Symbolism 1-3-1-2: An Autoethnographic Poem of Protest and Solidarity

The poem Symbolism 1-3-1-2 emerges from my reflective experience as both witness and participant within the wave of demonstrations in Indonesia in 2025. The protests were triggered by deepening social inequality, particularly when members of the national parliament (DPR-RI) proposed to raise their monthly allowances amidst an economic crisis. Public anger intensified, expressed through mass protests, state repression, and the appearance of the code 1312 in graffiti as a mantra of resistance. Through ethnographic poetry, I bring together my personal experience and the collective wound, bridging my private sphere as an educator with the turbulence of public political life. By combining autoethnography and poetic inquiry, this text is not only an aesthetic expression but also a research method that captures emotional intensity, global solidarity, and the politics of representation. This work positions poetry as an ethnographic artifact, extending autoethnographic practice in exploring the aesthetics of contemporary protest.