Indonesian rally demands Venezuelan-style nationalisation

JAKARTA — Around 1000 workers, students and urban poor held a pre-May Day demonstration outside GKBI Towers, a flashy skyscraper that is the Indonesian headquarters of a number of multinational corporations, including ExxonMobil, ANZ Bank, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical and the Swiss Bank.

The rally echoed the demand raised by the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) that all foreign-owned mining and oil companies be nationalised and their profits redirected to resolving the crisis facing most Indonesians amidst rising fuel and food prices. Actions around this demand have been taking place all around Indonesia over the last few months.

Dominggus Oktavianus, the general secretary of the National Front of Workers' Struggle (FNPBI), said Indonesia should follow the example of the socialist Venezuelan government in nationalising its oil industry to feed, educate and house the poor.

From GLW issue 749