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Indonesia: Call for Venezuela-style oil nationalisations; Papernas May Day statement

April 29, 2008 - About 1000 workers, students and urban poor held a pre-May Day demonstration outside GKBI Towers in Jakarta, a flashy skyscraper that is the Indonesian headquarters of companies like ExxonMobil, ANZ Bank, Cable & Wireless, Credit Lyonnais Capital, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, France Telecom, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, OCBC Bank and the Swiss Bank.
The rally echoed Papernas' demand 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), has said Indonesia should follow the example of socialist Venezuela in nationalising its oil industry to feed, educate and house the poor.

Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), formerly ASIET (Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor), is a network of solidarity activists campaigning for democratic rights, self-determination and other justice struggles in the Asia Pacific region.
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