"Release our sisters, release our brothers...}
Down! Down! WTO..."
(Words from a song by Indonesian folk singer Franky Sahilatua who joined the rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta today -Bebaskan Kawan Kami Segera )
Jakarta,
The international solidarity action for the Hong Kong 14 strikes Indonesia, lead by FSPI (Federation of Indonesian Peasant Union)-calling for the immediate release of the 14 WTO Political Prisoners in Hong Kong. FSPI is not only conducting the solidarity action in Indonesia, but also sending international solidarity mission straight to Hong Kong: Mr. Ali Fahmi is now in Hong Kong.
Approximately 200 people from peasants’ organizations, workers unions, youth, students, and fisher folks and other organisations joined the action today in front of the Chinese Embassy in Mega Kuningan, Jakarta.
Achmad Yakub from FSPI gave the opening speech expressing the solidarity of Indonesian people for people’s struggle against WTO, and asking for freedom of speech, which was turned down in the process of anti-WTO demonstration in Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting.
“As civil society organisations in Indonesia, we would like to point out that a failure by the Hong Kong government to properly investigate and rectify human rights violations during the WTO protests would have a serious impact on the human rights records of the the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong”, He said in front of the gate of Chinese Embassy.
The action was followed by a “mistica”, a symbolic action. People hold together a very big Indonesian flag, and chanted the hymn of WTO: “money, money, and money, dollar, dollar, and dollar, project, project, and project”. People also called the Chinese Government and the staff of the Embassy if they to come and join the rally to give us their position. But in the end none of them came out.
The action continued with some people giving testimonials about what happened in Hong Kong, and the crowd responded with singing and chanting. “We will continue the struggle for our rights, and it can not be stopped by the government, neoliberalist, or even WTO. WTO Kills People!” said Wira, a peasant from Banten. The peasants in Indonesia are proud because this rally is a part of international action all around the globe (Hong Kong, USA, Brazil, Spain, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, and many other countries). The action ended peacefully around 14:00 Jakarta time.
Mohammed Ikhwan
Staff of Policy Studies and Campaign
Federasi Serikat Petani Indonesia (FSPI)
http://www.fspi.or.id
Mobile. +6281932099596