Harwati in Front of Lapindo Mudflow

Harwati is one of the prominent activists fighting for the rights of the Lapindo mudflow survivors from the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia. In this video shot in February 2019, she is surrounded by participants of a Women's Jamboree Against Mining. The Jamboree, a national meeting of mining survivors, gathered women from various areas that have been destroyed by decades-long extraction of minerals.

As you can see behind us

This is what we call
Lapindo mudflow

Fluid hot mud forming a pool

This is the birthplace of my children

(Sobbing)

Where my parents are buried

This is where my
extended family used to live.

But in mere seconds,

everything that was once here,
was perished, destroyed

Do you notice that the women
from this area are strong?

Because they endured
the hardest strike of mudflow

We had to leave, were forced out

Dare you ask where was the government?

(There was) No sign
of their existence.

We really needed support

we needed friends
during that time

But who came for us?

No one.

We stayed.

The fate of our children,
were on our mind

Children should be in school.

This is how we take blows after blows

We take how society undermine our existence

We stay strong

We stand united

although we were removed from history

I see women here feeling my pain

they too, feel what we feel

I truly hope what happened in Porong
will not happen in other places

may no one be mistreated like us

enough is enough!

Let this pain stop here.

Please, don't let this happen again,

Defend your space,

Embrace your land,

Defend your birth place,

those people do not think that we exist.

Why do you think I say
something like this?

Because the government
does not acknowledge our rights

This is what we feel until now.

There are children born with disabilities

their parents used to work here,
for the mining company

we have been inhaling poisonous gas

we're exposed to constant heat

the Government doesn't care about us

Do you want to destroy
our future generation?

because of this Lapindo Brantas Company?

Friends, let us become strong,
let's unite.

Let us build a powerful women's movement,
and show that

Women are not weak.

Women are strong. We truly are strong.

Let's beat this Government.

Let's beat this state.

They exist because of us

but when we are ruined,
they're nowhere to be found.

They are there to defend
the mining company

not the people.