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Feminists Around the World: Rukka Sombolinggi · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha and welcome to stephmone
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  Speaker 1: never told your production by her radio.
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  Speaker 2: And today we are back with another feminist around the
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  Speaker 2: world and we are going to the islands of Indonesia
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  Speaker 2: and we are celebrating the works of AMAN or the
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  Speaker 2: Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of Archipelago. Secretary General Ruka Sombalingi
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  Speaker 2: Sambolinki is a member of the Tarajan nation from the
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  Speaker 2: area of Salawisi Island of Indonesia, and she is the
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  Speaker 2: first woman to serve as the Secretary General of AMAN,
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  Speaker 2: which is the world's largest indigenous people's organization, and she
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  Speaker 2: was elected to the position in twenty seventeen and I
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  Speaker 2: believe she's currently still serving as the president. If someone
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  Speaker 2: wants to correct main grade, I just saw twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: three YouTube video and stuff and she was still secretary general,
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  Speaker 2: So someone can let me know if I'm wrong. But
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  Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure that is correct. And just so you know,
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  Speaker 2: here's a quote from her about the organization from an
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  Speaker 2: article by Culturalsurvival dot Org. AHMAN was established in nineteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety nine, shortly after the Saharto regime fell, but the
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  Speaker 2: movement in Indonesia started much earlier in the seventies, eighties,
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  Speaker 2: and nineties. As of today, our members are twenty three
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  Speaker 2: hundred and sixty six indigenous communities. They're served by one
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  Speaker 2: headquarter in Jakarta, where I am. We have twenty one
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  Speaker 2: provincial chapters and one hundred and twenty local chapters working
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  Speaker 2: to serve our members in matters of discrimination. AMAN has
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  Speaker 2: also established three women's organizations, the Indigenous Youth Front dedicated
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  Speaker 2: to Indigenous women and youth, the Indigenous Women's Union, which
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  Speaker 2: was created for Indigenous women to have their collective struggle
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  Speaker 2: and collective voice together, and an association of lawyers defending
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  Speaker 2: the rights of Indigenous people. We also have education foundations
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  Speaker 2: for indigenous schools, a cooperative union, a consulting company, and
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  Speaker 2: an Ancestral Domain Registry where they are validating our indigenous maps.
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  Speaker 2: So the organization does a whole lot, has lots of members.
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  Speaker 2: When she was initially elected as a Secretary General, the
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  Speaker 2: organization represented at least seventeen million Indigenous people. So I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure it's grown system. Because that's been six years ago.
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  Speaker 2: I couldn't find any new numbers, but yes, that's who
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  Speaker 2: she is.
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  Speaker 1: Right. And though she has been the head of the
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  Speaker 1: AMMAN for over six years now, her work spans decades,
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  Speaker 1: including what some would call the beginnings of the movements
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  Speaker 1: in Indonesia in nineteen ninety three, which was hosted by
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  Speaker 1: her parents. With her master's degree in political science, Sombo
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  Speaker 1: Linghi has been organizing and leading the indigenous community. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: she had previously worked with Japhama, one of the main
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  Speaker 1: groups that had been a part of the initial GRIP
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  Speaker 1: groups that were a part of the AMMAN. In nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety nine. She was also a part of the un
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  Speaker 1: DP Regional Indigenous People's Program as a program specialist in
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  Speaker 1: the Asia Specific Center in Bangkok, and in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and nine to twenty twelve she was a member of
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  Speaker 1: the Executive Council of Asia Indigenous Peoples Packed AIPP as
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  Speaker 1: a representative of Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and two more less,
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  Speaker 1: I hope I did not mature that and she was
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  Speaker 1: one of the main people who wrote the Indonesian Chapter
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  Speaker 1: of the Indigenous World, which was a report by the
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  Speaker 1: International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs Right.
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  Speaker 2: I think that was worked on in Copenhagen, so it
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  Speaker 2: was a big part of the world's congress stuff and
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  Speaker 2: she has been fierce in her work for the indigenous community.
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  Speaker 2: In the interview with Cultural Survival, som Malindi talks about
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  Speaker 2: the different issues surround the community, but specifically the issues
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  Speaker 2: for the indigenous women, and she said, in general, Indigenous
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  Speaker 2: women in many different parts of the world, including Indonesia especially,
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  Speaker 2: face multiple discriminations as girls at home, in the family
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  Speaker 2: and in the community. We are always treated like second
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  Speaker 2: class citizens. The most challenging role for women is as
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  Speaker 2: an Indigenous woman because when indigenous people's community face problems,
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  Speaker 2: women and children will suffer the most because of our
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  Speaker 2: domestic roles as a caregiver of the family of the community.
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  Speaker 2: It puts so much additional burden on women at the
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  Speaker 2: economic level. The position of Indigenous women as caregivers, that's
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  Speaker 2: their political position, gives them meaning. But once your land
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  Speaker 2: is taken away the status as caregiver, then you lose that.
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  Speaker 2: Indigenous women are the keepers of traditional knowledge in sees
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  Speaker 2: and medicines. That gives a special role to Indigenous women.
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  Speaker 2: They are respected because of that role, but when land
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  Speaker 2: and resources are taken away, they cannot make medicines anymore.
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  Speaker 2: They immediately become completely powerless, and that's where they have
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  Speaker 2: to go out and become workers. They still have to
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  Speaker 2: perform domestically as a caregiver, but they have to also
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  Speaker 2: work on the plantations, and then everything is measured by
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  Speaker 2: how much money you get from that company. Is always
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  Speaker 2: the women who will suffer the most.
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  Speaker 1: And she goes on to talk about why women need
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  Speaker 1: to be in leadership positions and how to do so.
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  Speaker 1: Here's a quote from a Reuter's interview. Women leaders are
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  Speaker 1: essential to ensuring the protection of indigenous rights, she said,
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  Speaker 1: noting that Indonesia's thirty percent gender quota to increase women's
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  Speaker 1: representation in parliament is usually filled by the wives of
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  Speaker 1: wealthy men. And she went on saying in the eighties
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  Speaker 1: and nineties, indigenous women stood at the frontline against oppression
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  Speaker 1: and land grabbing, but it has become harder over the
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  Speaker 1: past years for women to engage and she expanded on
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  Speaker 1: that in her interview with Cultural Survival. She says, we
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  Speaker 1: need to narrow the gaps, starting at the community level
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  Speaker 1: and also at the organizational level. At the organizational level,
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  Speaker 1: we have protocols and procedures to ensure women will get
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  Speaker 1: into those positions. If we hire for a post, for example,
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  Speaker 1: women will not get it without affirmative act. As organizations,
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  Speaker 1: we have the privilege to have the protocols to pay
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  Speaker 1: attention to the specific needs of women. How do they
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  Speaker 1: get additional capacity building in terms of awareness raising? This
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  Speaker 1: is very important because as women coming from indigenous communities,
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  Speaker 1: at some point you already have the mindset that you
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  Speaker 1: are lower than men. You are in the inferior position.
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  Speaker 1: There's a feeling of inferiority that a man doesn't have.
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  Speaker 1: It's our cultural background that a woman, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: good she is, always thinks she can't afford or that
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  Speaker 1: she doesn't deserve. These are the things at the underlying
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  Speaker 1: emotional level, self esteem, confidence that we have to address first,
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  Speaker 1: and not many of the leaders and organizations have that understanding.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like that's just speaking to the entire choir.
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  Speaker 2: Ye yes, So with all that, she's been working NonStop
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  Speaker 2: to get read sources and help for the community. In
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, AMAN was awarded the two point twenty
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  Speaker 2: five million dollar Prize for Social Innovations and the organization
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  Speaker 2: has been working to get the rights to twenty six
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  Speaker 2: million hectares of territory or over sixty four million acres
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  Speaker 2: across the Indonesian lands. And with that, they've been waiting
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  Speaker 2: for legislation for indigenous rights approval from the government, which
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  Speaker 2: has not happened as of yet. From what I understand,
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  Speaker 2: this was April of twenty twenty three, unless I've read
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  Speaker 2: the wrong thing. And yeah, there's a conversation because right
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  Speaker 2: now there are so many industries and companies taking over
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  Speaker 2: the land and abusing it essentially for resources. And more
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  Speaker 2: Indigenous lands are being taken over and indigenous communities continue
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  Speaker 2: to face threats physically and emotionally. All that and possible
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  Speaker 2: loss of property and land. Again, with these new threats,
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  Speaker 2: a mon has embraced the need for technology and the
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  Speaker 2: role it plays and has aided and providing services like
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  Speaker 2: internet access and cell phone access throughout the different indigenous communities,
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  Speaker 2: which is so import I don't think we talk about
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  Speaker 2: that enough about how access is needed, especially to communicate
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  Speaker 2: and all of these things. Not knowing what's happening when
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  Speaker 2: big companies come through and try to take over. But
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  Speaker 2: with all that, she's clear on one thing and making
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  Speaker 2: sure those in power are in check. She told Context News.
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  Speaker 2: This people in powerful situations need to be controlled. If
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  Speaker 2: we don't, the powerful will eat everything. And I thought
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  Speaker 2: that was really a little huge statement to be said,
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  Speaker 2: because we see that, we see the results of that,
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  Speaker 2: we see the world burning because of that, and we
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  Speaker 2: know that it is big companies and those in power
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  Speaker 2: who have allowed for this and not listening to people
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  Speaker 2: from the indigenous communities who understand the land way better
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  Speaker 2: than anyone else could.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, but yes, as always, listeners, if you have any
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  Speaker 1: suggestions for this segment, any thoughts about this, you can
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  Speaker 1: let us know. Our email is Stephan Media momsteffantiheartmedia dot com.
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