Tag: Peasant

This article is seventh in the series on ‘confronting authoritarian populism and the rural world’, linked to the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI). The Indonesian Fascist Party founded in 1930 was chaired by a Javanese aristocrat. Peasants were depoliticized through one-party domination. The return of authoritarian populism and heightened agrarian conflict Despite populist challengers, such as Prabowo Subianto, Jokowi won the presidential election in 2014, propelled by a majority in the rural areas. The political strategies that have depoliticized rural peasants for the last 40 years have successfully contained rural resistance and protests. The crushing of emancipatory initiatives The combination of right-wing militarism, conservative Islamic populism and the prevailing neoliberal market conditions has resulted in the co-optation and/or destruction of genuine emancipatory rural initiatives. In both these cases, the internal organization of the cooperative is now marked by the patriarchal and authoritarian structures found in the wider society. Neoliberal developmentalism has worsened inequalities and heightened rural resistance and agrarian conflicts. E-mail: white@iss.nl The Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI) was launched during 2017 as a response to the rise of authoritarian populism in different parts of the world. ERPI small grant holders will present researchThe Samadhya Institute is a community of critical researchers and scholar-activists that aims to develop critical research in service of activism.