Young Activism in the Issue of Palestine Contrasting Streams of Movement from the Early 2000s to 2024

In the early 2000s, there was an indirect relation between the Intifada movement in Palestine and the youth movement in Indonesia. This relation was characterized by Islamic and ideological solidarity. During the early 2000s, Indonesia was undergoing a political transition, with the emergence of various new parties based on Islamic principles. The Islamic tarbiyah movement, centered around daily meetings or liqo, was thriving on major university campuses.

The early 2000s marked the beginning of the Second Intifada movement, which saw various clashes between Palestinian Arab residents and Israel. Coverage of the Second Intifada proliferated through campus informal studies, religious students gathering, film screenings, and Islamic media such as eramuslim and Sabili magazine. Elsewhere, the two largest Islamic community organizations in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also officially expressed solidarity with Palestine.

The narrative of Palestinian solidarity that developed among the youth, especially university students, particularly in the Engineering departments in the early 2000s, differed from the narrative that emerged later. For example, in April 2024, a solidarity action titled “Stop Palestinian Genocide” was held, attended by independent musicians often referred to as the “scene movement.”

In contrast to previous narratives and discourses of the Palestinian movement, this musician solidarity movement emphasized human rights issues and implicitly embraced inclusivity in its methods and narrative.