Wall Street, the scene of the crime . . .
Just blocks away from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan is another sort of ground Zero; Wall Street, home of Goldman Sachs are other casinos masquerading as investment banks. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) began in the US and quickly reverberated around the world, soon becoming the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Indonesia was largely spared, as the majority of its growth comes from domestic demand and consumption and thus is not contingent on global market demand. GDP growth did slow in the year 2009, but has since recovered. Foreign direct investment (FDI) however did decrease as a result of the actions of some reckless mortgage bankers half a world away.
The day before departing for Indonesia, I got to stroll through lower Manhattan. I have only been the city a handful of times and I wanted to check it out. The Wall Street bull, symbol of the strength and might of the district, was mobbed by post-Christmas tourists, and surrounded by barricades to prevent vandalism. Here we are -
Hurray for free market capitalism!!! Deregulate, liberalise, privatise, and all will be well!
Less than two blocks away, there is a small square which has since bcome world famous. Zuccotti Park, the birthplace of the Occupy Wall Street movement, is surrounded by the big name banks. In this tiny space, hundreds and thousands of people camped for over two months to demonstrate their outrage at the corrupting forces of money in American politics, as well as the fact that the people who perpetuated the biggest scam in history were still working in the surrounding offices, unscathed. Flawed as the movement was, it got the conversation rolling about the growing income inequality in the US, the damages of Citizens United, and the general decline of the American middle class. Here, the people created a community they saw as a plausible option, a community based in the principles of direct democracy, sustainability, engagement, group consensus, and empathy for others. The police cleared the park in November and it has since been barricaded and access restricted. Here in the now empty Zuccotti Park.
So what does all this have to do with my time in Indonesia? Well, my interest in the connection between this and my work was piqued when I read a report from Oxfam called 'The Real Story Behind the Numbers' (Oxfam GB Feb 2010). The report looks into the impacts of the GFC on Indonesian women, and discusses how women are far more likely to be adversely affected by economic downturns. As I will be working on a gender project in South Sulawesi, to me it is fascinating to draw parallels. The report found that a greater proportion of women were adversely affected by the GFC, especially in manufacturing as they lost their jobs in the export sector when demand fell. While the report was inconclusive, it found that the Indonesian government in spite of its gender-empowerment rhetoric has not succeeded in implementing reforms to assist women or prevent further hardship.
So when these people at OWS voiced their outrage at a broken and twisted system, whether they knew it or not they were also speaking for people half a world away who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Bringing income inequality and corporate greed to the forefront of the debate not only opens up discussion space for Americans, but the world at large. Indonesia has a burgeoning middle class, but the benefits of fantastic economic growth are grossly uneven. Wealthy Jakartans passing their afternoons in massive air-conditioned mega-malls buying Gucci products may have benefitted from the effects of free trade and a low corporate tax rate. Indonesians in far-flung, mineral rich corners of the archipelago have not been so lucky. As precious resources are stripped from the land, people are forced from their ancient territories, forests stripped, rivers polluted, and dignity is lost. West Papua, the site of the Grasberg copper mine, has the highest poverty and HIV rate in Indonesia, while Freeport-McMoRan, an American-based company, is netting profits of some $4 billion a year. Labourers there began striking since the same time that OWS began.
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The strikes in West Papua ended last month after Freeport agreed to a 39 percent wage increase. However, locals continue to protest the existence of the mine, which is at the base of glaciated Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain in Indonesia.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, workers are demanding higher wages more comparable to their foreign counterparts, as the New York Times reported. Here in Jakarta, workers recently went on strike for higher wages. Such discontent in the working class has the potential to scare off foreign investors seeking to maximise and squeeze every penny from their employees.
So what exactly is my point here? I feel that the majority of the people on this planet are reaching a breaking point. Tired of exploitation and unfairness, we are beginning to rise up to challenge unbridled corporate greed and demand respect and dignity. All of these factors are interconnected; rioters on Wall Street and protesters in West Papua. This is just a kind of random rant and I am no economic or trade expert. However I believe this year will indeed bring some interesting changes to the global economy and the position of workers versus giant transnational companies. As an ACICIS participant I am forbidden to even observe any sort of protests, but as a student of globalisation I cannot help but be interested in the direction that these events are taking us . . . There is more to life than making an easy profit, and the workers of Indonesia and the US are starting to finally a life with more dignity.
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