What we can learn from the Free West Papua Movement

Armed with spears and long-bows, the indigenous warriors of West Papua continue to fight the technologically advanced Indonesian military. To the majority of West Papuans, armed struggle, despite severe tactical disadvantage, is the only honorable and reasonable form of resistance available to combat the onslaught of a capitalist state that surely seeks to annihilate their communal tribal societies and the rich jungle ecosystems in which they are so deeply embedded. The NGO-backed Papuan Presidium Counsel (PPG), meanwhile, attempts to negotiate with the Indonesian state on behalf of the West Papuan people, but compromises on partial reforms in state policy-- thus allowing the profit hungry mining, logging, and oil companies to continue their conquest of the West Papuan land and people, only in less visible and direct ways. Most West Papuans, however, recognize the PPG as the manipulators they are, and remain steadfast in their demands to be left alone. It seems that to these traditional people, armed struggle to the death is more desirable than the abandonment of a communal way of life for work in the factories, mine shafts, and logging camps of the multi-national corporations.

Meanwhile in the West, most people (including anarchists) have never even heard of the Free West Papua Movement. Many people who have heard of it regard it as something distant and novel-- relegated to the remote mountain jungles of a far-off Pacific island-- with little or no relevance to our own lives and anti-capitalist struggles in the industrialized world. But is the West Papuan struggle really that different than our own freedom struggles? A knowledgeable person would answer no. There is much we can learn from the defiant natives of West Papua.

West Papua’s native people are diverse (Papua is home to 25% of the world’s known languages), and like all people they are affected by cultural changes that have doubtlessly occurred throughout their various histories. A notable characteristic of most West Papuans, however, is a strong communal spirit and an ecologically sustainable way of life rooted in a love for the earth (which they do not view as being separate from themselves, as most Westerners do). These traits seem to have existed for as long as can be recalled by the oral histories that have been passed down through countless generations of elders. As such, the West Papuans are living proof that people can live healthy and fulfilling lives without the institutionalized coercion of capitalism and the state.

The people of West Papua, despite cultural differences, are really not that different from ourselves. They are human beings who care about their families and loved-ones and for the most part, would like to be left alone to live their lives without being ordered around by business people, politicians, and men with guns. But unlike the West Papuans, we in the Western world (in most cases) have come to accept the state, the military, capitalism, industry, and wage-slavery as inevitabilities. The history books issued to us in government and religious schools have taught us to forget that all of us (regardless of ethnic background) are descendents of people who where once indigenous to some place at some point in history. And many of our ancestors fought their conquerors with the same ferocity and determination as the West Papuans. We are all kin to tribal people who fought the armies of the first empires and civilizations; of peasants who resisted the violent enclosures of their land; of slaves who defied their masters; of independent rural folk who refused industrialization; or of early industrial workers who revolted against their horrid conditions, demanding an end to poverty, hunger, and exploitation.

Today, however, our subservience has become internalized. The success of any empire depends upon its ability to convince its subjects that life under the empire is better and superior to any other life. And no empire has succeeded more in doing this than the current global, techno-capitalist regime, which seems intent on colonizing every last corner of this planet.

To maintain its rule and continue its expansion, the current order depends upon a vast employment of propaganda-- mass media, advertisements, church, school-- which nearly monopolize our access to information. A daily process of ideological reinforcement forces us to personally reproduce the logic of capitalism, as we are purposely left without knowledge or hope that a possibility of alternatives may exist. In this atmosphere, even resistance tends to be tainted with the logic of the society it is supposedly resisting, as it is being carried out by individuals who since birth have been forced to internalize this society’s values and logic. This leads to situations where we allow ourselves to be convinced that we need leaders, or bureaucratic organizations, mere changes in state policy, or more negotiations with those in control. We should have learned by now, however, that such compromises only allow the current order to continue (with slight changes), or permit new systems of tyranny and control to replace the old.

So maybe we can learn something from the Free West Papua movement. The world of industrial capitalism stands in stark, bleak contrast to the communal jungle societies of native West Papua. The native West Papuans have nothing to gain by submitting to the will of capitalist globalization. But we don’t have anything to gain by submitting to the capitalists either. Are our modern conveniences really all that great? Is a life of work and stress the best we can offer our children? How much longer can we bare to let every aspect of our lives be determined by state control and economic imperative? The tribal warriors of West Papua have taken their stand-- freedom or death. And so should we. No more reforms, no more compromises, until all of us are free to regain complete, unmediated control over our own lives.

This is not necessarily meant to suggest that everyone should immediately quit their jobs and go purchase guns (or long-bows). Many of us are too busy just trying to survive and feed our families. But with some inspiration, critical thought, and collective effort, we can build the foundation of a future society while avoiding the pit-falls of reformism. And perhaps one day soon the world’s exploited and dispossessed will rise in a revolt that will tear down the towers of capitalist tyranny once and for all.