Bara Juang Baraya: Urban Village Solidarity Against Eviction

Bara-Baraya is an entity of urban villagers whose residence has been inherited for generations, bearing witness to the social, cultural ties and struggles of working-class residents to survive in the midst of the swift flow of urban development.

Bara-Baraya Village is located in Makassar District. Makassar City, perhaps only 0.20 KM². Thousands of people who have settled there continue to face threats. The agrarian conflict in Bara-Baraya is a reflection of the broader spatial governance crisis in Indonesia. The state, instead of being present as a protector, often becomes a facilitator in the practice of seizing living space through forced evictions wrapped in a development narrative. Bara-Baraya residents are now part of a long list of urban communities that are victims of policies that favor the interests of capital over social justice. 

Communities existed before the state, but evictions do not just remove homes; they remove the right to a decent life for the community. The agrarian conflict in Bara-Baraya is a reflection of the broader spatial governance crisis in Indonesia. The state, instead of being present as a protector, often becomes a facilitator in the practice of seizing living space through forced evictions wrapped in a development narrative. Bara-Baraya residents are now part of a long list of urban communities that are victims of policies that favor the interests of capital over social justice.

There will be many people who lose their homes on their own land, who will lose their right to a decent life. With no more than 7,000 people, Bara-Baraya residents must face the threat of execution that will be carried out by the Makassar District Court together with a combination of Makassar City Police officers. Among the 196 people who will become direct victims, most of them are vulnerable groups ranging from children, women, toddlers, and the elderly. 

In this issue, we again see the impartiality of the police in resolving this conflict. Again, the police always side with financiers and large corporations. The security forces, which are supposed to maintain public order, are increasingly becoming a tool of repression against the people. In the case of the Bara-Baraya residents, the involvement of the Makassar City Police in the execution plan is just one of many proofs that police reform in Indonesia is still running in place and not functioning as it should.

Evictions do not only occur and afflict Bara-Baraya residents; there are many that are in the same pattern related to evictions, such as those experienced by Taman Sari residents (Bandung), Bukit Duri and Kampung Bayam (Jakarta), Pancoran residents (Jakarta), and Kulon Progo (Yogyakarta). All residents are defeated by the pretext of a pile of certificates and documents that are often intertwined and become the game of the land mafia, state actors to the interests of large corporations. And all citizen resistance is often labeled as an obstacle to development, while the social damage caused is considered a “price that must be paid.” 

what two Bara-Baraya residents, Mrs. Eta and Mrs. Lusia, did. On February 15, 2025, they left Makassar for Jakarta, not for a picnic or to make sure the North Coast of Jakarta would sink or not due to the climate crisis. They came to Jakarta as a form of resistance by bringing the voice of hope from the village to the center of power. They also participated in the preparation of the resistance festival in Pancoran, South Jakarta. They also carried out resistance by reporting to Komnas Perempuan and opening the Resistance Festival. This is not just a formal agenda, but a symbolic step that women’s voices from urban villages also have a place in the national agrarian justice discourse.

Mamah Santi from Pancoran also recounted how at the end of 2019, the issue of eviction appeared suddenly and without official notification. Fear spread when the authorities began to demolish buildings. Residents began to build forms of solidarity, seek information, and get help from activists and students. 

The residents also chose many kinds of resistance, one of which was by holding a Festival of Resistance, with the title “Bara Juang Baraya.” This event was held in Jakarta. This event became a space for consolidation and collective resistance, attended by urban villagers from various regions who were also facing the threat of eviction, such as residents of Kampung Pancoran, Kampung Tongkol, Kampung Bayam, and Rumpin. There was also solidarity from various organizations, collectives, and individuals in the Jabodetabek area. This festival is not just a celebration but an articulation space: showing the faces of residents who have been marginalized by development, exhibiting art and culture born from wounds and hopes, and knitting solidarity across communities.

Through this festival, Bara-Baraya residents show that their struggle will not stop in the courts or the streets. They embrace art, culture, and solidarity as weapons to survive and fight back.

Enter Nusantara was also present and directly involved in the series of Bara-Baraya residents’ struggle agenda in Jakarta, which took place from February 16 to 19, 2025. This involvement is a tangible form of Enter Nusantara’s commitment to stand with grassroots communities in fighting structural injustice, especially in the issue of evictions and deprivation of living space that is rampant in various urban villages in Indonesia.

Enter Nusantara was present and directly involved in the series of Bara-Baraya residents’ struggle agenda in Jakarta, which took place from February 16 to 19, 2025. This involvement is a tangible form of Enter Nusantara’s commitment to stand with grassroots communities in fighting structural injustice, especially in the issue of eviction and deprivation of living space that is rampant in various urban villages in Indonesia.

Enter Nusantara also documented the course of public discussions and exhibitions of struggle archives and participated in consolidation meetings with collectives and other organizations that formulated further strategies, including demonstrations at the Supreme Court and citizen hearings with the Ministry of Human Rights. Within this consolidation space, Enter Nusantara contributed a media advocacy perspective and offered support in the form of visual content production, digital campaigns, and the distribution of struggle narratives to wider public spaces.

Enter Nusantara’s involvement in this agenda is not merely a form of solidarity but also part of the collective work of building a strong people’s movement, supporting each other, and being able to face a system that continues to sacrifice living space for the benefit of capital. In the midst of rampant practices of forced evictions and agrarian conflicts, we believe that people’s stories, archives of struggle, and solidarity between villages are weapons to expand resistance and build real spatial justice.

Once again, the Bara-Baraya case does not only belong to the people of Makassar or the wounds of the affected residents. But their pain is a reflection of the face of big cities in Indonesia that are increasingly distanced from their people. When development is narrowed down to mean investment and concretization, people, especially the poor, will always be victims.

So, the form of struggle and defense of Bara-Baraya is not only a matter of defending a place to live, but also rejecting structural violence that continues to repeat the dark history of evictions. This struggle certainly invites all of us to choose: stand with the threatened residents or let injustice continue to win.

Solidarity is our most powerful force. By nurturing it, we are not only saving a village but also fighting for a more just, humane, and pro-people future for the city.