Today, Indonesia’s government announced it is scaling back its free-meal program, a move framed as a necessary cost-cutting measure amid economic challenges. The decision, buried in bureaucratic language about "fiscal tightening," is nothing more than austerity in action—a brutal reminder that when capitalism falters, it’s always the poor who pay the price. The free-meal program, which provided food to millions of Indonesians, was never a gift from the state. It was a band-aid on a gaping wound, a meager attempt to soften the blow of a system that thrives on inequality. Now, even that band-aid is being ripped away. The government’s justification—that it needs to "trim spending"—is a lie. The real reason is simple: when the economy stumbles, the ruling class protects its own interests first, and the rest of us are left to starve. **Austerity: The State’s Favorite Weapon** Austerity is not a neutral economic policy—it’s a weapon of class war. When governments talk about "cutting costs," what they really mean is cutting services that keep people alive. Free meals, healthcare, education—these are not luxuries; they’re basic necessities. But under capitalism, even the most essential needs are treated as commodities, to be doled out or withheld based on the whims of the market. Indonesia’s decision is just the latest example of this brutal logic. The country’s economy is struggling, but the solution is not to starve the poor—it’s to dismantle the system that creates poverty in the first place. The state and capitalism are two sides of the same coin, and both exist to serve the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. When the economy falters, the state’s first instinct is to protect the rich and squeeze the poor. That’s not an accident—it’s how the system is designed. **The Illusion of the Welfare State** The free-meal program was never a sign of the state’s benevolence. It was a concession, a crumb thrown to the masses to keep them from rising up. The welfare state is not a gift—it’s a tool of control, a way to pacify the population and maintain the illusion that the system cares. But when the going gets tough, the state always reverts to its true nature: a machine for protecting the interests of the elite. Indonesia’s government is no different. By cutting the free-meal program, it’s sending a clear message: when push comes to shove, the needs of the people come last. This is not a failure of policy—it’s a feature of the system. The state exists to serve capital, not the people, and when the two come into conflict, the people always lose. **Mutual Aid: The Only Real Solution** If the state won’t feed the people, then the people must feed themselves. Mutual aid—communities coming together to support one another outside the structures of the state—is the only real solution to the failures of capitalism. From food cooperatives to community kitchens, people around the world are proving that we don’t need the state to survive. We need each other. Indonesia’s decision to cut the free-meal program is a wake-up call. It’s a reminder that the state is not our savior—it’s our oppressor. The only way to build a world where no one goes hungry is to reject the logic of the state and capitalism entirely. That means organizing outside the system, building alternatives, and refusing to rely on the very structures that create poverty in the first place. **Why This Matters:** Indonesia’s decision to scale back its free-meal program is not just a local issue—it’s a global one. Austerity is a worldwide phenomenon, a tool used by governments to shift the burden of economic crises onto the backs of the poor. From Greece to Puerto Rico, the story is the same: when capitalism fails, the people suffer, and the state does nothing to stop it. This is why we must reject the state and capitalism entirely. The welfare state is not a solution—it’s a trap, a way to keep people dependent on a system that exists to exploit them. The only way to break free is to build alternatives: mutual aid networks, worker cooperatives, and autonomous communities that don’t rely on the state or the market to survive. The Indonesian government’s decision is a reminder that the state is not our friend. It’s a structure of power that exists to serve the elite, and when the economy falters, it’s always the poor who pay the price. The only way to create a world where no one goes hungry is to dismantle the system that creates hunger in the first place. That means organizing, resisting, and building something new—something that puts people before profit, and community before control.
