West Papua’s Indigenous communities are using hundreds of red crosses as symbols of resistance against rainforest destruction, land-grabbing and militarised development, as Indonesian authorities try to suppress a documentary exposing the damage.

The Indonesian Government is furiously trying to outlaw a local film on the massive destruction of West Papua rainforests by a mega-rich company with political links. The ban failed once a video was posted online. Now the police are chasing the directors for allegedly abusing participants’ privacy; military spooks may be driving the slur campaign.

Gerakan Salib Merah has a name like the global agency, but it’s not the International Red Cross most know and respect.

In West Papua, the Red Crosses Movement is hostile to the development policies of the Jakarta government, big business and the Indonesian military.

Hundreds of red crosses have become a sign of resistance. They’re usually about seven metres tall, red-painted hardwood crucifixes erected along jungle tracks to warn intruders to keep out.

Tragically, the trespassers pay little attention, driving their huge machines into the forests, smashing all ahead and behind.

Activist and filmmaker Dr Cypri Dale, a Swiss-educated Indonesian social anthropologist currently at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, is the person the military in his homeland would be happy to see fall under crawler tracks.

They’ve been trying to shut down the film Pesta Babi (Pig Feast) about the impact widespread clearing is having on the local culture and the lives and livelihoods of the Indigenous Papuans – all Indonesian citizens with the same rights as people living in Jakarta.

Dale made the film with Indonesian journalist Dandhy Dwi Laksono, co-founder of the Jakarta-based documentary producer........

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