The Pattern of the Peasants’

Movement in the District of Ermera,

Timor-Leste
and its Organizing Strategy

By: Abel Boavida dos Santos

Presentation to the First TLSA-Brazilian Chapter International Conference

10th July 2018, Universidade de Brasilia, Brazil
Timor-Leste is a new country with about 1,183,643 inhabitants. About 65% of the
East Timorese population lives on subsistence agriculture (Census, 2015) in
extensive family networks, where customary practices determine gender roles and
relationships.

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This study is being conducted in Ermera district, Timor-Leste

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Ermera district is known as the
largest coffee producing region
in East Timor. The total area
planted to coffee in the district
of Ermera in 2017 covered
about 32,135 hectares, with
total production in that year
was 4,020 tons
(Direcção Naçional de Café e Plantas Industriais (DNCPI),
Ministério da Agricultura e Pescas, Timor-Leste, 2017).
 Research Objectives
• This study examines the pattern of
peasant movements in Ermera
District, Timor-Leste and the process
of organizing the movement by the
Peasants Union of Ermera or União
dos Agricultores Ermera (UNAER).
• UNAER was established in 2010 by
several farmer groups that since 2002
have initiated reclamation of coffee
plantations in several locations in
Ermera, demanding the
implementation of agrarian reform in
Timor-Leste.
This study refers to the
research I conducted in 2007
at two locations in Ermera,
namely Lekisi (located in
Suco Petete) and Sakoko
(located in Suco Ponilala) and
continuing in 2016-now with
concentration on the
syndicate of Ermera farmers
named UNAER.
Factors that led to the emergence of the peasant
movement in Ermera
Ami lahatene lolos akontesementu ne’e sa tinan no
iha sa loron mak ami nia inan aman no avon sira “We don’t know exactly what year happened and on
hetan baku husi oppressor sira ho pregu iha sira ninia what day our parents, our ancestors were beaten
rento’os, sobu sira sira ninia uma kakuluk, hetan with nails by oppressors on their foreheads,
amiasas ho kilat no sona ho bayoneta ba sira nia isi dismantled their roofs, threatened with guns and
lolon, ba sira nia laran no sira nia klamar. Kanek ida stabbed with bayonets in their bodies, hearts and
ne’e seidauk maran no tamba ida ne’e sai tiha fali ami also their souls. The wound has left its mark until
nia kilat agora. Estória ida ne’e sai tiha ona espiritu now and therefore becomes our weapon now. That
luta mai ami, buat sira ne’e sai hotu tiha hanesan
kbiit koletivu ida atu ami bele ezize ami nia direitu ba history has become a spirit of resistance for us,
ukun rasik an, ami nia direitu ba ami nia rai no tasi, making it a collective power to claim our right to
ami nia direitu ba ami nia to’os no rai nudar ami nia freedom, our right to our land and water, our right to
rekursu ba ami nia moris no mos direitu ba ami nia the land of our livelihood and our right to our
kultura rasik. (Thomas das Neves: community culture”. (Thomas das Neves: community organizer
organizer and one of lian nain from Ponilala, Ermera, and one of lian nain from Ponilala, Ermera, in FGD
in FGD with community in Aipu, Poetete, 7th of Jully with community in Aipu, Poetete, 7th of Jully 2007)
2007)
“On Timor the Mambai were regarded by other groups as one of the poorest, oldest and most 'backward' peoples
of the land. Their economy was based on shifting cultivation and animal husbandry. Maize was the staple crop,
and Mambai also cultivated dry rice (an important ceremonial food), as well as taro, yams, sweet potatoes,
cassava, millet, pigeon peas, and beans. Coffee, introduced by Portuguese and raised by individual families, was
the most important cash crop, sold in order to purchase such commodities as clothing, school supplies, kerosene,
and to pay the annual colonial head-tax” (Elizabeth G. Traube, in Peter Carey and G. Carter Bentley, 1997:42)
Factors that led to the emergence of
the peasant movement in Ermera
These factors come from
three fundamental
elements:
• leading factors,
• enabling factors
• reinforcing factors
 Leading factors
• External
intervention (state
and capital) on rural
subsistence life
• Marginalization of
the indigenous
cultural identity
• State repression
Foto by vfutscher in https://www.flickr.com/photos/vfutscher/12137658946/in/photostream/
Enabling factors
• Collective memory of the history of
the oppression and exploitation in
the Portuguese and Indonesian
times
• Transitional circumstances that
provide opportunities
• The dualism of law (positive and
customary laws)
• The process of radicalizing actors
during the struggle for
independence of Timor-Leste
Reinforcing Factors
• Active participation of the
farmers
• A good organizing strategy from
UNAER
• Support from indigenous elders
• Support from civil society
organizations as well as other
networks, both national and
international
The main objective of the Ermera peasants movement is to
achieve agrarian reform to guarantee social justice
Peasants hold public meetings, demonstrations, press conferences,
hearings with the national parliament and also with the President of
the Republic, and actively mobilize the participation and support of
farmers and communities.
P
In all the activities of farmers' mobilization, the members of UNAER
have always campaigned for the importance of resuscitating the
positive cultural elements of society so that they could be used as
weapons of the movement itself.
Some of the owners from outside Ermera have legal proof of
ownership, but the peasants have settled inside the plantation
to claim the land.
The peasants movement establishes links with other local,
national and international movements: MPRA, Rede ba Rai,
Mokatil, NGO Forum, La via Campesina, etc.
• The emergence of the peasants’ movement in Ermera,
was a defensive reaction and the real resistance of the
subsistence farmers to the oppressive state policy in the
colonial period.
• The pattern of peasant resistance appears in its unique
form based on the existing social carrying capacity and
the current political situation which gives the opportunity
to organize collective action openly.
• I argue that the causes of different patterns of
resistance from peasants in every age (Portuguese
colonialism, illegal Indonesian occupation and
independence) lie in the support and legitimacy of social
structures at the local level and the presence of political
opportunities.
• In situations where state domination and repression are
strong, peasant resistance appears in closed form, done
individually and unorganized. In this phase, peasant
resistance is more of an individual action that is done covertly,
uncoordinated and always avoiding risk.
• This hidden movement works effectively because the
traditional social organization works effectively.
• Barington Moore (1966), Eric R. Wolf (1969), Joel Migdal
(1974), Paige (1975), James Scott (1976), and Samuel Popkin
(1979) believes that farmers will take the fight reactively and in
some cases, will be defensive against the power of capital
from outside. Because for farmers, the inflow of capital into
their life, considered will disrupt subsistence, social
establishment, and social order that has existed.
• But when state control at the local level is weakened due
to socio-political changes occurring at the national level,
farmers openly fight in collective action and organizing
movements to counter any kind of outside intervention that
does not benefit them.
• According to Charles Tilly (1978: 14), the theory of
collective action examines how people act together to
pursue common goals. The analysis of collective action
has five main components, which are interest,
organization, mobilization, opportunity, and collective
action itself (Tilly, 1978: 7).
 References:
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References Continued
• Hill, Helen Mary (2000). Gerakan Pembebasan Nasional Timor Lorosa’e. Dili: Sahe Institute for
Liberation.
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East Timor. Chicago and London. The University of Chicago Press