Artefacting Mumbai: Using Art to Stir Things Up in India

Tentang Artefacting Mumbai

Pada dasarnya proyek seni ini menggunakan seni sebagai penggambaran tentang sebuah pemukiman kumuh yang  dalam keadaan mengenaskan karena digerus oleh proses urbanisasi di daerah miskin terbesar di Asia di distrik Dharavi’s 13th Compound di Mumbai, India.

Perupa dan aktivitis urban dari AS, Alex White Mazzarella dan rekannya city planner/photographer Casey Nolan dengan sepenuh hati  berinteraksi bersama warga Dharavi. Mendokumentasikan dan memanifestasikan pengalaman mereka sendiri, dalam melihat prespektif kemanusiaan, identitas, energi serta budaya lokal lewat karya seni.

Mereka mencipta lukisan mixed media dengan produk percampuran  serta energi warna lokal untuk mengeksplorasi transmisi tempat, fenomena manusia, realitas eksistensial distrik Dharavi dan berbagai situasi ekstrem daerah slum di Mumbai. Menyediakan ruang, melihat secara mendalam dan memancing diskursus soal kemungkinan kemajuan, komunitas, masyarakat dan pertumbuhan. 

City planner dan filmmaker Casey Nolan yang berasal  dari Portland Oregon merekam  dan menyediakan narasi dengan teknik foto jurnalisme.Artefacting Mumbai lebih dalam ingin berbagi bagaimana perupa atau pekerja kreatif membawa harapan apa yang sesungguhnya bernilai  dan penting bagi hidup manusia dan komunitasnya, seperti: cara manusia berbagi dan peduli dengan sesama.

About Artefacting Mumbai

Basically this art project exercises art as an illustration of a heartbreaking slum marginalized by urbanization process in the biggest poor area in Asia, Dharavi’s 13th Compound district, in Mumbai, India. 

Artist-cum-urban activist from USA, Alex White Mazzarella and his partner, city planner/photographer/filmmaker Casey Nolan, wholeheartedly interacted with Dharavi locals. They documented and manifested their own experience in seeing humanity, identity and local culture in perspective, via their works.

They created a mixed-media painting with combined products and the energy of local colors to explore location transmission, human phenomenon, existential reality in Dharavi district and various extreme situations in Mumbai slums. 

They provided a space, looked deeper and encouraged a discourse about a possibility of advancement, community, society and growth. Portland-based Nolan recorded and provided a narration with photojournalism technique. “Artefacting Mumbai” aimed to share how artists and creative workers bring hopes about what truly matters and what is valuable for humankind’s and the community’s lives, such as: how people share and care about each other.

source: www.artefacting.com

Water Scarcity Crisis in Jakarta Slum Area

Pada tahun 2010 seorang jurnalis sekaligus fotografer Unang Ramdani  menyajikan pada kita via foto-foto yang menceritakan kronika masyarakat yang tinggal di daerah kumuh di Jakarta. Foto - foto yang menyentuh, menggugah rasa kemanusiaan kita. Tentang   orang-orang yang berjuang untuk mendapatkan air bersih.

Unang membidikkan lensa kameranya di flat Rusunawa, Penjaringan, Jakarta Utara. Karya-karya ini dikemudian hari terseleksi oleh tim Kurator untuk berpartisipasi pada acara Jakarta Biennale #14 pada 2011.

Bisa dilihat disini bahwa selang air dan mesin-mesin pompa yang  menyedot air dari dalam tanah adalah sketsa saban hari warga yang tinggal disitu untuk mendapatkan air bersih. Unang menyebutnya sebagai " Berebut Air di Rusunawa".

Pada pertengahan tahun 2012 karya fotografi tersebut ditafsirkan ulang oleh seorang koreografer tari Yola Yulfianti yang selanjutnya  ia beri judul baru : Payau #2 Waterproof. Karya kolaborasinya dengan Unang ini dipentaskan di  Pusat Kesenian Jakarta, Taman Ismail Marjuki, serta menjadi perfomans utama di ajang Indonesia Dance Festival ke-11.


In 2010, a journalist cum photographer Unang Ramdani has presented to us via his photos that tell the chronicle of people living in slums in Jakarta who are struggling to get clean water.

Unang have made these works in Rusunawa flats, Penjaringan, North Jakarta. These works were later selected by a team of curators to participate in the event of Jakarta Biennale 2011.

It can be seen here that the water hoses and pump machines that have been sucking water from the soil is a picture of the everyday struggle from people who live there to get clean water

In-mid 2012 the photographic work has been re-interpreted by a dance choreographer Yola Yulfianti which she gave the title: Payau # 2 Waterproof and the collaboration works staged in Jakarta Arts Center, Taman Ismail Marjuki as main peformance of the 11th Indonesia Dance Festival.

Unang's photo-installation work at  theJakarta Biennale#14, 2011

Source: Unang and Yola

Colombian Slum Gets Outdoor Escalator

For some residents of the Colombian city of Medellin, a trip to the city centre meant a long and dangerous trek through one of the city's most violent areas. Ascending 384 metres, a new escalator project has changed that.

(Al Jazeera's - Gerald Tan)

Navigating a mountainous city with a giant escalator

By Tyler Falk 

When a city is located in the heart of one of the world’s highest mountain ranges it be difficult to get from one place to another, especially on foot.

In Medellin, Colombia, much of the city lies in a valley in the Andes, but as you move toward the surrounding slums, housing moves up the steep slopes that surround the city center. That’s why the city has installed an urban escalator system to help residents in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city navigate their long commute from the city center to their neighborhood. Transportation Nation has more:

The 12,000 residents of one hilly Medellin neighborhood used to climb the equivalent of 28 stories to get from the city center to their homes. But an arduous 30-minute walk has been transformed into a five-minute ride, with the installation of an urban escalator system.

“This escalator represents a celebration for all of us as a city,” said Mayor Salazar Jaramillo on Monday, when he officially opened the escalators to the public in the Comuna 13 neighborhood. “This should be a symbol of city transformation and peace for Comuna 13.”

There are six sections of the escalator, which cost $6.7 million. Money well spent according to the city’s mayor.

The mayor said innovations like the escalator are turning the Colombian city into a showcase for leading urban planning ideas, and added that officials from Rio de Janeiro had already contacted him about doing something similar in the hillside favelas there. [...]

“In these slums, we have to make an important change,” said Rafael Nanclares, Medellin’s secretary of transportation and transit, speaking on the phone to Transportation Nation. “We have to make opportunities for them.” Earlier this week, Nanclares tweeted a photo of a banner hung on the side of a building that read: “What pride! We live in the only neighborhood in the world with public escalators.”

The city is also working to improve mobility through bikeshare and bus-rapid transit. Though the escalators seem like a cheaper and more efficient way to navigate the steep hills. But you do have to wonder how reliable the escalators will be. Hey, you’d be suspicious too if you regularly rode DC Metro’s escalators. We’ll call it cautious optimism.

Photo: Office of the Mayor, Medellin

source: http://www.smartplanet.com

Jatiwangi art Factory - JaF

 Tentang JaF

Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF) adalah sebuah organisasi nirlaba yang fokus terhadap kajian kehidupan lokal pedesaan lewat kegiatan seni dan budaya seperti; festival, pertunjukan, seni rupa, musik, video, keramik, pameran, residensi seniman, diskusi bulanan, siaran radio dan pendidikan.

JaF didirikan pada 27 September 2005. Sejak tahun 2008 JaF bekerjasama dengan Pemerintahan Desa Jatisura melakukan riset dan penelitian dengan menggunakan keterlibatan kesenian kontemporer yang kolaboratif dan saling menterhubungkan.

JaF mempunyai Program Festival Residensi, Festival Video Residensi dan Festival Musik Keramik dua tahunan yang mengundang seniman dari berbagai disiplin ilmu dan Negara untuk tinggal, berinteraksi, bekerjasama dengan warga desa, merasakan kehidupan Masyarakat Jatiwangi, serta merumuskan dan membuat sesuatu yang kemudian dipresentasikan dan dikabarkan kepada semua orang.

About JaF

Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on discourses of local rural life through arts and cultural activities such as festivals, performances, visual art, music, video, ceramics, exhibitions, artist in residencies, monthly discussion, radio broadcast and education.

JaF was founded on September 27, 2005. Since the year 2008 JaF in cooperation with the Jatisura Village Government do research using a collaborative engagement of contemporary art that connecting each other.

JaF has a bi-annual Residency Festival, Video Residency Festival and Ceramic Music Festival that invites artists from various disciplines and countries to live, interact, cooperate with the villagers, to feel life in Jatiwangi rural society, formulate and create something that presented to everyone.

Cart Cinema 1

Cart Cinema 2

Contemporary Ceramic Exhibition

Contemporary Ceramic Exhibition

Performing Arts 1

Performing Arts 2

Performing Arts 3

Workshop 1

Workshop 2

source: http://jatiwangiartfactory.wordpress.com/

Ai Weiwei's 'Gangnam Style' Video Blocked

China's Ai Weiwei bemoans block on his "Gangnam" parody

BEIJING | Thu Oct 25, 2012 6:16pm EDT

(Reuters) - Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei criticized the government on Thursday for removing from Chinese websites his parody of Korean pop sensation Psy's Gangnam Style video.

Ai, a world-renowned artist and China's most prominent dissident, and staff of his company performed Psy's famous horse dance in his Beijing studio and posted the video late on Wednesday to Chinese sites such as "Tudou", the equivalent of the blocked YouTube site.

Ai, 55, called the video "Caonima". "Caonima" means "grass mud horse" but the word, which sounds like a very crude insult, has also been taken on by Chinese Internet users, and by Ai himself, and featured in postings mocking the government's online controls.

"We only filmed for a bit over 10 minutes but we used a whole day to edit, and eventually put it online at midnight," Ai told Reuters.

"After we had uploaded it, a few hours later ... we found that a lot of people, tens of thousands, had already watched it. Now, in China, it has already been totally removed, deleted entirely, and you can't see it inChina," Ai said.

Ai said Psy's Gangnam Style song and dance was a grass-roots expression of individualism that should be allowed in his country.

"Overall, we feel that every person has the right to express themselves, and this right of expression is fundamentally linked to our happiness and even our existence," Ai said.

"When a society constantly demands that everyone should abandon this right, then the society becomes a society without creativity. It can never become a happy society."

Ai, whose 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry, has regularly criticized the government for what he sees as its flouting of the rule of law and the rights of citizens.

Last month, a court upheld a $2.4 million tax evasion fine against him, ending a long legal battle with the authorities. He can be jailed if he does not pay.

(Reporting by Maxim Duncan; Editing by Elaine Lies and Robert Birsel)

Art in the World's Largest Waste Land

Artist Vik Muniz takes the photo of Tiao Santos as Marat (left) for the print entitled "Marat/Sebastio - Pictures of Garbage" (right). Photo credit: Vik Muniz Studio
The moment when one thing turns into another is the most beautiful moment. A combination of sounds turns into music. And that applies to everything.—Vik Muniz

Outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a stretch of land known as Jardim Gramacho. Here, trash from the city—more than 7,000 tons every day—is piled in high mounds. Among this vast landfill—the largest in the world—live anestimated 20,000 people, half of which are involved directly in the local recycling industry.

At least 2,500 of these residents are catadores, garbage pickers who make their living sorting recyclables from the refuse, then selling them to local processors. Artist Vik Muniz traveled to Brazil to "change the lives of [thecatadores] with the same material they deal with every day."
Artist Vik Muniz at Jardim Gramacho. Photo credit: Vik Muniz Studio

A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Muniz was accidentally shot in the leg as a young man. With the compensation he received for his injuries, Muniz moved to New York City, where he has worked as an artist ever since.

Muniz has used dirt, diamonds, sugar, string, chocolate syrup, and garbage to create images—which explore the multiple dimensions of the unlikely materials they consist of. In Jardim Gramacho, Muniz sought to capture the realities of life in the landfill but also to create "a mirror in which the catadores may see themselves."

Though the images are clearly grounded in the trash of the landfill, they are inspired by the people that struggle to make a life amongst it.

View down onto Irma's portrait on the floor. Photo credit: Vik Muniz Studio

The work is not only inspired by the catadores, it also seeks to help them. By selling the artwork at auction, Muniz managed to raise $300,000, all of which was given to the Association of Collectors of the Metropolitan Landfill of Jardim Gramacho (ACAMJG), an organization led by Tiao Santos that organizes and protects the collectors.

Indeed, the entire project—documented in the provocative film Waste Land—became intertwined with the dignity and despair of the catadores.

Originally intending to paint the collectors amidst the trash, Muniz quickly found that—in spite of unsanitary conditions, low pay, and economic uncertainty created by continuous efforts to close the landfill—people living and working in Jardim Gramacho were unwilling to give up their homes.

His work, he realized, could not objectify the catadores, but instead had to be a product of the place and people.

Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest garbage dump. Photo credit: Vik Muniz Studio

Of course, this transition was not an easy one.

Lucy Walker, director of Waste Land, explains that:

Questions poke through the fabric of the movie as things get messy...Vik and his wife start to argue on-camera about whether the project is hurting the catadores by taking them out of their environment and then, when it's over, expecting them to return

She continues by asking, "should documentary filmmakers interfere with their subjects' lives...how could they not?" Muniz's project and Walker's film, clearly, changed the lives of several catadores. The question she seems to be asking is whether or not this change was for the better.

Several years ago, local officials noticed large cracks forming in some of the retaining walls surrounding Jardim Gramacho—a sign that the landfill had exceeded its capacity and had become a threat to the neighborhoods and watersheds around it.

Since then, an effort, spearheaded by COMLURB—the municipal authority in charge of the site—has sought to close the landfill, which would force thecatadores to move on. For the catadores, change, it seems, was inevitable.

COMLURB Secretary Marilene Ramos has said that "the responsibility for Gramacho is on all of us who produce the garbage that is dumped there daily." In this case, the environmental responsibility is clear—it is the easily-hidden human responsibility that proves to be more problematic.

Ultimately, the work of Muniz, Walker, and ACAMJG hope to provide options for the people who find a livelihood in others' trash.

source: www.treehugger.com, David DeFranza

Stopping the violence in Jakarta’s slums

Instansi  pemerintah kota, tentu saja dalam hal ini kota Jakarta dan organisasi lain yang peduli dengan pengentasan kemiskinan biasanya selalu memperhatikan pada masalah pembangunan fisik dan materi saja. Misalnya,  kualitas pelayanan air dan sanitasi, perawatan kesehatan, dan akses ekonomi. Namun, ada beberapa masalah sosial yang menjadi beban serius bagi masyarakat di wilayah kumuh dan miskin belum benar-benar diperhatikan. Salah satu masalah tersebut adalah: kekerasan.

Wilayah yang miskin dan kumuh menjadi saksi perkelahian masal jalanan yang terjadi setiap hari. Perkelahian jalanan yang kita kenal dengan istilah tawuran, meruyak diantara orang-orang yang berusia dewasa utamanya. Yang memprihatinkan remaja juga mulai ikut-ikutan.

 Tawuran terjadi karena banyak sebab, tapi selalu mengakibatkan korban manusia yang terluka parah, kerusakan harta benda, munculnya kepanikan dan rasa ketidakamanan di dalam lingkungan mereka. Tak usah dijelaskan lagi bahwa memang membuat semakin buruk kualitas hidup di wilayah kumuh dan miskin.

Fenomena semacam ini tidak lagi dianggap unik di daerah miskin dan kumuh seperti di Jakarta. Kita tahu, di seluruh dunia, kumuh umumnya dekat dengan tingginya kasus kejahatan,  eksisnya geng-geng, dan kekerasan. Sebagai contoh, kekerasan antar geng jalanan dan kelompok anarkis (biasanya aksi main hakim sendiri) di Nairobi, Kenya, telah berlangsung bertahun-tahun lamanya, meski pemerintah bertindak keras pada mereka.

Di wilayah distrik kumuh dan miskin Favelas di Brasil juga tenar karena tingginya angka kriminalitas dan kekerasan. Jadi, sudah jelas bahwa masalah ini memerlukan perhatian lebih mendalam lagi. Motif kekerasan di Jakarta menurut Profesor Paulus Wirutomo seorang sosiolog dari Universitas Indonesia dan kebetulan ia tinggal di Tanah Tinggi -- di dekat wilayah yang paling terkenal sering terjadi tawuran antar kampung di Jakarta--- tawuran masal kerap berulang, bahkan  terkadang beberapa kali terjadi dalam satu hari.

Paulus, menyaksikan sendiri kekerasan ini bertahun-tahun lamanya. Ia sekarang mendokumentasikan apa saja yang menjadi konteks sosial dari tawuran tersebut dalam upayanya untuk menemukan solusi. Ia menyebut bahwa salah satu penyebab utama kekerasan ini adalah karena orang kampung frustrasi dengan keadaan lingkungan dimana mereka hidup dan penghasilan rendah.

Rasa frustrasi ini membangun sikap agresif, membuat masyarakat kampung  sangat mudah menimbulkan peristiwa tawuran yang dipicu oleh beberapa alasan. Bisa saja masalah dendam pribadi, sengketa teritorial (perebutan hak lahan-tanah), persaingan antar geng, atau karena provokasi bentuk lainnya.

Orang kampung hanya mencari cara untuk menyalurkan rasa frustrasi dan agresinya. Faktor lain, bagi Paulus adalah malas dan menganggur. Sebagian besar partisipan tawuran menganggur dan memang tidak ada lagi kegiatan yang harus dilakukan pada siang hari. Tentu saja, hal tersebut  meningkatkan kemungkinan bahwa orang akan bergabung dengan tawuran dan mencipta kekacauan-kekacauan sesudahnya.

Dari pengalaman negara lain, sebagai contoh, menurut sosiolog seperti Robert Hagedorn, kekerasan menampakkan parasnya segera setelah memburuknya kondisi ekonomi dan menyebabkan pengangguran yang hebat. Terutama di kalangan minoritas etnis tertentu. Perkelahian jalanan bisa juga terjadi karena diprovokasi oleh pihak eksternal.

Paulus menyatakan dua alasan mengapa pihak ketiga memiliki kepentingan dalam mempertahankan tawuran. Alasan pertama adalah pembebasan lahan murah. Di kota seperti Jakarta, di mana harga tanah terus naik, developer yang amoral berupaya mengeksploitasi pemilik tanah yang memang rentan di wilayah perkampungan miskin dan kumuh.

Di wilayah tersebut sebagian besar penduduk memiliki hak tanah mereka, terjadinya tawuran, sering merupakan langkah yang efektif untuk mendorong masyarakat menjadi jeri dan dapat diduga segera menjual tanah mereka dengan harga murah.

Alasan yang kedua adalah untuk mengalihkan perhatian dari kegiatan kriminal  di wilayah lain. Permukiman kumuh sering menjadi lahan-subur geng yang terlibat narkoba, prostitusi, dan kejahatan lainnya. Beberapa kelompok menghasut tawuran hanya untuk membuat sibuk pemerintah setempat, sehingga kegiatan mereka bisa dilanjutkan dengan leluasa.

Meningkatnya Kekerasan Remaja

Salah satu kekhawatiran bagi Paulus adalah telah berkembangnya budaya kekerasan dan pengaruhnya bagi anak-anak muda. Remaja di daerah kumuh tumbuh menyaksikan tawuran di lingkungan mereka dan menjadi peka atau stress, sementara bisa pula menjadi tertarik, bahkan menjadi bagian dari gaya hidup mereka.

Mereka beranjak dewasa melihat perkelahian setiap hari dan mulai mengidentifikasi diri mereka dengan berbagai geng yang terlibat.  

Namun, kedekatan karena hidup didalamnya, bukanlah satu-satunya masalah. Ada dua materi yang memperburuk skala pengaruh kekerasan terhadap anak muda Jakarta. Yang pertama, kurangnya akses terhadap pendidikan di luar sembilan tahun pertama . Yang kedua adalah kurangnya ruang hidup yang memadai di rumah. Pendidikan wajib di Indonesia mencakup sembilan tahun pendidikan gratis, dengan enam tahun Sekolah Dasar (SD) dan tiga tahun Sekolah Menengah ( SMP).

Namun, seusai SMP, biaya pendidikan sangat tinggi bagi keluarga miskin. Sementara, berbekal ijazah SMP tidak membuka peluang kerja bagi para remaja. Hal ini membuat nak-anak ini keluar dari sekolah dan menganggur.

Sosiolog seperti Hagedorn (1991) mengamati bahwa orang-orang muda yang bergabung dengan geng selama remaja, biasanya akan "jatuh tempo" ( telah keluar dari geng) segera setelah menemukan pekerjaan.

Tanpa adanya kesempatan kerja, fase yang dikatakan "jatuh tempo" itu tentu  tidak terjadi, dan remaja tetap terlibat dengan geng hingga memasuki masa dewasa mereka.

Materi/ masalah yang kedua adalah ruang hidup yang tidak memadai, yang mungkin tidak memiliki hubungan yang jelas untuk remaja bergabung dengan geng, tetapi hubungan sebab akibat yang cukup kuat. Salah satu konsekuensi dari memiliki rumah yang penuh sesak adalah tidak semua anggota keluarga dapat tidur di rumah pada waktu yang sama.

Selama jam-jam yang dianggap  malam, untuk istirahat,  prioritas sering diberikan kepada orang tua dan anak-anak. Berarti, remaja “diusir” dari rumah dan menghabiskan malam dengan remaja lain di lingkungan luar rumah.

Dengan demikian, masa remaja yang dihabiskan lebih sedikit waktunya dengan keluarga dibanding dengan sesama teman. Pada akhirnya, pengaruh teman sebaya secara proporsional lebih kuat bila dibandingkan dengan pengaruh anggota keluarga.

Dorongan untuk tetap sekolah berkurang, karena kebanyakan dari teman-teman mereka mungkin sudah memutuskan untuk tidak melanjutkan sekolah. Sebaliknya, daya tarik geng meningkat, semata-mata demi solidaritas, menjadi pilihan yang menarik.

Meretas Rantai Kekekerasan

Ada beberapa pendekatan yang berbeda untuk menangani tawuran dan aktifitas geng jalanan. Beberapa kota, seperti Nairobi, dengan tangguh menegakkan hukum di daerah kumuh secara spesifik sebagai balasan untuk tawuran dan aktifitas geng. Di Mumbai, polisi mendirikan kemitraan dengan masyarakat setempat untuk membangun kantor polisi masyarakat yang dikelola oleh wakil-wakil dari masyarakat.

Komunitas "polisi" ini, terutama bertugas melaporkan dan menyelesaikan skala kecil konflik antar warga sebelum meluas menjadi kekerasan brutal yang besar. Perwakilan masyarakat ini,  membantu polisi meredakan beban sosial dan adanya selalu pendekatan-pendekatan  kepada pihak berwenang setempat, seperti Lurah, Camat, RT, RW dll (jika di Indonesia).

Pemerintah kota Jakarta sendiri telah memilih untuk "pendekatan berbasis komunitas" yang berhubungan dengan isu kekerasan ini. Pendekatan ini melibatkan partisipasi aktif dari perkumpulan-perkumpulan berbasis komunitas  yang terlibat dengan kelompok-kelompok kekerasan dan program untuk interaksi sosial yang damai diantara berbagai pihak di masyarakat.

Keuntungan utama dari metode ini adalah kemungkinan keberhasilan yang lebih tinggi, karena jangkauan oleh komunitas lebih mungkin untuk diterima oleh kelompok-kelompok partisipan kekerasan daripada, misalnya aparat polisi atau pemerintah kota.

Selain daripada itu, hal tersebut memiliki kelemahan juga. Yang  utama adalah pendekatan ini memerlukan sebuah komunitas yang didedikasikan untuk memecahkan masalah, dan itu memakan waktu lama untuk saling terhubung dengan cara yang nyaman kepada kelompok-kelompok yang memicu  kekerasan. Untuk jangka panjang, satu-satunya solusi yang berkelanjutan untuk menangani kekerasan di daerah kumuh adalah memberikan lebih banyak peluang kerja. 

Penyediaan pekerjaan memang efektif dalam jangka panjang karena langsung berhubungan dengan salah satu akar penyebab dari kekerasan, yakni pengangguran yang tinggi.

Namun, pelaksanaan solusi ini sulit, karena wajib merangsang akses dan pembuatan tempat kerja. Selayaknya, pemerintah Jakarta perlu melakukan salah satu dari dua hal: akses pertumbuhan ekonomi kota dalam menyediakan lowongan kerja yang lebih padat karyapada pekerjaan yang berketerampilan rendah sesuai dengan kemampuan penghuni kawasan kumuh tersebut ', atau menyediakan program yang memadai, seperti pelatihan keterampilan yang dapat meningkatkan daya saing mereka di pasar tenaga kerja.

Ada PR beberapa hal bagi pemerintah kota dan pihak yang berwenang setempat musti diterapkan, yaitu adanya peran penting organisasi lain/ kelompok independen lain bisa ikut terlibat.

Organisasi non pemerintah berbasis akar rumput adalah kelopok paling tepat untuk memberdayakan masyarakat lokal dengan kesadaran untuk memecahkan masalah kekerasan serta kapasitas untuk mengatur dan terlibat dengan kelompok-kelompok kekerasan tersebut.

Salah satu contoh dapat ditemukan di Tanah Tinggi, di mana sosiolog dari Universitas Indonesia telah mencoba untuk membangun kesadaran di antara para ketua komunitas lokal tentang pentingnya menyediakan kegiatan masyarakat yang mendorong keterlibatan para warga setempat. Sebagai akibat langsung dari hal ini, Pak Zakirun, sebagai salah satu contoh, salah satu kepala komunitas yang membeli meja ping pong untuk pusat komunitasnya sehingga anak-anak akan menghabiskan malam mereka bermain ping pong bukan terlibat kegiatan geng.

Selanjutnya, sambil menunggu dampak jangka panjang solusi penciptaan lapangan kerja dan yang disebut sebagai komunitas yang berbasis partisipatoris/ keterlibatan, ada pula solusi jangka pendek  dengan beberapa organisasi yang bisa menerapkan secara langsung demi meminimalkan pengaruh kelompok kekerasan pada anak-anak.

Inisiatif Rumah Baca diluncurkan di Kampung Lio, Depok adalah salah satu contoh dengan memberikan kegiatan alternatif bagi anak-anak dan remaja untuk mencegah mereka terjerat gaya hidup kekerasan. 

Beberapa sosiolog Universitas Indonesia telah mencoba membangun studio musik sebagai kegiatan yang diarahkan pada para remaja, setelah memahami bahwa remaja di Jakarta lebih tertarik musik daripada buku.

Namun, jangkauan setiap pusat kegiatan individu secara geografis  memang terbatas. Dengan demikian, ada kebutuhan untuk lebih banyak organisasi lain untuk terlibat masuk dan menyediakan berbagi jenis bantuan terhadap wilayah  kumuh di berbagai penjuru kota Jakarta.

Government agencies and other organisations concerned with poverty alleviation typically focus on physical and material issues, such as the quality of water and sanitation services, health care, and financial access. However, there are several social problems that are just as detrimental to the lives of the poor, yet go completely unnoticed. One of those problems is violence. 

Several slums bear witness to mass street fights that happen on a daily basis. These street fights happen primarily between adults, but teenagers have also started getting involved. The fights happen for a multitude of reasons, but always result in severe injuries, property damage, as well as panic and insecurity within the neighbourhood. It goes without saying that the prevalence of street fights further deteriorates quality of life in slums. 

This phenomenon is not unique to the slums in Jakarta. All over the world, slums are generally associated with high crime, gangs, and violence. For example, violence between street gangs and civilian vigilante groups in Nairobi, Kenya, has persisted for years, despite a tough stance from the government.

Brazil’s favelas are also notorious for their high rates of crime and violence. So, it is clear that a problem this pervasive requires further attention. Violent motives In Jakarta following to Professor Paulus Wirutomo who is a professor of sociology at the University of Indonesia and he lives in Tanah Tinggi, just outside one of Jakarta’s most notoriously violent slum areas, where massive brawls often break out, sometimes multiple times in a single day. 

After years of witnessing this violence first-hand, he now documents the social context of fights in an attempt to find policy solutions. He mentioned that one major cause of this violence is the people’s frustration with their life circumstances and low incomes. Built-up aggression from this frustration makes it very easy for a fight to break out for several reasons, whether it is interpersonal problems, territorial disputes, gang rivalry, or any other sort of provocation. 

People are simply looking for a way to channel their frustration and aggression. Another contributing factor that Wirutomo said is idleness and unemployment. Most of the participants of these fights are unemployed and have nothing else to do during the day. This increases the likelihood that people will join the street brawls and add to the ensuing chaos. Evidence from other countries also supports these claims. For example, following to Hagedorn, street brawls  only emerged after worsening economic conditions led to high unemployment, especially among ethnic minorities. Fights can also be instigated by external parties. 

Wirutomo stated two reasons why third parties have an interest in sustaining the street brawls. The first reason is cheap land acquisition. In a city like Jakarta, where land prices continue to climb, unscrupulous property owners seek to exploit vulnerable landowners in and around slums.

In slums where most of the residents own their land, the occurrence of frequent brawls is an effective measure to encourage people to move away and sell their land cheaply. The second reason is to distract from other criminal activities in the area. Slums are often a hotspot for gangs involved in drugs, prostitution, and other crimes. Some of these groups incite street brawls in order to occupy the local authorities, allowing their activities to continue unimpeded.

Increasingly violent youths

One growing concern that Wirutomo had was the influence that this violent culture has on the youth. Children in the slums grow up witnessing these street brawls and become desensitised or even attracted to this violent lifestyle. They grow up seeing the fights every day and start to identify with the various gangs that are involved. A recent newspaper article notes a similar situation.

However, proximity is not the only problem. As it stands, there are two material problems that exacerbate the scale of violent influence on Jakarta’s young. The first material problem is the lack of access to education beyond the first nine years. The second is lack of adequate living space in the children’s homes. Mandatory education in Indonesia spans nine years of free education, with six years of primary school and three years of junior high school. 

However, beyond junior high school, education costs are prohibitively high for poor families. Furthermore, having a junior high school diploma does not lead to any real work opportunities for these teenagers. This leaves them both out of school and unemployed. Sociologists such as Hagedorn (1991) observe that young people who join gangs during their teens will usually “mature out” of them when they are able to find employment.

However, without any employment opportunities, the “maturing out” phase does not happen, and the teenagers remain involved with gangs until well into their adulthood. The second problem of inadequate living space may not have any apparent connection to teenagers joining gangs, but the causal link is quite strong. One of the consequences of having an overcrowded home is that not all family members can sleep in the home at the same time.

During night time, priority is often given to parents and young children. This means that the teenagers are kicked out of the house and left to spend the evening with other teenagers in the neighbourhood. As the teenagers spend less time with their families and more time with each other, the influence of peers becomes disproportionately stronger when compared to the influence of family members.

The drive to stay in school wanes, as most of their friends may have already decided not to continue school. Conversely, the allure of joining gangs, solely for the sake of solidarity, becomes an appealing option. 

Breaking the violent cycle

There are several different approaches for dealing with these street fights and gang activities. Some cities, such as Nairobi, have toughened up law enforcement in the slums as a specific countermeasure for the street fights and gang activities. In Mumbai, police have set up partnerships with local communities to establish community police stations that are staffed by representatives from the community.

These community “police officers” are primarily tasked with reporting and resolving small-scale conflicts between residents before they escalate into fullblown violence. Having community representatives assist the police alleviates the burdens of understaffed police forces and also adds an element of approachability to the local authorities. The Jakarta government itself has opted for a “community-based approach” in dealing with this violence.

This approach involves active participation from neighbourhood associations in engaging with violent groups and programmes for peaceful social interactions between people in the neighbourhoods. The main advantage of this method is a higher likelihood of success, because outreach by the community is more likely to be accepted by the violent groups than outreach by authority figures such as the police or the city government. 

However, the main disadvantages are that this approach requires a community that is dedicated to solving the problem, and that it takes a long time to connect peacefully to violent groups. For the long term, the only sustainable solution for dealing with violence in slums is to provide more employment opportunities. Job provision is effective in the long run because it directly deals with one of the root causes of the violence: high unemployment. 

However, implementing this solution is tricky, because artificial stimulation of jobs is a difficult task. The Jakarta government needs to do one of two things: channel the city’s economic growth into providing more labour-intensive and low-skilled jobs that fit the slum dwellers’ skill sets, or provide adequate job skill training programmes that can raise their competitiveness in the labour market.

Aside from what governments and local communities must do, there are vital roles that other organisations can play. Grassroots non governmental organisations are well-positioned to empower local communities with the awareness to solve the problem of violence as well as the capacity to organise and engage with the violent groups.

One example can be found in Tanah Tinggi, where sociologists from the University of Indonesia have tried to build awareness among the local neighbourhood association heads on the importance of providing peaceful community activities that encourage friendly engagement among locals. As a direct result of this, Mr. Zakirun, one of the neighbourhood association heads that bought a ping pong table for his community centre so that children would spend their nights playing ping pong instead of engaging in gang activities.

Furthermore, while waiting for the impacts of the long-term solutions of job creation and community- based engagement, there are short-term solutions that several organisations have been directly implementing in order to minimise the influence of violent groups on children.

The Rumah Baca initiative launched in Kampung Lio, Depok is one example of providing alternative activities for children and teenagers to prevent them from getting sucked into a violent lifestyle. Some other University of Indonesia sociologists have tried building music studios as another activity geared towards teenagers, after seeing that teenagers in Jakarta are more drawn towards music than books.

However, the reach of any individual activity centre is geographically limited. Thus, there is a need for more organisations to step in and provide this kind of assistance to slums in other parts of the city.

Source: Asian Trends Monitoring Bulletin 16#2012