212 MART MOVEMENT IN PALEMBANG: The Failed Experiment Of Islamic Populism

Abstract

The case of alleged blasphemy committed by Basuki Cahaya Purama or Ahok in 2017 has sparked a wave of mass protests calling itself the 212 Movement. Based on various criteria and characteristics, scholars have called it an Islamic populism movement which has inspired articulations movement in various places. This thesis explores the articulation of the movement in the economic field which calls itself 212 Mart in Palembang, South Sumatra. With the analytical framework of Social Movement Theory, the author attains two findings. First, the 212 Mart movement tries to articulate the ideology of Islamic populism as a movement through identity sentiment and strengthening the people's economy. The ideology of Islamic populism places Muslims as a social-economic marginalized group. The strengthening of religious identity carried out through economic sentiment produces participation and support of the people in large numbers. The framing of the movement has effectively resulted in the mobilization of people's resources in the form of local capital and commodities. Second, the failure of Islamic populism in the 212 Mart movement was caused by the economic and political structure opportunities. Economic opportunities influenced by the ideology of Islamic populism are not in line with the movement's agenda in facilitating the management of the people's economy. Furthermore, this situation is exacerbated by the collapse of the central power that serves as a balance in maintaining the ideology of populism. The final analysis of experimentation failure of Islamic populism in the 212 Mart economic movement will stagnate. The prediction of stagnation in the direction of the 212 Mart movement stems from the failure of framing, the loss of resource mobilization, and the lack of political opportunities. Therefore, this thesis has contributed to the academic study of the issue of Islamic populism through the Theory of Social Movements in uncovering the failure of the 212 Mart movement in Palembang.