Too early, too painful! Rest in peace and power dear comrade Budi Laksana! We promise to you to keep the flag of the fisher resistance fly high!
Budi Laksana, was like most other younger delegates at the World Forum of Fisher Peoples 8th General Assembly held at Brasilia between 15-21 Nov 2024. He was exuberant with excitement and the realisation that he was among the globally selected privileged few to attend such an event. Every picture of Budi taken in Brazil, from the moment he landed there along with his Indonesian colleagues from Indonesia Fishworkers Association / SNI and KIARA, reflected his joy, pride and revolutionary fervour.As the initial days passed at the assembly, with the youth assembly, women’s assembly and the inaugural etc. Budi’s interactions became a lot more joyous as he opened to many of us, his fellow delegates. His speech at the food sovereignty session of the GA-8, gave us a compelling fresh insight into the person and his powerful political movement back home.
Budi came from a crab fisher family, where traditional crab catch was not just part of the community’s economy but also their diet and good health. However, the transition into industrial crab culture and excessive catch of specialised crab varieties took away the understanding of crab fishing being a part of securing local and regional food sovereignty. Budi affirmatively rejected the corporatisation of crab and opposed every strategy of aquaculture firms and those who rush with false solutions for depleting oceanic and aqua resources! Budi’s imagination of local circular economies leading the fight back against corporatised company-based models of capital operations showed his true potential as an organic intellectual and leader.
Budi succumbed to a serious thrombosis attack that happened to him while he was in Brasilia for the global fisher assembly. Though it was diagnosed in time etc and medical help and hospitalisation was done during the assembly itself, his condition kept fading. WFFP organising committee, led by MPP comrades of Brazil, along with friends of Budi from Indonesia, had no means of transporting him back to Indonesia even, due his fast deteriorating condition! He finally bid bye on 28th November 2024, at a Brasilia hospital after an unsuccessful battle. His family and friends are doing the necessary to transport their beloved leader back to Indonesia from Brazil.
Budi has left us. We would not like to believe it, but he has. But what he has left behind is a truly revolutionary spirit of resistance against imperialist capitalism that takes away from earth and her peoples. He taught us through his life that indigenous wisdom and traditional knowledge of communities is integral to fixing the crisis that the earth has been trapped in. He taught us how important it is to smile and make friends, while in that battle for freedom and justice!
Budi, our comrade, we will miss you. We can’t do enough to do justice to your aspirations and sense of resilience. We promise you that we will fight forever, to keep the spirit of you alive in our lives and struggles.
World Forum of Fisher Peoples Zindabad!
Fisher resistance against exploitation, for climate justice zindabad !
From the forest to the rivers and from glaciers, mountains and streams to the oceans, fisherpeoples are united..
On behalf of India Fisherwomen Assembly (IFA 2024), Fr Thomas Kocherry Centre and the Indian delegation that was at the GA-8, Brazil we pay our rich tributes to Com. Budi Laksana.
Long live…