Meet farmer and activist Bagus and his Kendeng Squad, who use punk rock to highlight the environmental destruction to the Kendeng Mountains in Indonesia. The mountains, home to karst and limestone deposits, are shrinking while operations continue mining cement for profit. Backed by the state and international investors, Indonesia’s largest cement companies began detonating mountains to mine limestone in the early 2010’s. Since then, the Kendeng mountains have become a center of conflict, giving birth to countless struggles of land ownership. From protests to punk bands, people are standing up to fight against what is happening in their home. Some have gone so far as to pour cement on their feet, in order to hold President Jokowi accountable for allowing Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises to destroy their mountains. Kendeng Squadwrite and perform songs about preserving their natural environment with songs like ‘Berani Bertani’ (Dare to Farm). Their message: This is ‘the farming city’, not ‘the industrial city’. Today, locals like Bagus question the Indonesian government’s loyalty, while they continue to give mining permits and build factories, bulldozing mountains in the process.
Meet farmer and activist Bagus and his Kendeng Squad, who use punk rock to highlight the environmental destruction to the Kendeng Mountains in Indonesia. The mountains, home to karst and limestone deposits, are shrinking while operations continue mining cement for profit. Backed by the state and international investors, Indonesia’s largest cement companies began detonating mountains to mine limestone in the early 2010’s. Since then, the Kendeng mountains have become a center of conflict, giving birth to countless struggles of land ownership. From protests to punk bands, people are standing up to fight against what is happening in their home. Some have gone so far as to pour cement on their feet, in order to hold President Jokowi accountable for allowing Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises to destroy their mountains. Kendeng Squadwrite and perform songs about preserving their natural environment with songs like ‘Berani Bertani’ (Dare to Farm). Their message: This is ‘the farming city’, not ‘the industrial city’. Today, locals like Bagus question the Indonesian government’s loyalty, while they continue to give mining permits and build factories, bulldozing mountains in the process.
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