributes to the study of resistance in agrarian movements, particularly in the role of social capital and religious norms in resistance. In 2006, the Indonesian Government and Jogja Magasa Iron, Ltd. announced the mining plan for the coastal community of Kulon Progo. They will mine iron sand on 2,987.79 hectares of the coastal land that was used by the surrounding community to farm. In response, the coastal farmer groups established the PPLP in order to refuse the mining plan. In 2014, the Government postponed the mining plan, the future of which remains unclear.

Nevertheless, the PPLP has continued the resistance to the present. They refuse policies that potentially would displace coastal farming. The PPL resistance has two domains: the coastal land issues and the resistance strategy. The coastal land issues include the advantages of coastal farming, the different opinions on coastal land ownership, and the mining plan. These issues encouraged the PPLP to develop internal and external resistance strategies. Internally, they organize and empower coastal farmers utilizing religious norms and social capital. Religious norms are employed to build faith that mining violates God's provision to preserve the environment. They exercise religious relations in the Muslim community by conducting joint prayers to ask God to assist their resistance.

Moreover, they used social capital to isolate people who supported the mining plan. They created social disintegration between coastal communities (the pros and the cons). Operating the strategies, the PPLP united coastal farmers to refuse the mining plan. The PPLP also utilized the Collective Chilli Marketing (CCM) groups. CCM is a communal selling system for coastal farmers based on economic solidarity. Certain dues from the selling benefit are applied to support the PPLP resistance, which is named the struggle fund. To organize acts of resistance, the PPLP asked coastal farmers to participate and provide money or food. The PPLP succeeded in strengthening the internal resistance and using it to carry out massive external resistance, such as conducting protests and public hearings, sending formal rejection letters to various government institutions, celebrating the PPLP anniversary every year to show their existence to the public, and collaborating with external networks to support their resistance. Academics, politicians, parties, artists, and NGOs supported the PPLP resistance. The PPLP built networks between grassroots movements at the national and international levels. Employing this strategy, the PPLP has been able to sustain its resistance from 2006 to the present.

Bio

My name is Eka Zuni Lusi Astuti (her) and I am an Indonesian citizen. I am a third-year PhD student in the International Structured PhD (ISPhD) Program, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Limerick, Ireland. My doctoral research topic is coastal farmer resistance against neoliberal policy in Indonesia. I completed my fieldwork last year. I achieved my bachelor's (2010) and master's degrees (2013) from the Department of Social Development and Welfare, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. In Indonesia, I am a lecturer in the Department of Social Development and Welfare, Universitas Gadjah Mada. I also work as a researcher at the research centers in Universitas Gadjah Mada, which are the Social Development Centre, Youth Studies Centre, and ASEAN Studies Centre. I teach modules such as social movements, social problems, and social entrepreneurship. I also did research, publication, and community engagement in social movement, community development, social entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility. I published articles in journals and book chapters in the Indonesian language, for example, Iron Sand Conflict: Pros and Cons of Iron Sand Mining Plan in Kulon Progo Regency, Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik, Vol. 16 No. 1, 2012; Community Development a Comparative Analysis, Azzagrafika, Yogyakarta, 2015; and Digital Literacy Movement: A Study of Youth Empowerment through the Village Creative Potential Information System Programme in Kulon Progo, Jurnal Pemberdayaan Masyarakat: Media Pemikiran dan Dakwah Pembangunan, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2020.