Community Film on Oil Palm - Maju atau Mundur

Oil Palm Farmer, Indonesia 
“He said this was State land and we had to hand it over. This is about the rights of the State, not your rights. No matter whether it was the land where we grew our crops, built our houses or used as homegardens, it was state land and they were going to take it. They threatened that if we opposed this, they would put us into jail. We felt helpless as small people and were afraid of the green and yellow uniforms, so we gave up. But I asked: what is to become of us, who live here, if all the land is converted into a plantation?”

Maju atau Mundur
Maju atau Mundur: Suara dari Perkebunan Sawit’ (‘Moving forwards or losing ground: Voices from the Oil Palm plantations’) is a 1 hour educational film made with 20 indigenous communities who have experienced the impacts of oil palm plantations. The film aims to help community members in oil palm plantations or plantation expansion areas to make informed decisions on the future uses of their ancestral lands.

• Part I focuses on the impacts of oil palm and contains an Introduction, and chapters on Local Economics, Farming Systems, Water, Culture, Land and Conflict.
• Part II contains chapters on Community-Led Alternatives and Community Tactics for accepting or refusing oil palm.

Language: Bahasa Indonesia. Maju atau Mundur is not a present available in other languages.
The film is available to communities facing oil palm expansion in their areas as well as to ngos and local support groups. Enquiries about making use of the film in other countries should be aware that dubbing would be required. 

Over 4,000 community films have been distributed so far, reaching well over 1,000 indigenous villages. The information distribution and subsequent village meetings have verifiably led to communities rejecting 50,000 hectares of plantations including peat swamp forest and Sumatran tiger habitat.
Other communities have re-negotiated agreements with companies, recruited members to farmers unions, and set up community-based organisations to defend their rights and look into alternatives in a number of settings.